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WhyArePeopleAfraidOfTalkingAboutRape 3 - 05 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. | | | Because I am not familiar with the case you're referring to or the comment you made, I can only speculate as to why your comment generated an "emotional" response. 1 in 6 women (to speak nothing of male victims) have experienced attempted or actual rape in this country. Talking about rape may trigger PTSD. Furthermore, in a culture where victim-blaming is often considered acceptable, it's certainly a topic that makes people defensive. But I don't think defending an alleged rapist is taboo; the right to counsel and fair trial extends to this group of defendants as well.
-- 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.
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.
Again, this post is not to prove my point from class but to ask why the comment garnered such negative attention.
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