Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993 TAG: 9304280511
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN M. BYERLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Couched in all his literary references - some of them to feminist scholars who would surely rise up in rage at having their ideas so misused - is a deeply held, ancient assumption among some men that they are entitled to ultimate sexual authority over women.
Askins' arguments fit into a rape-excuse category that might be titled, "She had it coming because . . . " His contribution to such excuse-making is not so passe as "She was dressed provocatively." No, Askins was contemporary enough to recognize women's more liberated position, their ability to date and enter into casual sexual foreplay, and then (at the moment of arousal) apply their legally protected ability to say no.
It is this legalistic turn of events that galls Askins, that pushes him over the brink to publicly reveal what he previously held private - his disdain for women's ultimate sexual right to their own bodies. He is correct in recognizing that both legislatures and courts have finally come around to siding with women about who is responsible in rape charges involving acquaintances. What emerges is a new social standard for male behavior, the expectation that they will control their sexual impulses and operate on the basis of mutuality, even to the point of penetration.
Askins is so disdainful of this that he even conjures up a new term - "understandable assault" - to replace "acquaintance (or date) rape." Let us not dismiss the deeply symbolic meaning in this act of renaming, of replacing a term in which women's experience of violation is central with one that foregrounds men's historical prerogative to sexual conquest. Lost in the process is any recognition on Askins' part of the nature of sexual violation, any empathy with victims or any understanding of how date rape fits into a bigger picture of women's secondary status in our society.
For all of the criticism Askins throws at the legal system, let me say that it's basically one of the best mechanisms we have for addressing violence against women in all its forms. Though vigilante action as a direct response might have been a gleam in some of our eyes early in the anti-rape movement, most of us fell back on a solid reformist political agenda as a more viable way to deal with persistent problems of exploitation. We believed that democratic social institutions (like police and courts) ought to serve our needs, too. Let me add that new laws, new police procedures in many areas and newly framed legal opinions were often achieved with the participation of intelligent men who saw the need to right historical injustices.
As for women's complicity, let me recount an old analogy we used in the rape-crisis program where I worked many years. When Mr. Smith went to file a police report that he'd been robbed, the police officer said, "Really, Mr. Smith. What were you doing in that neighborhood after midnight wearing such an expensive suit? What did you expect would happen?"
Carolyn M. Byerly of Radford is an assistant professor of communication at Radford University and the author of "The Mother's Book: How to Survive the Molestation of Your Child."
by CNB