Feminist Germaine Greer has sparked an angry backlash after saying rapists should not be jailed as it is not a 'spectacularly violent crime'.
Miss Greer said the majority of rapists should have an 'R' tattooed on their cheek and be made to do community service, the controversial feminist said.
She insisted that most rape is just 'bad sex' and poured scorn on the idea that victims can suffer from post-traumatic stress.
And her comments sparked out outrage on Twitter, with one user saying the 79-year-old's remarks were 'one of the most dangerous, ignorant things I've ever read'.
Forcing yourself inside a woman's body will ALWAYS be violent. To all survivors, your pain is real, you deserve justice.'
Amy Hartman said: 'Just bc you were a feminist 20yrs ago doesn't mean you're one today. Germaine Greer is proof of that. I appreciate the work you may have done in the past but it's time to step down. The meaning of feminism has grown & changed just like everything else. Grow with it or get out.'
Beenish remarked: 'Has #GermaineGreer officially lost it? Can someone explain WHY we were made to study her literature as part of so-called "feminism" in school?!'
Rachel McGovern wrote: 'I actually can't recommend that you read this because it's so utterly insensitive. However, if people like Germaine Gree adopt this position and aren't challenged, what hope have we all of putting rape culture behind us.'
And Matt James added: 'I think Germaine Greer has finally lost whatever was left of her marbles.'
Germaine Greer Remarks:
(1) The 79-year-old told the Hay Festival: 'Most rapes don't involve any injury whatsoever. We are told it's one of the most violent crimes in the world â bull****.
(2) Miss Greer said: 'Most rape is just lazy, just careless, just insensitive.
(3) Every time a man rolls over on his exhausted wife and insists on enjoying his conjugal right, he is raping her. It will never end up in a court of law.
(4) Instead of thinking of rape as a spectacularly violent crime â and some rapes are â think about it as non-consensual, that is, bad sex.
(5) Sex where there is no communication, no tenderness, no mention of love.'
(6) When asked what would be an appropriate punishment for men found guilty of rape, she said: 'Two hundred hours of community service would do me.
(7) I have suggested maybe a little tattoo would be a good thing, maybe an R on your hand. I'd prefer it on the cheek really.'
(8) The Australian author said she knew she risked the wrath of feminists when she admitted that after she was raped at a party days before her 19th birthday, she had not been 'angry enough' with her attacker, a rugby-playing public schoolboy.
