The Feminist Version of Rape (Cathryn Crawford)

There is a movement in this country to push women towards a victim status, towards an attitude that implies that a woman is simply a passive person, someone whom men can and will always take advantage of, both in public and private life. This movement is fomented and spearheaded by the liberal feminists, who believe that men are monsters and women are powerless victims against them (a clear contradiction to true feminism).

The symptom of this movement is that the liberal feminists have taken hold of the word rape and its connotations and associations and twisted it to mean something that it was never meant to. Rape, by definition, is anyone forcefully, through harm or threat of harm, forcing another person to have sex with them - there must be a clearly expressed lack of consent and/or coercion by force or threat of force. According to New York law, "forcible compulsion" ( i.e. rape) is defined as "to compel by either the use of physical force or a threat express or implied which places a person in fear of immediate death or physical injury to himself, herself, or another person."

However, this definition, which is widely mirrored in all fifty states, has been watered down. According to Dr. Andrea Parrot, a psychiatry professor at Cornell University who specializes in studying date rape, "Any sexual intercourse without mutual desire is a form of rape. Anyone who is psychologically or physically pressured into sexual contact is as much a victim of rape as the person who is attacked on the streets."

Now university counselors can convince twenty year old girls that since their boyfriend whined until they finally had sex with them, they’ve been raped. After all, under Dr. Parrot’s definition, that is classified as psychological pressure.

In many studies performed, especially those that focused on date rape or acquaintance rape, the women who were interviewed said that they did not realize that they had been raped until the interviewer described rape scenarios involving psychological pressure. These women did not feel violated, and the counselors and interviewers have to convince them that they have, indeed, been raped.

For example, the most comprehensive and most widely stated study for on-campus sex crimes is Mary Koss’s Ms. Campus Project on Sexual Assault. It was conducted through surveys, and it speculates that 1 in 4 women have been sexually assaulted. However - Koss obtained her data concerning the "incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression" with a 10-item survey featuring questions such as, "Have you given in to sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because you were overwhelmed by a man's continual arguments and pressure?" and "Have you had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man threatened or used some degree of physical force to make you?". Questions 9 and 10 (which also refer to the use of force or threats of violence) seem to fit the conventional picture of rape, but consider question 8: "Have you had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?" According to psychiatry, this question would be "double-barreled": What, exactly, is it asking? The meaning could change simply by what questions were asked leading up to this specific one. Does this mean that after a man buys you a drink and then you have sex with him, he has raped you? Did the girl express that she “didn’t want to,” or did the “didn’t want to” feelings come after the fact?

There has to be a clear boundary between what is and isn’t rape. Rape is not confusion or negative feelings after sex. Rape is not feeling that you don’t want to have sex, but giving in to please your boyfriend. That simply isn’t rape. Rape is when you are forced to have sex with someone, against your will, and when you clearly express that you are not complying with the situation.

This new way of defining rape, the feminist version of rape, gives women a way to simply be a passive victim, externalizing any feelings of guilt and shame about the sexual encounter and forcing responsibility onto the other person involved. Sadly, because of this attitude, rape is becoming just another everyday occurrence, something that some girls say with a shrug, as though it’s a normal part of life and is no big deal. Date rape has become the new campus hot button, and it has become so normal that girls discuss it as though it’s a trivial, almost normal thing to experience.

This attitude not only cheapens the value and independence of women, it sets women up for failure, and teaches them that they are victims of predatory men. More importantly, it trivializes sexual violence by making it something that is no longer horrible, but something that is typical and representative of the whole of society. It has become an expectation, and when true sexual trauma occurs, it gets swept away in the tide of indifference that this attitude has fostered.

Cathryn Crawford is a student from Texas. She can be reached at feedback@washingtondispatch.com.

I enjoyed it, Cath. Well done.

So into the fray I jump, because I disagree with one of the premises of the article:

"who believe that men are monsters and women are powerless victims against them"

I hardly think that Patty Ireland thinks that men are mosters and women are powerless victims against them. On the contrary, I think Patty Ireland thinks men are powerless to combat the way she, and her NOW gang, can demagogue them, demonize them, shame them and guilt-trip them into empowering her and her organization.

You look at the way divorce law and abortion law is crafted in accord with their philosophies. Do you really think she is pushing for gender equity? Hell no. She is pushing for women to benefit, period. And she does this because she thinks men are powerless to stop it (and unworthy of equity themselves).

This is yet one more example of how OUT OUT TOUCH these so-called "Feminists" are with women under 35...I am in my early 30's and I find nothing appealing about a bunch of ball busting, man hating, grey haired,fat bull dykes constantly whining about being "victims" of this or that. These "wymen" do not speak for me and even my Liberal girl friends cringe at the word "Feminist". The are so out of touch with todays young women, I think they will be extinct soon. I have a teenage niece who barely knows what a feminist is...all she does know is that its not "cool". LOL.

You know, I understand and agree with your point, William.

However, I think that NOW may not believe that women are powerless, but it suit their purposes to convince them that they are, in certian circumstances. If women are vulnerable, and men take advantage of them, then who swoops in to save them?

Why, the feminists, of course.

Precisely. The membership, by and large, has bought into the politics of victimology.

But the leadership? I don't for a second believe they think men have an advantage over women. I believe they think they have men by the balls. A bunch of female supremecists.

"rape will always have a subjective component"

Meaning what? If a woman believes she was raped she was raped? Many states now allow for prosecution of rape if a woman was drunk and the next morning determines that she did not consent to the sex. Even if the guy was just as drunk. Now, I'm not condoning drunk sex with strangers - but the woman should be responsible for her actions, even if drunk.

There should be objective proof of force or threat of force before something is called rape. Not subject proof of how the woman claims she "felt".

I agree. Rape is a question of consent. Rape is not, however, negative feelings after sex, feeling guilty after sex, or giving in to someone who is pestering you for sex. It's simply not.

The big danger to women here is the trivialization of the charge of rape. When enough women cry "Rape!" in response to "feeling pressured", or (possibly more often) anger over his pressuring her for sex, and then not calling the next day, people are not going to continue to take the charge seriously.

I also note that merely being intoxicated does not absolve one from the consequences of your actions while under the influence. Did I commit a crime? Did she? (FWIW, I was the 'passive' partner in that encounter) It seems to Me that by your referenced position, either we are both guilty, or we are both innocent.

Here's another scenario: you are wealthy and a woman decides to get you drunk and have sex with you, for the purpose of getting pregnant by you and suing you for $$$$$ for child support. Has she committed a crime? From my viewpoint she has, but try getting a court to take you seriously

If I decide to get drunk, and while drunk do a bad thing, I am treated by the legal system as being just as guilty as if I did it while completely sober. But if, without my consent, somebody slipped something into my Pepsi which impaired me, I could probably make a good argument to get off.

My point here is that a woman who willingly consents to drink with a guy should not be allowed to cry "Rape!" if she subsequently drunkenly decides it would be a good idea to jump into bed with the guy, and later doesn't remember consenting. "Incapacitation rape" should be reserved for the case where he drugs her without her knowledge or consent.

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