Innocence Is Not Protection
Sexual Power, Prudence, and the Moral Duty to See Danger
From the essay
Modern culture often confuses two very different questions. The first question is moral and legal: who is guilty for the harm? The answer is clear—the perpetrator. The second question is practical and preventive: could the harm have been avoided, interrupted, or minimized before it occurred? That question is often forbidden because it sounds like cruelty toward the wounded. Yet without it, society loses the ability to protect future victims. The aim is not to stand over the wounded and say, “Why did you make that choice?” The aim is to stand beside the living and say, “Make the choice now, while you still can.”