Rape Culture?

PAGE 4 OF 4

I do want to address the idea that rape stats are outdated.  A few years
ago, (3 or 4) I surveyed college women and men in the midwest (about 200
of each) on their experiences with unwanted sexual contact, using the
Koss Scale.  I made the test gender neutral and asked about
victimization and perpetration.  About 20% of the women in my sample had
experienced behaviors that would legally be considered rape.  About 3%
of men had.

Second, regarding women's studies and heterophobia...I would say that
about 80% of my class time is spent discussing issues specifically
relevant to heterosexual women.  You'd think, according to Daphne Patai,
that in WS courses we are saying, distribution of labor in families?
Hey, become a lesbian and don't worry about it?  Abortion?  Not a big
issue if you are a lesbian!  Yeah, we critique issues that are related
to heterosexuals.  How exactly can I discuss the fact that women do most
of the housework and childcare, and men don't, and not think that
somehow heterosexuality is involved, at least in the fact that it is
going on in heterosexual realtionships?

My experience is that women's studies is incredibly heterosexual, from
content of course material to who gets appointed in women's studies in
faculty or programming positions.  I've been involved in women's studies
for about ten years.  Seems that I missed that big lesbian conspiracy.
Damn, I'm always out of the loop.

christine smith
moorhead state university

What is so unbelievable about "one in four"?  Acknowledging how many sexual
assaults go unreported, especially those characterized "date rape," that
figure certainly seems believable to me...

Supposing that figure is true, the suggestion is clear that exposure (which
I read as not necessarily first hand experience but also as contact with
someone who has experienced it) to sexual assault is the exception if one
considers that likely at least two of the four women know someone who has
suffered sexual assault.

By the way, at no point during my journey with Women's Studies have I felt
that faculty were attempting to instill fear in students but rather
enhancing their awareness.

I guess I am left wondering why some are so resistant to acknowledging these
realities.

Lisa Burke
LBurke2  @  njcu.edu

Lisa wrote:  I guess I am left wondering why some are so resistant to
acknowledging these realities.

My thought exactly! Our difference is simply the tiny one of what
"realities" we are referring to and what evidence exists for their status
as realities.

---------------------------------
daphne.patai  @  spanport.umass.edu

On Fri, 17 Mar 2000, Deborah Louis wrote:

> this new permutation of daphne's "argument" (with, as usual, no
> empirical substantiation whatsoever) is too reminiscent of 19th century
> arguments against teaching reading (and for discouraging it wherever it
> reared its ugly head) because "reading makes people unhappy"--and
> mid-60s "backlash" claims that there weren't any racial problems until
> the civil rights movement "created" them...
>
> look, we all know daphne (like camille) makes good money by taking these
> positions (books, talk shows, right-wing market)--maybe our job isn't so
> much responding to HER (as if it were a genuine scholarly discourse),
> but citing her as a case in point in classroom discussion of the
> politics of "feminism" and the political economy of anti-feminist
> myth...
>
> debbie <louis  @  umbc.edu>
>

It is surely highly unlikely that any insttution, philosophy,
lifestyle--whatever you choose to consider feminism or women's
studies--is without faults and/or blind spots, and therefore without
"reasoned criticism."  I appreciate Daphne's attempts to show us areas in
which she and others find us vulnerable.  I believe that we can learn
from listening to such criticisms.  I have sometimes found an
anecdote or experience she describes to be excessive or defensive and
have tried to take such tales as cautionary.

However, I agree with Debbie that Daphne and other critics could be even
more helpful by building arguments based on the rules of evidence expected
in scholarly discussion, rather than merely on the occasional annecdote.
On the other hand, some of the responses have been none too reasoned
either.  But some have been wonderful rethinkings of why we do the things
we do.  This activity in itself is a valuable use of our time and
energy.

Linda Payne
University of South Alabama
lpayne  @  jaguar1.usouthal.edu

> "Forrest, Michelle" wrote:
> >
> > I do not believe that all men are rapists, in fact I believe the majority
> > are not which leads to me to ask if most men don't rape, why are so many of
> > our "systems" act on the belief that rapists, the poor dears, simply could
> > not help it and if women would just behave better it would not happen at
> > all.

Great point. Rape depends on a "community" or society to sustain it.

Another question is, why is "normal" sexuality more often than not
described through language of violence, force, domination. In fact, there
is not a colloquial word (that I can think of) that refers to the act of
sex that conveys respect, equality, mutuality and so forth.

Adriene

Said It: feminist news, culture, politics
http://www.saidit.org
Subscriptions  $15/year
PO Box 75035
Seattle, WA 98125
saidit  @  scn.org

On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Daphne Patai wrote:

> Lila writes: " As many as
> one in four women in the USA report an attempted sexual assault by
> adulthood."  These are the same questionable statistics that were
> discussed on this list not long ago. <snip>


   On a personal experience level, I don't find "one in four ... by
adulthood" hard to believe at all.

   In my own childhood, I was:

1)  fondled by the proprietor of a small neighborhood grocery story on my
    way home from elementary school.  He was eventually arrested for
    assaulting another young girl.

2)  lecherously kissed by a male employee of my church, whose name I did
    not know, in a deserted hallway near the church's library in between
    Sunday School and the worship service (I was about 12 then)

3)  and the recipient of unwanted fondling by a neighbor two houses up (a
    deacon in his church and considered a pillar in the community; I was
    in junior high school at the time and he'd offered me the job of
    washing his car.  As it turned out, this meant an opportunity to get
    me into his garage away from anyone in the neighborhood that might see
    us.)


Betty

_________________________________________________________
Betty Glass, Humanities Bibliographer
Getchell Library/322
1664 N. Virginia St.
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV  89557-0044

 email: glass  @  unr.edu

office: (775) 784-6500  ext. 303
   FAX: (775) 784-1751

Just thought I'd pass along an observation...  a group of writers I know were
studying romance writings as a genre and noted that some authors in that
field were oblivious to the fallacy of glorifying rapist-turned-lover... 
wondered if there were an opportunity in making a presentation to the Romance
Writers of America or their local chapters to discuss the reality...

Jeanetter Raichyk, PhD
<A HREF=3D"Dectir=E9">http://members.aol.com/Dectire">Dectir=E9</A> Publishing
P.O.Box 18242
Fairfield, OH 45018-0242
630-214-8068 Fax

Rape in romance has been discussed in the RWA many times over. There are
plenty of feminists in the 8,000 plus organization capable of addressing
this issue from a feminist perspective and with a thorough understanding of
the nuance of the genre. Romance authors engage in debate frequently, but
publicly at least, they will defend another writer's right to write
whatever she wants; they are not prone to support anything that smacks of
censorship or banning.

Chances are the authors in question were far from oblivious, especially if
they were historical romance writers,  On the other hand, I've suspected a
few contemporary authors of being oblivious to what they were doing.

This summer a symposium entitled Romance in the New Millenium will be held
at Bowling Green State University. The purpose is to bring together
librarians, academics, and romance writers & readers.
Information in the form of an expired Call for Papers can be found at:
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/pcl/pcl48.html

Given your location in Ohio, Jeanetter, I  advise against offering to
enlighten the RWA chapter nearest you. One member of that chapter ,
Jennifer Crusie,  is not only a successful NY Times bestselling author, but
teaches literature and publishes feminist romance theory and criticism as
well. She is among the most articulate and insightful in the organization
when it comes to this, as is Jayne Ann Krentz,  a prolific  writer of both
historical and contemporary romances, who is also the contributing editor
of  _Dangerous Men, Adventurous Women_  published by University of
Pennsylvania Press,    Her site is a one example of the interactive
relationship between author and reader. Reader essays are posted at
Krentz's site and some Crusie's writings are accessible through her site.
http://www.krentz-quick.com/essays/
http://www.sff.net/people/JenniferCrusie/

In my youth I  dismissed romance as moral, literary, and political trash
and the bulk of it's authors as insipid. (Apologies to at least one
published romance writer I know is on WMST-L).  I recently taught a course
I developed -- Popular Romance: Fact and Fiction. The majority of students
were women of nontraditional college age (26-68). The issues raised in this
class were similar to those addressed in many women's studies classes. In
fact, one student was enrolled in such a course and expressed surprise at
the compatibility of the two courses.

Approximately 27% of the women in this country read romance. Am I willing
to go so far as to suggest that the U.S. is a "romance culture"? Hardly.
But it is a culture (complete with subgroups, traditions, beliefs, rituals,
icons, and heroines) with a significant presence on the internet.There is a
highly networked romance culture in this country despite the literary,
moral, and political shame often associated with reading and writing in the
romance genre.

Ongoing dialogue, on a large scale, among romance readers and writers is an
important part of the total milieu. Romance Readers Anonymous, a Listserv
which originates from Kent State University, has played a significant role
in supporting this dialogue.  While some of the perspectives on RRA-L are
similar to those expressed on WMST, the milieu and tone are quite
different, as would be expected.

The portrayal of rape in romances is controversial among readers and
writers.  Rape may be an issue in either historical or contemporary
romances. Conditions, the time period, the society, motivations and
author's purpose or intent are important variables. Romance readers and
writers acknowledge, and accept a wide range of gender behavior, and detect
and identify subtle differences. I have read RRA posts about the
madonna/whore fictional characterization of women similar to Michelle
Forrest's recent comment here about stereotypes of  "good" women and "bad"
women and the notion that  "bad" women get what they deserve,  usually rape.

While many readers can readily accept incredible coincidences, deus ex
machina type solutions to complex problems, and time travel in their
romances, just as many, if not more, are "unwilling to suspend their
beliefs" when it comes to rape and captivity fantasy, physically violent
rape, harrassment, date rape, and falling in love with or marrying one's
rapist.  One discussion I found particularly interesting revolved around a
complex contemporary category romance involving two date rapes with very
different scenarios. This book is of the type that is often referred to as
"The Secret Baby" story, another controversial subtype.

Some of you might find a comparison of these RRA-L discussions w/  more
formal or academic texts useful in classroom discussions. RRA-L has a
searchable archives at:
http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/rra-l.html
The following, entered in a general or subject line search,  yield results:
date rape
Her Secret, His Child
rape
hero the rapist

BTW, before closing I wanted to express my appreciation to  Deborah A.
Elliston's for sharing her "hydraulic theory of male sexuality" :
>men must release a sexual desire signified as under pressure inside >them
and perpetually building, requiring release lest they -- what, >explode?

Not surprisingly, "explode" is a term often found in romances in reference
to both female/male characters. One use is in relation to one's growing
attraction (frequently unwanted/unbidden) to the other and is closely tied
to a fear of losing autonomy in the struggle for control over not only the
building pressure of his/her physical sexual desire for and attraction to
the other, but also the building need for emotional intimacy which may lead
to the "losing of oneself."  "Explode" is also used as a synonym for orgasm.

I've kept track of romance euphemisms in many romance subgenres, but for
the purposes of an essay ("Leading Us into Temptation" in_Romantic
Conventions_  Kaler & Johnson-Kurek co-editors, Bowling Green State
University Popular Press) I focused onHarlequin Temptations, a sensuous
series. I found that many conventional expressions (like "explode") may
have more than one meaning or subtext. For  instance, "her body betrayed
her" can mean either 1) her body betrayed her will and her mind and she was
aroused, or 2)her body gave evidence of her state of arousal. A "punishing
kiss" can mean either a kiss a man gives a woman as punishment, or a
welcomed passionate kiss that bruises her lips.

_Romantic Conventions_was written with classroom use in mind.
Some of the essay titles are:
*The Good Provider in Romance Novels
*From Bodice-Ripper to Baby-Sitter:  The NewHero in Mass-Market Romance
*This Is Not Your Mother's Cinderella: The Romance Novel as Feminist Fairy
Tale
*Cavewoman Impulses: The Jungian Shadow
*Conventions of Captivity in Romance Novels
*Changing Ideologies in Romance Fiction
*Postmodern Identity (Crisis): Confessions of  a Linguistic Historiographer
and Romance Writer

Rosemary Johnson-Kurek
rjohnso  @  pop3.utoledo.edu

As a connoiseur of great romance novels, I gotta jump in here. No question
that the "rapist-turned-lover" is a part of mass market heterosexual
romance tradition, and some not so great contemporary writers continue to
evoke this character. However, I think most romance writers are acutely
aware of the realities of rape. Carol Thurston's _The Romance Revolution:
Erotic Novels for Women and the Quest for a New Sexual Identity_ (1987, U.
of Illinois Press) does a nice job of looking at how the genre has
changed. Yeah, noone's really tampered with the formula (except for
writers like Nora Roberts, Emilie Richards, and Jayne Ann Krentz, for
example, who keep the formula but cross romance with science fiction,
mystery and fantasy genres) but characterizations of women have changed
dramatically. If you look at Nora Roberts' (J.D. Robb's) Eve Dallas
series, you find a protagonist who must work through her history of
incest, for instance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sandra D. Shattuck, Associate Director          shattuck  @  umbc.edu
Center for Women and Information Technology     www.umbc.edu/cwit
University of Maryland, Baltimore County        research.umbc.edu/~shattuck
Fine Arts 452, 1000 Hilltop Circle              ph:410.455.2822
Baltimore MD 21250                              fx:410.455.1027

To whomever attempted to divert the arguement with whining about male rape, I
must remark that of the reported rapes in the USA:

97 percent are males raping females

per FBI stats.

The only type of violence where women are more
frequently victimized than males is sexual assault (Greenfield, 1997).
The women who are most commonly victimized, rather than mature, are
young, poor, and an aquaintance of the perpetrator, who generally is a
much older white male (68 percent) --- (Craven, 1996).
Lili
pinteareed  @  aol.com

As someone suspicious of attempts to divert attention from violence against
women to men, I think this is a different case. The recent post citing rape
of men made a valid and important point. Men do indeed rape other men, and
I have great sympathy for male victims of sexual violence. A lot of them
are young, even boys, and others perceived as vulnerable for any number of
reasons, not least being gay.

It's atrocious that rape is endemic in the prison system, with "weaker" men
helpless to protect themselves from the predators, often confined to the
same cells with them, and forced to pay or sell their bodies to
"protectors" or to join gangs for backup.

None of this contradicts any of the facts cited below, or the negative
male-female dynamics prevalent in our society. But every patriarchy I ever
heard of always subordinates and commits violence against those males
deemed weak and "lesser."

Max Dashu    Suppressed Histories Archives
 <maxdashu  @  lanminds.com>

I'm surprized more people are not familiar with the FBI data.

You can get all the documents I mentioned free from the Department of
Justice. They are excellent. Gee, maybe Janet Reno is a feminist extremist.
<smile>

Data on *Typical Rapists:*

In terms of frequency data....They are older white males usually in their
thirties while the average victim is a young teen. A full third of all the
rapes that
occur overall happen to the age group between the ages of 12 and 17.

They are usually men with with an odd personal history in that they have
never formed a long term relationship. Only 17 percent of  all rapists are
married at the time of incarceration.

40 per cent of all rapes are committed by people most of us would call
*aquaintances* or people known on a superficial social level. This is the
statistic which has been bandied about by male supremacists as that *women
know their rapists* as if women were good friends or lovers with their
rapists, rather than a person of casual aquaintance.

The second most common rapist is a step parent, or mother's paramour in the
role of step parent.

Most rapists have histories as rapists which go back to their teens. The
studies done on teen sex offenders also identifies them as an odd or
divergent group from the typical juvenile delinquent.

To get the journal articles and reports free from the Department of Justice
just call:
1-800-732-3277. Many can be downloaded right off the WEB at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

I hope this helps clarify things. I put a short summary article on violence
against women at FEMINISTA! for my students at:
http://www.feminista.com/v2n5/pinteareed.html

And for the interested --- Susan Brownmiller donated an article on rape to
the current FEMINISTA!
at:
http://www.feminista.com/v3n9/index.shtml

Lili
pinteareed  @  aol.com
Senior Contributing Editor FEMINISTA!

Lili wrote, about rapists::

> > They are usually men with with an odd personal history in that they
have never formed a long term relationship. Only 17 percent of  all rapists
  are  married at the time of incarceration.
>  >

Doesn't this rather undercut the feminist argument that the rapist is
simply a typical male?

Daphne

---------------------------------
daphne.patai  @  spanport.umass.edu

In a message dated 3/19/0 12:54:06 PM, Daphne wrote:

<<Doesn't this rather undercut the feminist argument that the rapist is

simply a typical male?>>

Don't you mean the argument of SOME feminists?  In fact, why don't you just
say "the argument" and leave out the insultingly imprecise adjective that
implies that all feminists have the same opinion?

Shirley Frank

Daphne's instigations provide another opportunity to reflect, clarify,
specify:

On Sun, 19 Mar 2000, Daphne Patai wrote:

> Doesn't this rather undercut the feminist argument that the rapist is
> simply a typical male?

It sure seems to, Daphne.
I think that, however "the feminist argument" has come to be represented
in different cultural venues, the original point being made with regard to
the the typicality of men who rape had to do with a set of insidious and
prevalent myths about who a rapist was and how one could spot him, thus a
related set of myths about what rape was. This portrait of a rapist tended
[tends] to be a deeply racialised one, framed within white communities by
the assumption that black
men are rapists and their victims are white women; that rapist is always a
stranger, jumping out of the bushes....etc.

So the claim for 'typicality' has to be understood against these myths and
if it is, I think, what we can see is that claims that rapists are
'simply' typical males are insufficient and wrongheaded. Instead that
should be understood to mean that rapists are not predominantly
strangers,and
that white myths of 'the black rapist' are precisely that, myths, which
have had a long history of occulting the sexual violence of white men.
"Typical" then doesn't mean so much "Every single man by virtue of his
biological and psychic maleness" as " a member of your community, someone
you may in some capacity know"--

Sara Murphy
sem2  @  is4.nyu.edu

The "one in four" statistic becomes even more believable when we take into
consideration how many adult women were sexually assaulted/molested as
children.

Patti Renda
prenda1  @  uic.edu

In a message dated 03/19/2000 12:54:06 PM, daphne.patai  @  SPANPORT.UMASS.EDU
writes:

<< Lili wrote, about rapists::

>> They are usually men with with an odd personal history in that they
>>have never formed a long term relationship. Only 17 percent of  all rapists
>>are  married at the time of incarceration.> >
>
>Doesn't this rather undercut the feminist argument that the rapist is
>simply a typical male?

No, Daphne, it doesn't. First, I don't hear anyone on this list arguing that
the rapist is simply a typical male. Rather, the argument is that cultural
stereotypes of typical masculinity create and reinforce an atmosphere where
rape is considered a natural extension of male sexuality. For example, that
view is illustrated in the "joke" that defines rape as "assault with a
friendly weapon." (My former husband loved that joke and would tell it
frequently.)

Secondly, Lili is talking about *incarcerated* males. The statistics she is
quoting are about rapes that have been reported and prosecuted successfully.

Typically, those who are incarcerated committed stranger rape (acquaintance
rape is harder to prove and is therefore less likely to be prosecuted). Lili
states that 40% of the rapes for which men have been incarcerated are
acquaintance rapes.  However, I recall that the ratio of acquaintance to
stranger rape in the general population is much higher -- in fact, the vast
majority. Unfortunately I cannot provide a cite for that (will look). We have
to remember that the number of reported rapes is much lower than the number
of actual rapes, and that of those that are reported, too few are ever
prosecuted, and of those prosecuted even fewer are jailed.

The stats Lili provides say more about the process that gets men convicted of
rape than it says about men who rape in general. The ones who get *convicted*
are those who are "outlaws," not only in the legal sense but in the sense
that they stand outside the boundaries of normal behavior in ways having
nothing to do with their rapes.  That is, the ones who get *convicted* are
those who can be identified as "not normal" males. The ones who *don't* get
convicted (or even reported--i.e., the majority), I would suggest, are those
who are married or in steady relationships, hold good jobs, and have never
done anything else outside the law. It is harder to get a conviction against
a "stand-up citizen." His word is believed above hers.

Here's a story to illustrate my point. My mother was raped by a married man
she met at a Democratic party event. He assumed that since she attended the
event without my father and accepted his offer of a ride home, that she had
therefore consented to have sex with him. He was never prosecuted. My mother
told no one until long after my father's death, as she didn't want to hurt
him (my father).

This is the kind of occasion when "typical masculinity," reinforced by
cultural stereotypes, produced a rape (and many more--my mother learned,
years later when she finally allowed herself to talk about it, that several
other women had been raped by this man but, like her, had not reported it).
The man assumed that a woman at a party alone was looking for sex. Though not
all men do this, there is plenty of cultural support for believing that
fallacy.

Secondly, my mother herself believed it was her fault, that she was "asking
for it." She also felt the need to protect my *father's* masculinity by
keeping the rape a secret. Until my father's death, she would not again
attend an event without his presence.


Georgia NeSmith
gnesmith  @  aol.com

My understanding is that the "claim" is that on psychological inventories,
men convicted of rape fall within the "normal" range -- that a person who is
an expert at the interpretation of such tests, has a set of results, and
knows that x-number of them are those of convicted rapists, cannot pick out
the rapists from the pack on the basis of psychological measures.

This is not to say that rapists as an aggregate are exactly like all other
men in every respect.

In case you don't have enough reading to do, you might want to check out these
stories on recent cases. [Sexual harassment citations omitted here]

CNN - Nearly 1 in 5 women victim of rape, attempted rape - November 17, 1998
That amounts to 17.7 million American women. More than half of the rape
victims said they were under 17 when first raped, according to a survey
released Tuesday and ...
http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/17/AM-Women-Violence.ap/index.html - size 5.9K
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Study: Domestic violence should be treated as global health problem -
January 20, 2000
Abuse against women should be treated as a global health problem, according
to a sweeping new report that says at least one of every three women has
been ...
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/01/20/women.violence.02/ - size 13.3K
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Woman with case before high court lobbies for stronger rape laws -
January 7, 2000
Days before the Supreme Court hears her case, a former college student who
accused two football players of sexually assaulting her said Friday,
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/01/07/scotus.violence.ap/ - size 7.7K
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Army rape case renews debate on coed training - Apr. 30, 1997
From Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND,
Maryland (CNN) -- As a former Army drill sergeant awaits sentencing for
raping his trainees, critics of men and ...
http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/30/aberdeen/ - size 11.6K  59%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Tougher federal law for date-rape drug passes Congress - February 1,
2000
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/02/01/date.rape.drug.ap/ - size
8.4K
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Italian women warn court ruling makes jeans 'alibi' for rape -
February 11, 1999 This ruling is shameful. It offends the dignity of
women," said Alessandra Mussolini, deputy of the rightist National
Alliance, who led the protest. On Wednesday, ...
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9902/11/jeans.rape.02/ - size 9.4K
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Women cope with rape's overlooked trauma - Jan. 3, 1997
From Correspondent Rhonda Rowland WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every 45 seconds, a
woman in the United States is sexually assaulted. Some of the attackers are
strangers. But in three of ...
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9701/03/nfm/rape/index.html - size 7.1K  54%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN - Rape survivors, spouses go public to help other couples - August 11,
1999
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Rape. Women used to not talk about it if it happened
to them. Their husbands and boyfriends tried not to even think about it,
assuming they ...
http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/11/rape.spousal.impact/ - size 11.4K
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosa Maria Pegueros, J.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor              <pegueros  @  uri.edu>
History Department &              Telephone: (401) 874-4092
  Women's Studies Program               Fax: (401) 874-2595
80 Upper College Road, Suite 3    http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/pegueros.htm
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881       "Qui me amat, amat et canem meum."

LIsa Wrote:

> What is so unbelievable about "one in four"?  Acknowledging how many sexual
> assaults go unreported, especially those characterized "date rape," that
> figure certainly seems believable to me...
> 
> Supposing that figure is true, the suggestion is clear that exposure (which
> I read as not necessarily first hand experience but also as contact with
> someone who has experienced it) to sexual assault is the exception if one
> considers that likely at least two of the four women know someone who has
> suffered sexual assault.

I downloaded a backed up digest and had an interesting read. I had no idea
people would have such problems with the FBI figures on sexual assault I
posted. Hardly dated -- most are from the last five years.

Part of the problem as I read the comments over is the misinterpretation of
the legal term *sexual assault.* This is assault as defined in the legal
sense sexual aggression towards others, as opposed to *battery* wherein
actual physical contact is made. A very high percentage of assaults also have
battery connected but not all. So the sexual assault figues include rape,
sexual contact (fondling), and sexually aggressive behaviors in the stats.

In comon parlance *sexual assault* is usually used to mean physical attack,
but the legal definition is mush broader and included threatening non-contact
behaviors. So behaviorally, if your boss lunges for you over the desk, but
does not grab you, its *sexual assault.*

THis may load the figures, but quite frankly I've never met a women who has
not had someone lunge at her with unwanted sexual intent (sexual assault).

Wording can be very important. In an informal survey in my classes when I
asked has anyone ever tried to to date rape you? Most said no, but when I 
rephrased the question to: "Did a boy ever get carried away on a date and 
grab you when you didn't want him too." Most answered, "Yes."

THis is important to recognize from a forensic perspective. I've spent years
working with forensic (court involved) populations both victims and perps,
and a clear behavioral question:
"Did he touch your pee pee hole?" (or some common language term for genitals)
 yields better results than something vague like
"did he attack you?"

Probably most women would respond yes to the question
"did a boy ever get carried away on a date and try and do things you asked
him not to?"
(sexual assault)

A reference list for the FBI data analysis is:
Craven, Diane: Female Victims of Violent Crime, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1996

Greenfield, Lawrence: Violence by Intimates, Bureau of Justice  Statistics,
1998.

Greenfield, Lawrence: Sex Offenses and Offenders, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1997.

Greenfield, Lawrence:Child Victimizers: violent offenders and their victims,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1996.

Pitman, Roger K.,Orr, Scott P.,Shalev, Ariel: Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Beyond
the conditioning Model of PTSD, Biological Psychiatry, Feb. 1993.

Ringel, Cheryl: Criminal Victimization 1996, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1996.

Lili
pinteareed  @  aol.com
Dr. Lili Pintea-Reed, Ph.D.
1000 title  Feminist Bibliography
http://members.aol.com/PinteaReed/fem_books.html