I think Amanda Marcotte's take on the sexual assault of CBS Reporter Laura Logan in Egypt is about right:
As feminists have forever said, sexual violence is a crime of power, committed to control and intimidate women. When people react to sexual assault and rape by suggesting women brought it on themselves, they finish the job the attacker started. It's sad to say that the assault on Lara Logan didn't end when she was rescued in Egypt, and to note that it's now being expanded as an assault on all women who have ambitions, or who are willing to be out in public while looking attractive. This response to Logan's attack should make it clear that the US and Egypt differ on the issue of sexual violence perhaps only in degree but not in kind. That there are differences in degree between cultures should tell us that sexual violence is not inevitable, that it can be curbed and even stopped – and we should never write men off as animals who cannot be expected to control themselves.
There are obviously ways in which religion negatively affects women's rights in the Middle East, but the most bizarre part about the rush to hold Muslims and Egypt collectively accountable for what happened to Logan is that sexual assault isn't culturally specific at all. Women get assaulted every day in every corner of the world. It's not like the U.S. has entirely eradicated the crime of sexual assault.
It's particularly odd, as Suzanne Merkelson points out, given that a group of women service members have recently filed suit alleging that they were "raped, stalked, and harassed" while doing their jobs. Merkelson also notes that the Pentagon's own statistics show "one-third of female service members reporting sexual violence." For all the reasons sexual assault tends to go unreported in civilian life, it's likely that number is low. The DoD report also concludes that "only 20 percent of unwanted sexual contacts are reported to a military authority."
It's possible to acknowledge how terrible something is without using it to confirm prior prejudices about other cultures or women's "proper" roles in society, but for all the reasons Marcotte notes, sexual assault tends to bring out the worst in some people.
