All Women Can't Always Say 'No'

To the Editors of The Crimson

We were appalled by the ignorance and callousness that Stephen E. Frank '95 and Mark J. Sneider '93 displayed in their dissent, "Don't Open Floodgates. "They asked "What...could constitute such a psychological state that so impairs the vocal chords as to prevent [alleged victims if date rape] from emitting a one syllable word?"

We will take their question at face value and assume that it was asked in the hope of obtaining information. We also fear that their ignorance may be shared by others; so, in the interest of education, we will endeavor to answer this question. Although ,it is true that "no" is a single syllable word, there are a number of reasons that might make it psychologically difficult for a woman to say "no" in the context of a date rape situation.

For example, women who have grown up in sexually abusive environments are unlikely to be protective to their bodies or to insist on their own physical autonomy. A woman who has grown up as the victim of incest is unlikely to consider the idea of sexual "violation" as a relevance to her; all her sexual experiences have been abusive violations.

Given that 38 percent of the women who are survivors of sexual abuse are survivors of incest, according to a study conducted in 1989 by the Children's Division of the Society for Humane Treatment, this is not an unlikely scenario.

Similarly, women who have been previously raped are less likely to say "no" or protest verbally in a rape situation. A common experience of rape survivors is rape trauma syndrome, and it is often prompted by a repeated experience of rape.

A woman suffering from rape trauma syndrome who is raped again is likely to experience "freezing" to reenter a state of shock or to be rendered incapable of any action. Given the sizable number of women who are raped multiple times in their lives, this scenorio is also fairly common.

You see, the problem is not that women have trouble speaking monosyllabic or polysyllabic words, but that a victim only has cause to speak if she is aware that a crime is being perpetrated against her.

In a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, women were presented with scenarios that meet the legal definition of rape, and of the women who found that the scenarios corresponded with their experiences, only 27 percent had identified themselves as survivors of rape. Women cannot fight or protest what they do not perceive to be a crime. Yet, rape is still a criminal act, identifiable by certain legal moral standards.

There are a number of other reasons which might make it difficult for women who have not experienced the trauma of past rape or abuse to say "no". The codes of the dominant culture instruct women to smooth over problems and to avoid making waves.

Rape survivors frequently testify that they were uncomfortable screaming out, because they feared that such behavior, would be impolite or embarrassing. In addition, behavioral biology indicates that the panic response in human beings does not necessarily include speech.

According to Massachusetts law, a lack of consent must be expressed physically or verbally; however, all the examples that we have used of why a women might high difficulty in expressing her lack of consent have stood up as evidence in criminal prosecutions (case numbers are available and can be provided on request).]

Frank and Sneider chose to make the influence of alcohol your test case for the law and questions of consent. However, given the frequency with which the rapist and/or survivor is under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of a rape, this situation is addressed explicitly by Massachusetts law, which states that intoxication makes giving consent difficult and must be interpreted as a "no. "It is a really ridiculous point to discuss a women's responsibility for her body as justification for her rape.

If a woman were to be apprehended while driving drunk, yes, she would be held responsible for any accident or damage she might cause as a result of her drunk driving. However, if a drunk man were mugged or if he were injured by the woman who was driving drunk, he would not be blamed or held responsible for the damages he suffered.

No matter how much a woman has had to drink, she still not to be blamed or held responsible for the rape.

Frank and Sneider express great concern for the reputations of alleged perpetrators; however, laws on rape and the adjudication of rape cases have historically been consistent in their protection of the perpetrator and their suspicions of the survivor.

The two writers warn us that we threaten to open the floodgates. If opening the floodgates means changing the fact that the majority of rapes go unaccused, unprosecuted and unpunished, then the floodgates must be opened.

If Frank and Sneider wish to pursue their quest for knowledge and their admirable concern for achieving justice on the question of acquaintance rape, there are a number of University resources whom they can contact.

These resources include Response, Date Rape Peer Educators and Outreach, the Boston Area Rape Crisis, Janet Viggiani and any of the house tutors who are assigned to issues of sexual assault. Jesseye Lapenn '93