Rape1 essays

Rape1 essays It was a stormy, pitch black night. A strange man breaks into a womans apartment by sliding open an unlocked window. He threatens the womans life as she kicks and screams with terror. He rapes her, and then leaves. After work a husband comes home and insists that his wife performs oral sex. When she denies him of his request; he tightly grabs her shoulder and pushes her to her knees. He then unzips his pants and forces her to perform oral sex. A couple is out on a date, when the man pulls off to the side of a country road. The couple begins to make out in the back seat of the car. The man proceeds to pull off both his and her pants as she says I dont want to have sex, he ignores what she has said All of these scenarios are considered rape in California. In this paper I will address a feminist perspective of rape, and rape prevention. Rape was viewed, prior to the 20th century, as a crime against the father or husband of the raped women, rather than a crime against the women herself. These women would not be allowed to marry into respectable families, and would often stay single remaining the economic liability of the father. These women would have no value in society; a womens value within society was based on her ability to marry and produce legitimate heirs [Odem, Clay-Warner (1998), p. 36]. Rape was also viewed as the womens fault. Women were considered to be depraved or a fallen woman if she engaged in sexual intercourse before she was married, even if it was against her will. The women was blamed for the mans crime and was socially stigmatized as a result of the attack. There are many stereotypes of rape victims such as: the women asked for it, when a women says no she really means yes, women can resist rape if they want to, a...