anti anti-rape backlash

I thought that paying $70 for a haircut would have been the 2nd most annoying thing to happen to me this past week. But then I was reading at Peet's tonight, and this dumbass decided to start a conversation about the book I was reading, Fraternity Gang Rape. When he asked about the book, I explained that I was studying the anti-rape movement. Then he asked if there was there ever a pro-rape movement. (this is the usual follow up question) This guy said that everyone agrees that rape is wrong. I told him that the anti-rape movement emerged in the early 1970s, when rape was a taboo subject, violence against women wasn't necessarily wrong, and it was believed that women did not have the right to bodily integrity. So then the guy says that if he had been alive fifty years ago, he would be able to rape women. He said this quite seriously. I'm not sure if he was sorry that he wasn't alive fifty years ago. I gave him the evil eye and returned to my book.

Okay, so there isn't a pro-rape movement, but in the early 1990s, anti anti-rape backlash emerged. I just finished reading Katie Roiphe's "The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus." She (poorly) critiques feminists for creating a culture of fear and date rape hysteria on college campuses. Roiphe is skeptical of statistics that report the number of women who are victims of rape and sexual assault, and she says that women are responsible for their actions and must be held accountable. She actually says that one woman's version of rape may be another's bad night.

So while nobody may explicitly condone rape, it's not so clear cut. When we conceptualize rape as an act committed by a stranger, jumping out from behind a bush, attacking a woman, we are likely to perceive this as "real rape." But, the line gets more blurry when the rapist is an acquaintance, a date, a spouse or when the woman is drinking, wearing revealing clothing, out late at night alone, etc. The anti anti-rape backlash isn't a necessarily a phenomenon that emerged in the early 90s; rather, society has always been critical of rape accusations and has placed some degree of responsibility and agency on the woman. Society and the legal and criminal justice system place the onus to prevent rape upon the woman. Consequently, many rapes go unreported.

In other news, I saw the Vagina Monologues this weekend, which was lots of fun, empowering, and pretty cool. Um, what else? I cleaned my apartment and I did some yoga. I'm pretty excited that I can do the full wheel now and headstands too. And, I bought a big bag of Sour Patch Kids tonight. That is all.