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WhyArePeopleAfraidOfTalkingAboutRape 12 - 06 Apr 2010 - Main.MikeAbend
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| | When we went over rape in our criminal law class, I made a comment about the role gender plays in our society in determining the definition of "rape". While I still believe in the truth of my comment, I realized immediately that I had not made any friends because of it. I could hear whispers around me and I knew that many thought I had crossed some sort of line. My comment was fairly benign, but many of my classmates still saw it as insensitive and possible chauvinistic.
I am not writing this to try to vindicate my comment. My frustration is because the topic of rape was such an emotional issue that there was no room, even within the halls of an academic institution as prestigious as Columbia Law School, to discuss the topic in an academic manner. I felt like even considering defending the side of the alleged rapist was an obvious taboo, something to be hidden like an unconscious racist assumption. The law is supposed to be inherently unemotional, but people refuse to treat it as such when discussing this specific topic. | | | -- EricaSelig - 04 Apr 2010 | |
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< | The comment I made was in response to whether a girl could ever give consent if she is drunk. I think that one of the main determinations of rape is the gender of the parties involved. Looking at the drinking scene, when one of my male friends sleeps with a girl, and he knows that he would not have slept with her if he were sober, there is never any talk of date rape. However, if a girl experiences the same situation, rape is immediately relevant. | >
> | The comment I made was in response to whether a girl could ever give consent if she is drunk. I think that a strong component of rape is the gender of the parties involved. Looking at the drinking scene, when one of my male friends sleeps with a girl, and he knows that he would not have slept with her if he were sober, there is never any talk of date rape. However, if a girl experiences the same situation, rape is immediately relevant. | | | In our society we expect rape mainly to be a male raping a female. Look at one of my favorite movies Wedding Crashers-- Vince Vaughn gets legitimately raped by his girlfriend but we are supposed to see it as a joke. Had it been him forcing himself on his girlfriend, in the exact same way and under the exact same circumstances, we would see the act as despicable. | | | -- JohnAlbanese - 06 Apr 2010 | |
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> | John, I feel like I need to clarify what I was saying in class. I was not asserting that men have a harder time proving or finding redress for rape. I was only trying to comment on how gender really does play a role in what we view as "rape", as evidenced by my own experiences. It wasn't trying to equate two totally different situations. If I was misunderstood I apologize. | | | | |
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-- NovikaIshar - 06 Apr 2010 | >
> | Obviously, most rapes ARE male-female crimes, and of course, there is something to be said about rape's physical components. I am not trying to play ignorant, I just think that it is interesting that this offense is particularly gender specific. | | | I do agree with Mike in that rape is a particularly difficult topic of discussion to engage people in, although our crim law professor has chosen to skip over the subject entirely (which may be a statement in itself). Although our brief conversations when rape has come up haven't been particularly controversial, I've noticed that people tend to use male as the default gender of the perpetrator and, of course, female as the default victim. While this may be a reflection of crime statistics (of which I'm not aware) or not an issue for concern, I do find it interesting that this type of consistent pronoun usage only comes up in discussing the felony of rape, rather than murder, for instance. This is especially noticeable in date rape (your example about drinking) and statutory rape cases, though anyone who watches the news will tell you enough female teachers have committed the latter crime. Furthermore, prison rapes are a pervasive concern, with the rate of HIV infection on the rise, but this type of rape is often depicted as a comical scenario in the media, i.e. dropping the soap- although the U.S. is still more progressive than countries like Scotland and Brazil, which still only recognize rape as a male on female crime. Maybe this goes to what Prof. Liebman was saying about the law being concerned with targeting stranger crimes along class lines, which would certainly explain why rape prosecutions are so racialized. |
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