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| No everything is a 1st world problem, but some are actual problems. |
Women get oppressed everyday. In a high school a fourteen year old girl was
raped. Her teacher raped her and then no
one defended her. Neither the court nor
the school administration did anything to help her. When she reported what had happened to her
seemingly no one cared about her. When
they went to court the girl could not even go because she was too scared and
shaken up. The judge pretty much just
slapped the teacher’s hand and sent him on his way. He didn’t get fired or in trouble in any way
for causing this girl so much trauma and anguish. She was so upset and traumatized that she
killed herself. This should never have
happened. The teacher should have been
fired and arrested for what he did to this girl. No one should have to be so abused and
punished for not doing anything wrong and their oppressor gets off completely
free. She committed suicide after being
so upset and abused and that is just tragic that something like this would
happen. This happens all the time in
America that someone rapes another person and does not get in trouble at
all. America is notorious for letting
men off free for doing such a tragic and awful crime. We need to change America so that these kind
of crimes do not happen as often as they do.
Our justice system needs to understand more that rape is a crime and
needs to be punished. Men who think they
can just do whatever they want ruin a lot of things for decent human beings. This
was even a rape of a minor. Minors
normally get more help from justice because we are supposed to protect our
children. This minor was not helped and
died because of it. America’s justice
system needs to step it up and take more care of its innocents. There are even songs where men in America
sing about how it is about rape and how much women want it. Nobody should have the right to decide if
someone else wants it or not. Another
musician has even said before that people that get raped deserve it. No one should talk like that. If someone thinks that they can talk that
mean and immaturely they should not be able to have an opinion on the
subject. Protect our children; do not
get them killed because of evil actions.
Imagine
getting in trouble for something that wasn’t your fault. It happens to everybody eventually, normally
as a kid. When children get in trouble
it can be their own fault. Or perhaps
they were fighting with someone else and it was the other’s fault, but they get
in trouble instead. That is just no
fun. Now imagine getting in trouble
because you were assaulted, and the people that hurt you are off free. That’s how most rapes are treated in America. It is not fair that the people in charge do
not help someone who has been hurt. Most people in America probably know
someone who has been raped or raped somebody else, even if they are unaware of
the fact about that person. Because
the legal system has a history of not being helpful to rape victims,
the crimes often go unreported, thus perpetuating rape violence; therefore,
steps need to be taken to change the way the law deals with rape victims so
that they are more inclined to come forward, allowing for justice to be served
and crime to be eradicated.
When
reported, rape may be evaluated in a variety of ways, depending on the age of
the victim and circumstances of the rape. The percentage of rape reported to police that
include different weapons is 62% firearms, 42% knives, and 32% “other” types of
weapons(Addington, L.A., n.p., 2008). The
rape is more likely to be reported when there is a weapon involved. The amount of people affected is
astonishingly high. In 2007 it was
reported that there were “42.2% of female rape victims raped before the age of
18” (Flowe, H.D., n.p., 2007). From
statistics that can be obtained, “1 in 6 American women have been the victim of
rape”(Flowe, H.D., n.p., 2007). Rape
does not however only happen to females, it happens to males also. Out of those that do happen to males 27.8% were
ten years old or younger. In total an
estimated 84,767 out of approximately 316,000,000 people in the U.S. of
forcible rapes have been reported to the law enforcement in 2010, which equates
to a rape occurring every six point two minutes in the U.S. “Experts agree that rape is one of the most
under-reported crimes in the United States”(Falcaro, H.D., n.p., 2012).
A
few of the reports of rape however are falsified. It is not as common as it seems that reports
of rape would be false, but it does happen which makes it very difficult for
people to believe when it would be a true statement, especially since it is
such a hard subject for people in general to accept. The department of justice estimates that about
8% of rape claims are false (Flowe, n.p.).
In
the past it has been way too common that many in the legal system have treated
rape claims with much skepticism(Flowe, H.D., n.p., 2007). Many times in the courts the defense tries to
argue that woman’s past actions (such as one night stands) predict what she
will do in the future (Flowe, n.p.). Her
past really should not matter in the case of rape, just because she has had sex
before, even if it was with that sex partner, does not mean she wanted it that
time and it was not forced on her. No
person should be denied justice for something that is simply wrong no matter
what. This skepticism of the victim does
not only happen in the courts, it can happen when first reported also, to
anyone. In some cases the police have
been known to screen out victims deemed to be ‘questionable’: women who had
been drinking, were wearing provocative clothes, or had dated their attacker. Overall rapes that are reported to the police
mostly involve violence and weapons, victim injury and multiple offenders, and
lack of prior victim-offender relationship (complete stranger). (Addington,
L.A., n.p.) “Rapes committed with use of
a weapon, victim injury, or multiple offenders are more likely to come to the
attention of police than are weaponless incidents”(Addington, L.A., n.p., 2008). Even so with all the violence rapes are
still very likely to go unreported, which means there are even more rapes than
statistics actually show because people will not report if nothing will be done
about what has happened. “Of all violent
crimes, rapes are the least likely to be reported to police”(Addington, L.A.,
n.p., 2008).
One
of the ways that legislation has tried to help is by adding shield laws saying the
prosecution can’t bring up past sexual history information, like lying or
prostitution, of the victim unless it helps in the case. “On the other hand, one could argue that past
behavior on the part of the complainant with other [people] or with the
defendant is unrelated to whether [they] would consent to intercourse with the
accused and in turn make a false accusation of rape”(Flowe, H.D., n.p., 2007). Past behavior does not equal consent. It does not matter if someone has had similar
past experiences, that does not mean they are making a false claim. It is important to research the situation
fully and not just disregard what could have happened with such a big problem
and claim.
Vindictive
wives could make false allegations. “When
considering the response of the courts to cases of marital rape particularly in
the context of sentencing, it becomes apparent that a rapist most certainly
does not remain a rapist, ‘irrespective of his relationship with his victim’”(Rumney,
P., n.p., 1999). Marriage contract means
a woman cannot retract consent; the court tries to give the husband
immunity(Rumney, n.p.). So regardless of
how the spouses feel against each other, the court will see them as married and
that is it, making rape not mean anything to the court if they are married. In contrast some people believe “extending the
law of rape to married couples would undermine the institution of marriage”(Rumney,
P., n.p., 1999). Men are more powerful
in the governmental system and often in their own marriage they are in charge,
leaving women feeling like they have no choice but to have sex with their
husband, that is how society can view marriage, and more often how the court
sees marriage, as male rule. This
results in any intercourse within marriage as consensual, according to courts.
It
seems that with men in general, even without marriage, they feel in charge and
if they want to have sex apparently they should be allowed to. Society sees how men act and accepts it as
how they are and there is nothing wrong with that. But there is something wrong if men think
that is how they can act. Engaging in
non-committed sexual relations for men is seen to enhance man’s “reputation and
social status and as proof of their sexual prowess and masculinity”(Littleton,
H., n.p., 2011). Women contrast men in
social standing with non-committed sexual behavior, negative for reputation and
social status, resulting in negative labels like “slut” or “easy”. (Littleton,
H., n.p.) There is a double standard in
western society about freedom and engaging in sexual behavior. (Littleton, H.,
n.p.) There are different views of men
and women. If a woman is labeled as slut
or something similar, then men feel the need to use aggressive sexual advances and
think the woman has no right to refuse, because of the label. (Littleton, H.,
n.p.) This has led to a general opinion
that “women are expected to have fewer sexual urges and to be able to control
the urges they do have, men are expected to have frequent, strong sexual urges
over which they have only limited control”(Littleton, H., n.p., 2011). Apparently, according to society, men just
cannot control themselves when it comes to sex, but if women decide to have sex
they are evil. This thought process
needs to stop and people need to not give men an out for whatever they want to
do but also be blaming women for maybe just being the same as men.
Rape
has become such a problem in our culture and it is so common that 37% or four
out of ten American said they would be scared to walk alone at night within a
mile of their own home.(Saad, L., n.p., 2010). In 1982, 48% said they were afraid, while 52%
were not afraid. In 1993, still fairly
high, 40% then descended to 30% by 2001. The “trend in Americans perception of their
personal safety contrasts with federal crime statistics”(Saad, L., n.p., 2010) The fear and actual crime rates do not match,
“suggesting fear of crime is not necessarily dictated by reality”(Saad, L.,
n.p., 2010). Because society’s fear is
not based in reality, and the reality that rape is more common than it was, it
is probably based on how much publicity it receives. The media does not report it unless it
involves a high profile person or murder, leading the public into a state of
ignorance and fear. It is probably not
exclusively rape that is making America so afraid, but it is definitely a rampantly
reoccurring crime enough that people are justifiably scared of walking alone.
The
laws and social attitude need to be changed so that rape is not so common all
over America. Rape should not be a
common occurrence, nor should it go unreported or charged. The children of today should be taught that it
is not acceptable to treat other human beings like they are objects or things. Rape has become so common that many people do
not see what they are doing as wrong, and that needs to change. Better leadership of schools, or governments,
or maybe just better parenting could help human beings treat each other better.
Either way something needs to be done,
and it isn’t being done. Prevent rape
and protect friends from being in situations where they could be hurt. Teach the children of today that it is wrong
to hurt others. Teach teenagers and
adults that rape is harmful and greatly looked down upon. Women should be able to walk around in our
country and not be so scared of dying or assaulted.
References:
1. Addington, L. A., & Rennison, C. (2008). Rape
co-occurrence: do additional crimes affect victim reporting and police
clearance of rape?. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 24(2),
205-226. doi:10.1007/s10940-008-9043-9
2. Flowe, H. D., Ebbesen, E. B., & Putcha-Bhagavatula,
A. (2007). Rape shield laws and sexual behavior evidence: Effects of consent
level and women's sexual history on rape allegations. Law And Human Behavior,
31(2), 159-175. doi:10.1007/s10979-006-9050-z
3. Falcaro, W. (2012). Rape in America. Business People,
126.
4. Littleton, H. (2011). Rape myths and beyond: A commentary
on Edwards and colleagues (2011). Sex Roles, 65(11/12), 792-797.
doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9982-8
5. Rumney, P. (1999). When rape isn't rape: court of appeal
sentencing practice in cases of marital and relationship rape. Oxford
Journal Of Legal Studies, 19(2),
6. Saad, L. (2010, November
05). Nearly 4 in 10 Americans still fear walking alone at night. Gallup.
Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/144272/Nearly-Americans-Fear-Walking-Alone-Night.aspx
Bibliography:
1. Brayton, E. (2012, November
28). [Web log message]. Retrieved from
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/11/28/lawsuit-raped-girl-gets-suspended-rapists-dont/
2. Sexual
assault overview. FindLaw. Retrieved
Nov. 14, 2013, http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/sexual-assault-overview.html?DCMP=GOO-CRIM_SexualAssaultBroadModifier-Rape&HBX_PK=law+for+rape
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