We’re talking a lot about rape at the moment. What is and what isn’t rape. Real and fabricated allegations of rape. And where rape falls in our understanding of serious crime. We’re watching what happens with Assange, we’re watching the USRepublican Party and we’re watching Puberty Blues. What does our current focus on sexual assault say about our understanding of consent? Are we finding answers to the questions we’re asking?
A client’s 16-year-old daughter had sex with her boyfriend last night. The week before, he broke up with her, because apparently their relationship had been suffering from a lack of sex. Presumably the problem is now sorted. He withdrew his affection, and in order to regain it, she offered sex, without a condom, because he prefers it that way. This act was for all intents and purposes consensual. But what was it in fact, that she consented to?
Another client works with young men to raise their awareness about sexual assault. In a room full of year ten boys, he finds less than one in 10 of them see having sex with a girl who is passed out or asleep as rape. At the end of his class, the number may have moved to six out of 10. He sees each shift in the understanding of sexual assault as a win. I can’t help wondering about the fate of the partners of the other four.
We’re talking a lot about rape at the moment. We’re being asked to see some rapes as legitimate or forcible, thanks to Todd Akin, and we’re hearing about politically exploitable allegations of rape in the case of Julian Assange. There is of course nothing new about the use of sexual violence as a political tool. What is new is that the current media focus on sexual assault is beginning to expose in greater detail the pervasiveness of a culture of sexual exploitation.
zoekrupka.com 
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