Reading Reflection Seven

“Rape was considered a crime against men, or more accurately, against men’s property.” (Newman 259)

The section on rape in this chapter made me furious. Whenever rape statistics and studies on rape or reported I become furious. That all women must live with the threat of rape in the back of their minds makes me furious. When I go to the grocery store, when I walk back to my car from work, and especially when I go out on the weekends the fact that I could be raped always lurks somewhere in the back of my mind. From the time I was about 12 years old and still to this day I have been trained in ways to prevent rape. Newman lists many of them on page 262, and notes how all of those measures are ways in which women can prevent being raped. Rarely are there measures to be taken for men. It is even more frustrating that the United States is one of the more sympathetic countries when it comes to rape victims.

This chapter made me realize how our world still needs to progress when it comes to women, and rape. The fact that women are blamed and sometimes even killed for being rape victims is appalling. Newman explains in the quote I chose that rape has long been considered a crime against men because families and husbands are both dishonored when their women become “tainted” and they are also humiliated that they could not protect the women they fee responsible for. Even in the United States “rape victims must prove their innocence, rather than the state having to prove the guilt of the defendant” (261). As a woman I will always support the woman’s side of the argument, and I do not agree with the way rape victims are often put on trial, this chapter did challenge my beliefs because I do understand that in convictions where a person could go to jail for years and years that it is important to make sure the defendant is really guilty. However, I don’t think it is fair that a victims’ pasts and relationships with their rapists are put on trial, or that women can be blamed because of her behavior.

As far as my behavior goes, it won’t change, because I still need to take precautions when it comes to rape. However, reading this chapter, especially the sections on different cultures and their views on rape made me want to get involved with rape crisis outreach programs both in the US and possibly elsewhere. I also think that both men and women need to become more educated when it comes to rape.