Glenda SimmsSUSAN BROWNMILLER'S 1975 classic publication Against Our Will, Jane Mills' Woman Words, the Encarta Encyclopedia and other related literature have all delineated the historical and psychological foundations of both the definition and the impact of rape on men and women.
In a very clear and convincing voice these authors rooted the crime of rape in prehistoric struggles "for land and cattle and labour power". In short they argue that "these struggles led first to the rape of women" and the "enslaving of conquered men. The women became labourers and objects of pleasure for the conquerors and the males became slaves".
GENITALS AS WEAPONS
In analysing why rape as an instrument of subjugation of women has endured for so long, one is tempted to agree with Brownmiller who posits that "man's discovery that his genitals could serve as a weapon to generate fear must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric time".
In a May 16, 2005 edition of a local newspaper, attorney-at-law Margarette Macaulay educated her readers on why women cannot be charged for rape. She pointed out that "rape is committed by a male having sexual intercourse with a female person without her consent".
Mrs. Macaulay also drew attention to the fact that in 1995 a bill designed to make rape a gender-neutral offence was laid in the Parliament of Jamaica.
Obviously the push for gender neutral laws has been heightened by the struggle to gain equality and justice for woman and girls by deconstructing aspects of the patriarchal mindset and worldview.
It is therefore important in this process of gaining gender neutrality to critique the fundamental concepts that have resulted in the definition, consequences and impact of rape as a crime against humanity.
HISTORY OF RAPE
In the Encarta Encyclopedia a clear overview of the legal
history of rape has highlighted the devaluing of the female as the basis of many laws that deal with sexual crimes. For instance, under the ancient Babylonian Code of Hummurabi "a married woman who was raped was considered to have committed adultery. The woman and her rapist were bound together and thrown in the river". The husband had the option of rescuing her if he so desired.
Also, an ancient Hebrew law required that a married woman be stoned to death if she was raped.
If today we find the practices of ancient societies bizarre, we need to be reminded that English common law "made rape (the sexual penetration of a woman forcibly and against her will) a crime. However, in this system criminality is not used to define the action of a husband who forcibly has sex with his wife against her will. Rape in marriage is not existent because wives historically and contemporarily are seen as the property of their husbands.
PROTECTING MALES
Rape laws can be analysed as systems of protection for the male of the specie.
In fact, in many societies such as the United States of America (USA) and Canada, rape laws were valiant attempts to safeguard men's authority and dominance.
Such legal reform processes kept feminist lawyers, social justice activists and others exhausted by efforts to challenge notions of consent in rape cases, attempts to prove that female victims are liars and the use of a woman's sexual history as justification for rape.
Getting to a point where societies develop and pass gender-neutral laws should be welcomed by most women and by all men who are desirous of unpacking the burden of patriarchal structures. Gender neutral rape laws would reverse the traditional laws which defined only women as the victims of rape and only men as rapists.
IT HAPPENS TO MEN TOO
Such laws would force men to acknowledge the evil of all forms of sexual exploitation and face the pain and trauma of forced sexual activity.
The April 2004 edition of the upscale magazine, Details, carried an article entitled 'Woman Raping Men'. In this discussion it was pointed out that there are many guys who have sex against their will. The article described a number of incidents in which young upper-middle class white males described how they were forced to have sex with young women who were single-minded in their determination to have their way.
One Ohio State University student described how he "lost his virginity on the floor of a dark living room, surrounded by party goers". His abuser is alleged to have given him alcohol and he became "too drunk to remember the hows of what followed, but he knows there was no condom, no consent". This incident caused this young man a variety of emotional problems and he sought counselling which clarified for him that "in losing his virginity he had become, not a man, but a victim of rape".
The experience of another university male undergraduate was also discussed in the same article. In this case he was drugged and raped by a woman who was in the company of a female friend of his.
"While he was falling in and out of consciousness he was taken to the apartment of a woman he did not know. He was dragged into a bedroom, undressed and forced to have sex with the woman without the use of a condom".
Such incidents probably happen far too often, however, very few men will come forward to report such abuses. This is because in many societies they would be laughed at by both men and women, stigmatised by agents of the legal system and not legally defined as victims of rape in the legislative framework of their societies.
In addition to these social barriers, the use of drugs or alcohol to dull the strength of a rape victim would weaken the cases of both male and female victims of forced sex under these circumstances.
Gender neutral laws that deal with sexual offences such as rape have great potential to unpackage the legacy of all the patriarchal values that reduce human beings to objects in the sexual arena.
It is quite clear from the historical accounts that the offence of rape has never been viewed as an offence against women's human dignity in its own right, but as an offence against male property as wives and daughters. By the same token, the penis is seen as a weapon of rape when it is used against the vagina.
BUGGERY IS NEVER
CONSIDERED RAPE
In the absence of the vagina, the penis takes on a more benign role and the damage to boys and men when they are penetrated anally against their will is either ignored or defined in less dramatic terms with less dramatic sanctions. This is because even though some men have sex with other men, patriarchal values kick in to deny the sexual content. Buggery against his will is never considered rape!
Male victims of sexual exploitation by both men and women are woefully in need of gender neutral rape laws. Such gender neutral laws can liberate women and men from the status of property by recognising human dignity and body integrity as fundamental human rights.
Dr. Glenda Simms is the
executive director of Bureau of Women's Affairs. Youn can send your email to infocus@gleanerjm.com.
