Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bbncca.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!bbncca!sdyer
From: sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Rape by Women?!?!? - (nf)
Message-ID: <610@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 4-Mar-84 00:37:50 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.610
Posted: Sun Mar  4 00:37:50 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Mar-84 07:33:47 EST
References: <973@inmet.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 28

Beth says,

>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?

I haven't read Brownmiller's book, but your paraphrase is a bit confusing.
The phrase "...rape is a method by which men dominate women by subjecting
them to constant fear" seems to imply that men (as a class) use rape as
a means to subjugate women.  This is effective as political agitprop in
feminist writing; as a model of reality, it misrepresents the facts.

Unless we are witnessing a situation of a single rapist repeatedly
accosting women and terrorizing the community, rape is an act
between individuals, and the violence is not directed against women
(as a class.)

I would prefer to see a statement like "...rape is a method by which
rapists dominate their victims by subjecting them to constant fear,"
[the fear arising subsequent to their attack.]  This properly puts
the emphasis on the individual perpetrator.
-- 
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA