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Path: utzoo!watmath!saquigley
From: saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Rape by Women?!?!? - (nf)
Message-ID: <7172@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Mar-84 15:00:51 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.7172
Posted: Sun Mar  4 15:00:51 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 5-Mar-84 00:35:25 EST
References: <973@inmet.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 50


> What then, do you have to say about (my previously mentioned to you) Susan
> Brownmiller's book Against Our Will, which theorizes that the crime of rape
> is a method by which men dominate women by subjecting them to constant fear?
> 
> If a man rapes to dominate (rather than sexually satisfy), doesn't this lend
> some credence to this theory?
> 
> Beth Mazur
> {ima,harpo,esquire}!inmet!mazur
> 
> 
I think it would be more accurate to say that rape is a method by which
SOCIETY dominates women by subjecting them to constant fear.  That domination
is attained not only but the act of rape itself, but by the way rape is treated
by society, and in this women are as guilty as well as men.

One of the guest speakers in the self-defense class I was taking a few years
ago was a lawyer, who specialised, among other things, in rape, and he told us,
that, if we ever got raped, the best jury we could hope for would be an all-men
over 65 jury.  Based on his experience, and some of his collegues, he said these
were the people who seemed to be the most compassionate towards the victim.
The least compassionate members of the jury were married women.
Also, here is what Frederc Storaska ("How to say no to a rapist and survive")
has to say about gang rapes.  "Surprisingly, perhaps, violence is rarer
in group rape than it is with the lone assulter.....  When violence does
occur in group rape, the group is likely to be composed of both men and women,
and the women, not the men, are usually violent to the victim.  The main
reason for this may be jealousy.  After all, just by choosing to rape a stranger, the gang has rejected its women.  The women's revenge may be immediate and
brutal.  At the least, they'll be extremely unsympathetic"

This is awful, but not too surprising.  One of the best strategies to keep
people from rebelling, is divide and conquer.  This strategy seems to be
particularly effective in the case of women.  It is not uncommon to see women
who have suffered because they are women, turn against other women (usually
younger) who are better off than they are and are looking towards a brighter
future.  People sometimes become very self-righteous in their suffering.
Women are very good at inflicting pain on other women.  In tribes where the
operation is still performed, it is women who perform clitorectomies on little
girls, and women are also the ones who pass on guilt and shame of being women
to their daughters.  The message is clear: "I've suffered, and I paid for my
place in society, I'm not going to let you get away with it for less than what I
had to pay".  So, those women take out their angers on the only other people
they can take it out on, weaker women than them.

This was just to say that even though rape is not simply a crime of men against
women, even though it might look like it is overall.

				Sophie Quigley
			...!{decvax,allegra}!watmath!saquigley