Hey, Can A Woman "Ask To Get Raped"?

Alum seeks to curb street harassment
By: Medha Gupta
Hatchet Reporter
Posted: 9/7/10

Most women that live in an urban area can recall an instance in which a glance or call from an unsuspecting stranger on the street made them feel threatened. Holly Kearl, a GW alum, said it was time to end the act that is known as street harassment at a reading of her new book on the subject in the Marvin Center on Thursday.

"[It's time to] end the silence," said Kearl, while discussing her book, "Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women."

Kearl said that women around the world are subject to harassment on a daily basis, including in the form of catcalls or explicit comments, especially in large metropolitan cities like D.C. The author, who works at the Washington feminist organization, the AAUW, said that harassment often leads to violence and can be emotionally detrimental.

Former Miss D.C. Jen Corey attended the event as a guest speaker and recalled her personal experiences with street aggravation. Corey, who was also a finalist at Miss America, lived on Massachusetts Avenue during her undergraduate education at American University and would deal with street harassment on her daily walk to class.

"I really didn't realize that it changed what I did on a daily basis until I came to college here," Corey said. "During my junior year, I had to walk one block to school and would [regularly] get yelled at seven different times on just that one block."

Joseph Vess, the director of the organization Men Can Stop Rape, spoke to the mostly female students and GW community members in attendance about the abilities of men to put an end to the crime.

"This is a man's issue," Vess said. "Men are the ones who are committing almost all violence against women."

Vess added that instead of becoming perpetrators of the act, men should collaborate with women on putting an end to harassment and sexual violence.

Some members of the University's women's studies program attended the reading and said that it was an opportunity to enlighten others about the common, yet destructive, harassment that happens often in Foggy Bottom.

"It's fantastic that GW is having this event," said Paul Seltzer, a major in the department and one of the few men to attend the reading. "It's good to see both men and women getting involved."

Kearl, who wrote her thesis on the subject while receiving her Master's at the University, said that while there is no easy way to counter harassment, women need to make sure that they protect themselves from unwanted advancements that can turn violent.

"I don't really want women to change their lives-I really want the solution to be with changing the behavior of men," said Kearl. "But the reality is right now you do have to try to be safe."
http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2010/09/07/News/Alum-Seeks.To.Curb.Street.Harassment-3927936.shtml

Reducing rapes can be achieved by prosecuting and convicting rapists 100% of the time.

Sanctioned Rape - rapists do not fear punishment - under Geneva Conventions laws - Brief Article
Humanist, July, 2000
by Neve Gordon

After taking my uncle's gold and money, the Serb paramilitary took my hand and told me to get in his car. He told me not to refuse or there would be lots of victims .... He told me not to scream and to take off my clothes. He took off his clothes and told me to suck his thing. I did not know what to do. He took my head and put it near him. He started to beat me. I lost consciousness. When I came to, I saw him over me. I had great pain. I was screaming and scratching the ground from the pain. Another man got over me.... I was crying from the pain and he was laughing the whole time. Just as I got dressed another one came and took me to another place a couple of meters away and he started with the same words and did the same things the first one did. I begged [the first] to kill me but he didn't want to.

This is just part of one testimony excerpted from a 2000 Human Rights Watch report documenting ninety-six cases of rape by Serbian and Yugoslav forces against Kosovar Albanian women. More recent testimonies suggest that Russian soldiers in Chechnya are also raping women and girls. The fact that rape is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions doesn't deter the perpetrators, primarily because international enforcement mechanisms are still very weak. In other words, soldiers aren't afraid to violate women because they know the chances they will be punished are slim.

These incidents are shocking not only due to their cruelty and brutality but because the rapes are sanctioned by the military authorities; they are a political form of violation used deliberately to terrorize the civilian population. In contrast, rape committed in the United States is considered an isolated crime and, as such, lacking political support. Yet is this distinction accurate?

According to the 1998 FBI Uniform Crime Report, "Law enforcement agencies received reports of an estimated 93,103 forcible rapes nationwide" that year--that's "67 of every 100,000 females." However, Linda Ledray of the Sexual Assault Resource Service in Minneapolis, Minnesota, convincingly argues that the incidence of rape is actually much higher. She states that many victims do not report the crime because they fear the assailant, whose parting words in 76 percent of the cases are "If you tell anyone ... (or report to the police), I'll come back and kill you ... rape you again ... rape your child." The fact that so many women are afraid to walk alone at night, even in seemingly safe areas, points to the power rapists wield in our society.

The crux of the matter is: if the existing legal and cultural structures in the United States did not encourage rape--albeit in a more covert way than in Kosovo and Chechnya--there would be less of it.

The mass media's incessant portrayal of women as objects to be used and enjoyed by men has far-reaching implications for gender relations in our society. But this is only one aspect of the institutional support offered to rapists. Distrusting the rape victim's testimony is another: according to Ledray, whereas 8 percent of all rape cases are considered "unfounded," only 2 percent of all other crimes are regarded as such. Put differently, a raped woman's testimony is not deemed to be as trustworthy as that of a man whose wallet was stolen.

Still another disturbing form of institutional support involves the low rate of incarceration. Of the reported rape incidents in the United States, Ledray found that over 50 percent lead to arrests, yet only 4 percent result in prison time. The fact that rape is seldom punished provides a clear message not only to the rapist but to the victim. A raped woman's feeling of powerlessness is aggravated by an awareness that her attacker is likely to walk free even if arrested--which also explains why many women choose not to report the violation. In this way, a vicious circle is established.

The distinction made between rape in Kosovo and Chechnya, on the one hand, and in the United States, on the other, is misleading insofar as it suggests that U.S. rapes lack political encouragement. Moreover, the portrayal of rape as a set of isolated incidents free of institutional support is detrimental because it diminishes the public's drive to demand social change. On an even deeper level, it renders rape tolerable.

If stopping rape is the objective, it is crucial to recognize that in the United States--as in Kosovo and Chechnya--rapists terrorize women without fear of being penalized. Even in a so-called developed country, rape is a politically sanctioned practice.

Neve Gordon teaches in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University in Israel
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_4_60/ai_63257717/

whereas 8 percent of all rape cases are considered "unfounded," only 2 percent of all other crimes are regarded as such.

Put differently, a raped woman's testimony is not deemed to be as trustworthy as that of a man whose wallet was stolen

Only an idiot would believe that 41-50% of convicted rapists are actually innocent

Seem you are the one doing a war against men

Sorry dear men who had been charge with a rape not convicted of rape by a woman

She was claiming up and down that rape is a problem for men, that rape was not about gender but about violence against the individual.

what can you do to stop rape?

Here are a few ideas:

Confront men who use sexist language or make jokes degrading to women.

Challenge institutions that profit from sexist advertising that degrades women.

Be aware of your own behavior or attitude which may be threatening to women.

Do not confuse mere friendliness with sexual invitation.

Become familiar with the history of women's oppression, so that you can challenge sexist beliefs about rape & violence.

Be willing to examine your male ego defensiveness when listening to the expression of feminist ideas.

Be alert to signs of women (or men) who may be suffering physical or verbal assault, and be willing to investigate and intervene.

Rape is about gender--91% of rape victims are female.

And rape is certainly a problem for men to address