Terrorism for Women is Different (adapted from an assigned project)

When I moved to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood nearly two weeks ago, I had no idea what I was getting in to. My roommate and I are paying an astronomical amount of rent to live in this ‘upscale’ neighborhood with trendy stores, well-lit streets and comparatively low crime rates. We were ill prepared to discover that there is a rapist lurking in our cozy neighborhood. In the past three weeks three women have been accosted. Two others were raped earlier in the summer. Chicago police currently do not have enough evidence to believe that the incidents are related. However, the victims’ descriptions of their attackers are eerily similar. Between 2 and 2:30 a.m. on July 23rd a young woman was thrown to the ground and nearly raped by a man she described as Hispanic, 25-30 years old with short hair. At 4:30 a.m. on July 29th a young woman was attacked as she was entering her apartment building. The attacker struck her in the back of the head, took her into her apartment and raped her. She described him as being 25-30 years old and Hispanic. The most recent attack occurred on August 3rd at 2:30 in the afternoon! On a busy street, this man offered to help a young woman with her grocery bags. When she declined, he followed her up to her apartment and attempted to assault her. She described him as being about 175 lbs., between 28 and 32 years old, and white.

In the past few years “terrorism” has become quite a buzzword. It is in the news on an almost daily basis from local ‘terror-alerts’ to terrorist activity abroad. When many of us imagine terrorism we think of September 11, 2001. We think of foreign men attacking us, we think of religious extremism, we think of war. But how often do we think about the terror that we live with every single day? I am talking about the terror that all women live with; the fear of assault and attack that shapes our daily lives and our entire experience of this world. I ask you, why is sexual assault not considered to be terrorism? Why are rapists not considered to be terrorists? And why is punishment of sexual assault so lenient?

Only in a society that eroticizes hierarchy and power can crimes like this continue to be so pervasive. One need only watch television for a few hours or flip through a Maxim magazine to see that women’s bodies are the erotic toys of men. This is the ideology that nearly every member of American society is inundated with. It is not surprising then that we have so many attacks on women’s bodies and on their bodily sovereignty. This is a culture that does not believe that women’s bodies are their own. Our bodies are tools of the patriarchy: tools for reproduction, tools for male sexual pleasure, tools to make the lives of men easier at whatever cost. Our bodies are tools but they are not our own. That is the message that we get over and over again. Is it really so surprising then that men use our bodies that way?

FOX news reported on March 15th that a forty-two year old man convicted of raping a young women, a man who plead guilty, mind you, is being released after only spending six months in prison. Why, you ask? Because he apologized. He said he was sorry, he was an alcoholic at the time and is now in AA. Could you even imagine that happening in a murder case? I can sense the chiding ‘rape is not the same as murder’ response. Women who are victims of sexual assault never get their lives back. Do you think a woman who was raped can sleep at night knowing her rapist is free, enjoying his life? According to Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), rape survivors are three times more likely to suffer from depression, six times more likely to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, thirteen times more likely to abuse alcohol, twenty-six times more likely to abuse drugs, four times more likely to contemplate suicide and many suffer from sexual dysfunctions for the rest of their lives. It hardly seems fair that all he got was six months.

The BBC reported back in June that an English man got a two-year sentence for raping a ten-year-old girl. What was the rationale behind this sentencing? The man said that she was ‘dressed provocatively.’ And we are back to victim blame. This time the victim was a child. It seems too barbaric to be true, but in phallocentric society, little girls' lives have significantly less value than adult men’s.

On March 3rd, in San Jose, California, a seventeen-year-old girl was gang raped. There were plenty of eyewitnesses and even airtight DNA evidence. The San Jose District Attorney wouldn’t even try the young men in this case. Why? Insufficient evidence.

Do you need more proof that rape is not taken seriously in much of this country?
How about this doll. Or this 'joke.' Or this fashion advertisement.

Not long ago, I discussed this case in which a young woman who was raped by her boyfriend's brother. She gave 'consent' to having sex with the man she thought was her boyfriend not to the man who tricked her. Again, the man was not prosecuted because women who say that they are raped are not taken seriously. RAINN reports that of "the 39% of attacks that are reported to police, there is only a 16.3% chance the rapist will end up in prison." Message to rape victims: do not bother reporting your assault.

Women who hear these news reports night after night, women who live in Lakeview who see signs with drawings of rapists all over their community, women who have survived rape only to have their attackers walk free live in terror every single day. This can be evidenced by the existence of rape schedules. Many women do not know what a rape schedule is, but they all have one. Ask any woman you know what she does to make herself less vulnerable to sexual assault (because we are taught that that is our responsibility. It is not a man's responsibility not to rape, in fact sating his sexual appetites is encouraged). You will get a lot of responses like these:
-carry pepper spray
-don’t walk alone at night
-carry keys in hands
-don’t wear low cut clothing
-have a cell phone buddy for walking
-cross the street when a strange man is approaching
-don’t stop, don’t answer questions, don’t make eye contact
-lock doors immediately
These are things that women do every single day without even questioning. These are things that years of living in terror has taught us to do without a second thought. These are things that restrict our movement in ways that (heterosexual) men never have to.

The Chicago Tribune and local news channels are covering this topic on an almost daily basis. Because Lakeview is Chicago’s “upscale” neighborhood, a rapist on the loose is huge news. Until this man (or men) is caught this issue is going to be on the minds of women living in this community. Because the rapist(s) has not yet been apprehended, residents, especially women, in Lakeview are still on high alert. There are flyers all over the streets, in coffee shops, grocery stores, and college campuses, there are concerned groups handing out pepper spray and instructing self-defense courses. The underlying theme of this discussion is male violence against women. These rape cases are just another example of it. Because Lakeview is a wealthy (white) neighborhood, these attacks are incredibly newsworthy. But we cannot forget that sexualized violence is an ever-present threat whether it be in Lakeview or Back of the Yards.

I suspect there will be some disagreement as to whether sexual assault is an act of terrorism. Terrorism is an act of violence committed for political or ideological gain. I would argue that keeping women in a state of constant terror serves the patriarchy by keeping women in prescribed roles. Our very lives are in danger if we challenge the status quo or if we step out of line. The “she was dressed like she wanted it” line of defense has worked in enough cases to tell women that we are deserving of sexual violence if we step out of line. This is a form of psychological terror, enforced by physical terror.

Thousands of women (approximately 50,000) live in Lakeview and all of them are on guard following these attacks. We can never forget our position as second-class citizens. We can never forget that men are more powerful in this society. Rape is a crime that proves it. There is no male equivalent. At least, men are not terrorized in the same way that women are by this gender specific crime. Nothing forces women back into their homes, into invisibility, into less revealing clothing, into earlier bedtimes, into hiding quite like the threat of sexualized violence. Rape reminds women of their place. By keeping us scared, they are keeping us weak.

This Might Be Why I Do Not Go to Bars Very Often

This happened at the end of last semester. It was the first time I have 'gone out' in weeks. I felt I deserved to have a little celebration after I turned in my last final. So I went to one of my friends' house where everyone was gathering to 'pre-drink,' as they call it, before going to the bars. My friend and fellow feminist scholar, Erika, and I immediately began discussing the origins of the marriage ceremony and how marriage is one of the earliest patriarchal institutions. We actually got everyone around us into the discussion, which is rare. It seems that whenever Erika or I bring up anything even remotely intellectual or political we are shushed by our party-going, good-time, undergraduate friends. The discussion was very stimulating until this guy decided to pipe in and say that statistically he was more likely to rape any one of us than a stranger. His point was taken, but some dude joking about rape (and raping me no less!!) does not make me feel like biting my tongue.

This discussion really set the tone of the evening for me. I was not in the mood to get drunk and stupid, I wanted to debate. So when we were walking to North Ave. (Milwaukee), these frat guy/college types asked how us 'girls' were doing, I said "I am not a girl and have not been for over five years." I cannot remember exactly how he responded but I am sure that it ended with me telling him that this 'girl' could and would kick his frat boy ass.

By the time we actually got to the bar I was feeling quite feisty. I was hopped up on booze, Dworkin, and www.iblamethepatriarchy.com and I was ready to kick some ass. Joke-about-rape-guy decided that he was not done with me yet so I brought up this case, which created a much more heated debate than I had anticipated. It seemed pretty damn straight forward to me, this woman was raped and the courts threw it out because she didn't technically ever say 'no.' It is about the most disgusting thing I have ever heard and my high school friend, Jessica, joke-about-rape-guy, and Erkia all seemed to think that the case was in some sort of gray-area. I don't think that there is anything gray about it. This guy is a straight up rapist who took advantage of a woman who was uninformed and thus unable to consent. He knew exactly what he was doing and she had no idea. That is RAPE!

Jessica made the point that I do tend to assume that women are all victims and that does not allow them a proper level of agency. They all thought that it was possible that the woman simply regretted her actions and thus cried 'rape.' Nothing pisses me off more than that line of reasoning, and that is where I get to www.iblamethepatriarchy.com where Twisty proposed that we all assume non-consent until consent it clearly given. This may not seem like a radical notion, but as it stands right now, consent is assumed until someone (*some woman) claims otherwise. This has far-reaching consequences. What if we assume that every woman who says no really means no? How very radical. Anyway, I do not mean to suggest that women have no agency, but I very strongly believe that women cannot give true consent in a society that was structured around keeping them submissive. Anytime we think we have a choice, we need to remember that we live in a white-supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy. This influences every single thing that we do and thus, every choice that we make. There is no such thing as 'free-will.'

This was a rather difficult argument to make to these very drunk people, especially to joke-about-rape-guy who, get this, claimed to be a feminist while simultaneously saying that he thinks that class is more influential than anything else in determining a person's status. Erika and I tend to believe that race, class, and gender cannot be separated and analyzed individually because they work in conjunction: the holy-trinity of feminist theory.

This discussion got very heated and I was not about ready to just say, 'fine, you are trying so I won't be a bitch and call you on your total ignorance.' I am so sick of that 'nice-guy' schtick. He doesn't get it and I cannot explain it to him. Just because he calls himself a feminist does not mean he even remotely gets it. And I am not going to concede or give him credit for anything because he JOKED about raping me!

Erika quickly decided that she needed to get home and I did not want to be left in a bar with these people. I waited for a bus with Erika on North Ave. Now maybe I am an idiot for expecting not to be accosted by strangers on a busy intersection at 1:30 on a Saturday morning. Erika and I were still deep in conversation about the same things we were talking about in a bar when a very drunk dude decided to join us. He just stood there for several moments and finally had the presence of mind to ask us what we were talking about. When we said 'feminism' he said 'oh man, i think that women should stay in the kitchen and pregnant. i am not even joking!' This is just the kind of abuse that I am sick of. That is not a joke to me any more. Every time I say anything even remotely feminist to a guy like that I get that same response. I have probably heard that 'joke' 500 times since I was 16 and it has NEVER been funny. Being hopped up on radical feminist thought, I was not feeling shy. I told this guy what an asshole he was being and how he does not have a clue. Naturally, he put me in my place by calling me an angry bitch. I delicately reminded him that he was the one who had the audacity to join a total stranger's conversation, insult her, and then expect her to laugh it off. Typical. Too many men (and probably women too) think that very same thing and that is exactly why I cannot laugh it off as drunken buffoonery.

What really takes the cake is that very-drunk-dude was with his girlfriend this whole time. Girlfriend kept apologizing for him. Over and over. It is precisely because women like her exist that men like him will never change. This woman was telling me that she 'gets women's rights and all' because (no joke) 'not to be racist at all but black guys always harass me when I am downtown.' As she was saying this, I looked at Erika because I knew what was coming. Whenever anyone says "not to be racist, but..." you know that whatever follows will be the most racist shit you have ever heard. I could just see Erika shut down when this happened. Thank goodness the bus came at that precise moment.

As I was walking home that evening, it occurred to me that I might be in danger. When women are assertive, vocal, unapologetic, and not smiling, they are 'bitches' and they are 'asking for it.' Walking home alone late at night while 'asking for it' was pretty scary so I was happy when Erika called from the bus to tell me that very-drunk-dude sat next to her on the bus to tell her that she was ok but her friend sure was an angry bitch. The funny thing is that I really didn't do anything other than tell this guy to step off when he made the worst, most typical, sexist joke ever. Is that so bad? Does that mean I am deserving of assault? According to a recent study, it does. I just read this on feministing and frankly, it seems pretty damn accurate. I did nothing more than any man would have been expected to do (stand up for himself, not allow himself to be accosted, not smile and take an offensive joke), and I felt that I was in real danger of being physically attacked. I was already verbally assaulted.

That evening really reminded me of why I do what I do. But it also made me feel more isolated than ever because in the real world (i.e. not the women's studies classroom) these ideas are worthy of all sorts of abuse. Sometimes I forget how 'radical' the notion that women are people (not deserving of rape, assault, or verbal abuse) really is in this patriarchal world.