Susan Brownmiller’s article, “Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape” brought up a lot of valid points about rape, but I think one of the better points she brings up is about the misconception of a typical rapist profile. Since rape is a controversial and stigmatized subject in our society, it isn’t talked about, and this leads to many false assumptions about both victims and perpetrators. Rape, along with many other criminalized acts, is often thought of as something that only ugly, poorly groomed men in dark alleys at night do. In reality, as Brownmiller states, “the typical American rapist is no weirdo, psycho schizophrenic beset by timidity, sexual deprivation, and a domineering wife or mother” (274). Yet when people think of rape as something that only deviant, mentally ill people do, it gives women a false sense of security and makes it more difficult to deal with a rape by a date or a friend. On a somewhat related tangent, I believe that many anti-criminal agendas, such as anti-drug programs, make the same mistake of portraying a criminals as a deviant, unstable individual. I remember in elementary school watching an anti-drug film, which featured a scary looking bunny with red eyes in a dark alley as the drug dealer. The message that films such as these send is that as long as you stay away from dark alleys, you will be fine. This isn’t effective message years later when it isn’t a scary person in an alley offering students drugs, but most likely their friends or acquaintances. Similarly, I think that the commonly held assumption that rape is just something strangers do is a very detrimental belief, because a variety of people commit rape. As in Emilie Morgan’s story, “Don’t Call Me a Survivor” she is raped first by a complete stranger, then by her date, and then by a group of friends.
The Susan Brownmiller article made me think about the danger of rape on college campuses. I think that when it comes to small, segregated schools (like Colgate) that are cut off from the larger population, students feel a sense of security because chances are that you are friends with or know of everyone. Many believe that rape isn’t something that happens too often, because there aren’t a lot of scary old people hanging around. I think a good example of this misguided thought is the situation last semester when a person pretending to be a Colgate student broke into some apartments, and according to a rumor going around campus, also sexually assaulted a girl. I wasn’t here last semester, so I am unsure of the exact details and I understand that there is still question if whether or not a sexual assault actually occurred, but regardless, the panic and paranoia that I heard from my friends at Colgate was very high. It is interesting that an (alleged) sexual assault by a non-Colgate person was so talked about and publicized, but rape by Colgate students to other Colgate students is hardly ever talked about, although I’m sure that it happens. I am unsure of why this is. Perhaps because rape by an average looking boy in one’s psychology class is harder to come to grips with than rape by a complete stranger. What I learned from Brownmiller’s article is that it is crucial to be educated about the portrait of an average rapist, and to dispel many of the myths about rape.
I think Brownmiller and Emma raise an interesting point about rapist profiling. I think it is in human nature to want to trust people and so in trusting those who you know, you don't want to believe that they could be a rapist. This kind of profiling is applicable in many aspects of our lives. We feel like we are in a "dangerous neighborhood" which 9/10 times is comprised of a specific demographic. What is different from us, white people, seems different and often dangerous. When I read the Brownmiller article, rape definitely seemed to be a part of a superiority complex and an act of demonstrating one's power and control over others. This made me think of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Bob Ewell, the poorest white man in the county felt so oppressed and powerless compared to the wealthy white families of the area that the only way to show his power was to claim that Tom Robinson, the black man, raped his daughter. This cycle of oppression seemed to be reflected in situations of rape. For whatever reason, the men who rape women must feel some oppression in areas of their lives and feel a need to show their power as a man buy subjecting women to violent acts of rape. Similarly, I think women feed into this cycle of oppression too. Women of certain statuses judge those women who have been raped and argue that "those women must have been asking for it" depending on their outfits, demeanors, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to break this cycle of oppression, but I think that unity and respect for the opposite sex and within your own sex could go a long way.
it is interesting how hard it is to talk about rape and really to define rape in a sense. we put so much pressure on women to talk about these instances and to make sure everyone knows what happened and to prosecute the man but at the same time i dont think we talk enough about the male and how they often become victimized in this rape culture. what i mean by this is that our society does not allow a man to turn down sex or not want to have sex with a girl without being defines as gay, if a man hasnt had sex with a larger amount of girls we automatically think something is wrong with him, or if he doesnt have a high sex drive or isnt aggresive enought they it implies more things. we put so much pressure on a person to be all these things and then we wonder why when a woman goes home with a man and doesnt say no, but he is gay if he doesnt make a move and then the girl is frustrated because he doesnt want her, or if he goes to far then its rape, or if she doesnt say no but isnt sure if she wants it then he forced her? there is so much gray area and this is due to lack of communication in society...not due to the man or woman itself
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