Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mcnc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!mcnc!ge
From: ge@mcnc.UUCP (George Entenman)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Brownmiller & Rape - A Personal View
Message-ID: <1997@mcnc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Mar-84 23:03:54 EST
Article-I.D.: mcnc.1997
Posted: Sat Mar 17 23:03:54 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Mar-84 08:34:36 EST
Organization: Microelectronics Ctr. of NC; RTP, NC
Lines: 52

In a recent news article, Jim Jenal discusses Susan Brownmiller's book,
stating that:

    "My principle difficulty with the book was that its major premise,
    that ALL men use rape to subjugate ALL women, simply left no room
    for a man (as an individual) to feel part of the solution instead
    of part of the problem."

Perhaps Brownmiller's point isn't that all men USE rape to subjugate
all women, but rather that ALL women are subjugated by rape in some
sense, and therefore that ALL men, who are not so subjugated, BENEFIT
from rape, willingly or not.  I believe that an analogy can be drawn
with racism.  Those of us who are white benefit from racism in some
sense (and of course we are all poorer for it in another sense); we
benefit from it whether we wish to or not, and whether we are racist
individuals or not.  Our education is usually better, our neighborhoods
safer, our chances of being suspected of crimes are less, our chances
for employment greater, etc.

The thing that impressed me about Brownmiller's book is that it succeeds
in proving that rape is a means of achieving power over women
(the part that really convinced me was the section on pulp magazine
stories because they made the connection between rape and power explicit).
As a man, I participate in the advantages that this power over women
gives to all men.

As an individual, I don't LIKE the fact that other men's rapes benefits
me.  Certainly I would do my best to prevent any actual rapes from
occuring.  But this doesn't prevent me from benefiting from a certain
kind of power over women.  If nothing else, simply being able to help
protect women against rape gives me a certain usefullness to women that
women cannot have for me.  In this and other ways I benefit from rape,
whether I wish to or not.

I am not certain if this is what Brownmiller meant, and I admit that I
am puzzled by Brownmiller's reply to Jenal at the party where he met
her ("she simply responded that she was in a fight and didn't have time
to worry about the sensibilities of the (relatively) few males who
would bother to read her book.").

Of course, Jenal's main point is well-taken:  the TONE of Brownmiller's
book is NOT conducive to the kind of cooperation that we must have
between men and women if we are to eliminate the kinds of human
relations epitomized by rape and other forms of violence.
Nevertheless, this tone should be understandable given the sort of
things that Brownmiller was thinking about as she wrote her book.  And
I believe that her book is essential to understanding the function of
rape in our society, an understanding that we need if we are to change
our society.

				George Entenman
				...decvax!mcnc!ge