Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 20, 1993 TAG: 9306230272
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by MARY WELEK ATWELL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Crimes against women - rape, sexual harassment, wife battering - have in recent years received increased attention both from professionals and from the media.
Indeed, pressures from women have forced the definitions of and the very names for these acts to be expanded. Female victims have found that the traditional reactions to these offenses were biased in favor of the male perpetrators and did not treat their experiences seriously as deserving of outrage and punishment.
The authors of "The Second Rape" are two female psychologists who have been involved in rape cases both as victims and as therapists. Simply put, the point of the book is that a woman who is raped is twice a victim - first of the rapist and second of the "system" that exists ostensibly to provide the survivor with support and redress.
The book falls into three parts _ case studies of five rape victims (including a parable based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood); criticism of the professionals such as police, courts and therapists who deal with the survivors; and suggestions, both short and long range, for the development of women's survival strategies and for changes aimed at reducing the social conditions that lead to rape.
The results of Madigan and Gamble's efforts are mixed. One would not argue that the victims are to blame for the crimes they suffered. On the other hand, the victims are portrayed as helpless in the encounter both with the brutality of the rapist and with the brutality of the system. The authors report every one of the victims' complaints equally uncritically, from their rage at the men who raped them to their frustration that the accused has constitutional rights that prevent him from being convicted without evidence.
The last section of the book, "Empowerment," is much more realistic and balanced than the anecdotal chapters. Here women are provided with practical suggestions for preventing and dealing with rape by either strangers or acquaintances. The authors conclude that ultimately the incidence of rape will diminish only when women and men develop new attitudes and gender definitions that do not equate the feminine with acquiescence or the masculine with aggression.
Madigan and Gamble's work has value for the general information it provides about the devastating experience of rape. It could be put to best use as a basis for discussion at the rape awareness sessions that many colleges, schools, and public service groups have begun to provide.
Mary Welek Atwell teaches at Radford University
by CNB