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According to government figures, the average British woman in 1991 stood a one in 7, 539 chance of being raped during the course of the year. In the twelve-month period up to October of that year some 3, 900 women were raped. That marked a 17 per-cent raise on the previous year. This was said to be due to the fact that more women are prepared to report cases of rape. Vast numbers of women say that they feel unsafe on the streets after dark. They are terrified of being alone in a railway or tube carriage.
Black cabs are now considered too dangerous for women when they were once considered a woman's safest refuge. It's suggested that the number of rapes that are reported form a tiny proportion of the total that are committed. A survey of some 2, 500 female college students organised by the Cambridge Students Union claimed that one in nine had been the victim of rape and one in five had suffered some form of attempted rape. In the vast majority of cases, men who had known the victim had carried out these rapes. In the autumn of 1991, a decision by the Court of Appeal overturned the traditional view that there was no such thing as rape inside a marriage. According to some rape crisis centres, 1, 370, 000 women had been raped by their husbands.
As a man how am I meant to respond to such statistics? First I feel shame and then a sense of denial. I even question the way in which the research was carried out. What were the questions? How was rape defined? Who replied?
You will note that in the case of the Cambridge survey, respondents were volunteers and, therefore, self-selecting. They may, even, have had axes to grind. Dare I even suggest that man-haters conducted the surveys? The London Rape Crisis Centre produced a guidebook called Sexual Violence: The Reality for Women and described rape as: 'All sexual assaults, verbal and physical, that we all suffer in our daily contact with men. These range from being "touched up" and "chatted up" to being brutally sexually assaulted with objects. Throughout this book we use rape to describe any kind of sexual assault. ' Next time I'm in a club and some girl asks me to buy her a drink should I scream rape?
With quotes like these being read by women how can the human race survive? Is it only me who thinks that his is taking it a little too far? Lets not get away from the fact that many women have horror stories to tell. When a man tries to discuss these stories he is put in a difficult position. How can a man talk about rape without either accepting the blame that is thrust on him, or appearing to condone the actions of the rapist? I don't condone rape of any kind; if a man assaults a woman in order to fulfil his own sexual desires then he deserves the full weight of the law thrown at him.
Far too many women are afraid to walk the streets at night, but, according to police statistics, I (a male in my late twenties) am more likely to be attacked when walking home after dark. Putting that fact aside, we need to determine what is rape? Using the quote above it is reasonable to say that there is no difference of nature or degree to rape. Rape is rape, period. I would suggest the opposite.
To take a parallel view: the law distinguishes between murder, manslaughter and self-defence, even though all end in death. The difference is in the question of motivation and / or the degree to which the victims' own actions played in their eventual demise. I would argue that there is a difference between the woman who has sex with her husband when she would rather have said no, than the woman who is pinned down by several men and repeatedly assaulted. Both events end in the unwanted penetration of a woman's body by a man's penis. Think of the following situation. A young man and woman meet at a party.
After plenty of drink they decide to find somewhere quiet to talk so they trundle off and find a room where they can be alone. They kiss, fondle each other and remove their clothes. With him lying on top he is just about to enter her when she says 'no'. In the heat of the moment with emotions running high for the two of them he enters her.
The next day she reports him for rape and he is arrested. The boy had a completely blameless past up until that point, he had never been in any kind of trouble and, after all, the girl had hardly been seized by knife point. The boy was found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail. Now take a step back and consider the situation carefully. Up until the last second the girl was a willing partner. The boy had the clear impression that she was there because she wanted to be.
It was only at the last moment she said 'no'; did the boy have enough time to pull himself back? Did she say 'no' and push him away with all her might or was it whispered as she held onto him in the climax of an electrically charged situation? At the end of the day I have to ask myself one question, what damage was really done that necessitated a two-year jail sentence? This boy has had his life ruined, his reputation in tatters and any future job prospects set to zero, and why? Because two young people got into a situation that they couldn't handle. I'm sure the girl found it a terrible experience and one that she would rather forget, but isn't that all that it was, one of life's many lessons?
To repeat myself, I'm not condoning rape but doesn't the fact that she allowed the situation to progress so far have any bearing on the matter? I've said it before and I'll say it again, females can have equality but it has to be equal and that means taking some of the responsibility when situations like the one described above take place. One can understand why women should fight to defend the innocence of the rape victim. For too long, her suffering was doubled by the attitude that she was as much at fault as her attacker. I do not want to support that view.
But are we any better off if we go to the other extreme and see her as being entirely without responsibility, particularly when all the legal consequences descend upon the man?
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Research essay sample on Rape Crisis Women One
