Harvard Seeks Wider Perceptions of Rape

"People only think of rape someone grabbing you on the street or in a dark alley," says Nadja Gould, a clinical social worker at Harvard's University Health Services (UHS). The crime, she says, is considerably broader.

Gould is one of several University officials and students who have worked to broaden perceptions at Harvard of the problem of rape by distributing a new pamphlet on the subject.

Two students wrote the pamphlets last year, with co-sponsorship by UHS and the Harvard Police Department. The project began after the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) expressed concern that a brochure on rape UHS had published since 1978 was "inadequate," co-authors Michele J. Orza '84 and Robert D. Slate '83, said.

"The old book was a good start but it left out so many issues," said Slate. New material includes a definition of "acquaintance rape," a description of rape of men by men, facts about "race and rape," first hand anonymous accounts by Harvard students who are rape victims, and a poem by Marge Plenty.

The acquaintances rape session cites the fast that many rapes are by friends or acquaintances--even on-lovers--and therefore often go unreported.

Omitted is information about legal proceedings, which the authors said they felt could be obtained elsewhere.

The original pamphlet "was a very official document, and rape is not just an official thing," Orza said. The new booklet uses the word "survivor" instead of "victim," as a "less stigmatizing, more empowering" term, she added. Someone who has been raped is "no longer helpless after the crime," she explained.

"Also, there was the whole question of perspective: the old one was written from the point of view of UHS and the police. Now, it's from the student's point of view," Orza said.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, last week called the new pamphlet "a powerful, literate document." He said, "It breaks new ground in that it talks about the legal definition of rape, and it tries to encourage the survivor to insist as dignity."

Orza said that initially Epps did not want to include the rape poem in the pamphlet because he felt that it was "inn violent." But Gould said "I support it. It's an excellent poem; rape is violent and it is political." She added that "including a different art form in an informational pamphlet is a way of underscoring its universality."

The brochure will probably help the Harvard police prosecute rapists by encouraging more victims to report incidents, Orza said, adding that only two or three rapes are reported to the Harvard police each year, although it is believed that the actual number of crimes is much greater.

Slate and Orza noted the booklet is not limited to a discussion of rape at Harvard, but considers the issue as a problem in every community.

UHS director Dr. Warren E. C. Wacker, who said that he was "very pleased" with the new draft, cited an improvement among law enforcement officers over the last ten years in "taking seriously women's complaints about what rape is, and not blaming the survivors for causing the crime." He said "The police in general are more sensitive. Now, if the criminal is caught, he's more likely to be prosecuted."