I've been feeling more and more like I'm living in the Republic of Gilead, and that my rights of a woman are on the verge of being eroded away to nothing. Recently there has been a push by Republicans to redefine rape. The bill, “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” otherwise known as H.R. 3, was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) would add the qualifier "forcible" to the term rape.
The term forcible is troubling because it would eliminate incest, statutory rape, and date rape. Why? Because of a lack of force. An unconscious woman or a child, does not need force to be subdued.
Why would anyone want to exclude such victims of rape from qualifying for what ever care they need? Are they somehow less victimized because of a lack of force? I don't think so.
Speaking of victims, legislation in Georgia, introduced by Bobby Franklin, would change the legal language so that people who are victims of rape, stalking, obscene phone calls, and domestic violence would be called "accusers" rather than victims.
This legislation, is supposedly about being "innocent until proven guilty." However, those who have suffered from the crimes of burglary, assault, murder, and vandalism are still victims.
I object to the Georgia legislation for so many reasons, but ultimately because it challenges the veracity of the victim's experience. Until someone is convicted, they have not legally suffered a traumatic experience. They're just claiming they did.
If this was really about innocence until proven guilty then a murdered body would be claiming it was murdered. That doesn't make sense.
Neither does it make sense to label a woman who has suffered rape an accuser rather than a victim.
The message is clear: those are real crimes. The crimes that happen in disproportionate numbers against women, are not.
What these two cases indicate is that the rhetoric, or the language in which we present women, is being challenged; the boundaries are being probed. Now, one may wonder why I'm still harping on this issue? As of February 3rd, The language of the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” has been modified. But I still find it troubling.I feel like conservatives are trying to see how far they can push before they receive resistance. Each time they push they seem to be able to get a way with a little more.
Frankly, as a woman, I'm scared.
I agree that as a woman in today's society I am also scared of what the government will and will not allow. As for redefining rape, I find this incredibly troubling not only for myself, but for the youth of America. Saying that incest and other kinds of rape simply do not count because the term forcible is not implied in the description means nothing. These are still acts making someone else do something they do not want to do. We as a Country must stand up to this immediately to end the government’s constant games and to protect the future of America.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I question about this is, if the boundaries are probed, what will the future limits define? Will it only be considered a "rape" if tramatic injury is present? I don't believe it is in any senator's ability to define what rape is. If I go to a bar, and a man slips me a roofie, I would expect that he would be charged in the same way that another man would be charged if he had raped me against my will. At the same time however, I believe that statutory rape is on a whole new level. I don't think it should even be considered a rape unless then victim is under the age of 14. Now, when it comes to calling the victim an "accuser" I do not personally agree with that, unless a woman puts herself in a position where she increases her chances of being sexually persued (an example of this would be if she were "teasing" the man and wasn't completely opposed to having sex). In all honesty, I have no place to determine whether or not something should be "labeled", I think it's important to see every aspect to things because you can't just say that apples and oranges are the same because they're both a fruit.
ReplyDeleteI believe that since there are different degrees of murder than there should be different degrees of rape, and each case should be treated uniquely and not put into a gernalized standard. The more educated police and law makers become about crimes such as rape I feel it is appropriate to re-evaluate the laws that depict those crimes With that being said it is a huge leap in the wrong direction to label a woman as an accuser, for victimized women will feel as though they will be denied help when they truely need it. On the flip side a possibily for the laws being changed is becuase there is a large number of women who use the word rape very lossely, and to get back at a ex-boyfriend or as an excuse for a poor decision these women will begin to throw around the word. This word is taking seriously by police and it is seen time after time that the woman will be believed before the man ever would. My heart goes out to any woman who had to go through a brutal crime such as rape, and if anything I feel the laws should be much more strict and the investigations that go into these cases should be much more extensive.
ReplyDeleteAlexis,
ReplyDeleteI would disagree that there are a large number of women who use rape in a threatening way--as a weapon against men who have angered them. That's a stereotype promoted by those who feel that women really want sex, regardless of the circumstances. There are very low statistics of women who falsely accuse men of rape. The statistics for false rape range from 2%-50%. However, the larger percentages are often later found to have been due to an error on the part of those collecting and reporting data. The most consistent statistics have false rape as less than 10% of reported rape. Since only a fraction of the women who are victims of rape actually report it, this would indicate that the percentage of false rapes to actual rapes is very low.
Another factor to consider is that women often recant their report of rape when they fear their attacker. This could mean that a report is listed as false but is in fact actual, but the victim withdraws her report.
I agree that rape is a big issue in our world today. Some women use it to their advantage but others it is a real case. All rape cases should be treated differently and be taken seriously. It is very childish to joke about rape so I don't understand why someone would want to. It is a serious matter and should be reported and focused on. It is a little scary to think that our government is focusing less on rape victims.
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