Where Do You Draw the Line?
for release 01-31-07
Washington DC
As many of you know, my pet cause as a poet is the issue of Body Sovereignty. This subject touches many more subjects--reproductive rights, abortion, drugs and substances, urine and DNA testing, stem cell research, organ donation (or sale), right to die, healthcare, imprisonment, military service etc. Body Sovereignty is also concerned with rape. I don't know if rape is the most egregious example of assault on Body Sovereignty, but I know that it is a symbolic and significant one.
Most rapes don't happen when some wild-eyed, sex-crazed maniac jumps out of the bushes in a ski mask and puts a knife to the throat of his victim. No, most rapes are much more intimate affairs. Most rapes are committed by acquaintances of the victim. In nearly seventy percent of rapes the victim knew the rapist. Nearly a third of victims are raped by their husbands or boyfriends.
Where does mutual attraction become seduction? When does seduction become persuasion? When does persuasion become coercion? When does coercion become brute force? When does yes become maybe and maybe become NO? There are some very blurry lines here. Rape has many meanings. That's why it's so hard to litigate rape cases. What's the difference between force and implied force or threatened force? Does size matter?
The two recent examples that come to mind are the Kobe Bryant and the Duke University Lacrosse Team rape cases. Both were glamorous because they involved bimbos and athletes whose testosterone level is well advertised. I wasn't at either event, so I don't know the absolute facts, but from the copious news coverage of both cases, these are my observations. In both the Bryant and the Duke cases, young women, seeking monetary gain, consented to place their bodies in a situation where it looked like they were inviting sex. I don't know if sex occurred in either case, that's a matter of conjecture. I don't know who was pinned down at the critical moment or who was too trashed to resist or even remember what happened. The definition of rape is a subtle affair.
I've been raped several times. Luckily it's never been by a man. Yes, rape can work both ways. What does rape mean? It means that you are being made to perform sex against your will. That's why you can't rape the willing. Usually when a woman rapes a man, the coercion or the brute force is of a more intricate nature than when a man rapes a woman. A woman can exert brute force on a man without lifting a finger. In fact, she can exert more brute force when she DOESN'T lift a finger. She just lets her lawyers do it.
Rape is all around us. Every time you drive by the gas pump you get raped, every time you swipe that credit card you get raped. The sales tax and the lottery are raping you every time you wear fishnet hose and go to the Seven-Eleven. Every time you buy an article of clothing or a household device at Walmart, you are raping some young Chinese girl. She works in a factory. This is what is called statutory rape, sex with someone under the age of consent. But there is no age of consent in China. In China (or in America where The Decider is deciding) you are never old enough to decide for yourself. Yes, rape is a tricky subject. Very political.
The Poet's Eye sees that nobody who subscribes to the principles of Body Sovereignty could ever be a rapist. Not in good conscience anyway.
