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