This chapter discusses feminist perspectives on rape. Although the proper definition of rape is itself a matter of some dispute, rape is generally understood to involve sexual penetration of a person by force and/or without that person's consent. The chapter argues that men and boys commit rape, usually against women and girls, and sometimes against other men and boys. Nonetheless, this chapter assumes male perpetrators and female victims. Virtually all feminists agree that rape is a grave wrong, one too often ignored, mischaracterised, and legitimised. The chapter argues that feminists differ, however, about how the crime of rape is best understood, and about how rape should be combated both legally and socially. The chapter also discussed racial rapes in the USA and war and genocidal rapes in Rwanda and Serbia.
Top14.1 Common Themes
Feminist views of rape can be understood as arrayed on a continuum from liberal to radical. Liberal views tend to regard rape as a gender-neutral assault on individual autonomy, likening it to other forms of assault and/or illegitimate appropriation, and focusing primarily on the harm that rape does to individual victims.
Radical views contend that rape must be recognised and understood as an important pillar of patriarchy. They regard the deprivation of women's bodily sovereignty, in particular, male control over the sexual and reproductive uses of women's bodies, as a central defining element of patriarchy (Whisnant, 2007). As a result, they analyse rape as one of multiple forms of men's sexual violence and exploitation, looking at their interconnections and how they work in concert to maintain and reinforce women's oppression. Second, they expand the definition of ‘rape’ to encompass more than just overt physical force and violence. Recognising the ways in which broad patterns of male power systematically compromise women's bodily and sexual freedom, and challenging the equation of female submission with meaningful consent, they tend to see a kind of continuum between rape and normal heterosexual activity. Third, the focus on group-based oppression has also led many radical feminist thinkers to examine the role of rape itself, and of ideologies about rape, in creating and reproducing not only patriarchy but multiple systems of domination, including racism and colonialism.
Discussion Questions 14.1
- 1.
With the aid of illustrative examples, discuss rape.
- 2.
Feminist views of rape can be understood as arrayed on a continuum from liberal to radical. Discuss.
- 3.
Distinguish between liberal and radical views of rape
14.2 Criteria: What Counts?
Feminists challenge restrictive ideas about what counts as rape (Burgess-Jackson, 1996; Sanday, 1996; Bevacqua, 2000). Obvious examples include the abolition of marital-rape exemptions and the recognition of date and acquaintance rape. Feminists have also challenged the idea that, in order for an encounter to count as rape, the victim must have displayed utmost physical resistance, as well as the assumption that rape must involve vaginal penetration by a penis (victims are raped orally, anally, and/or with fingers or objects).