With the horrible experiences so many rape victims have had when they report (including being wrongfully charged) it can be easy to get cynical about the system. But there are investigators and prosecutors who work diligently to get it right.

As a rape survivor and someone who volunteered at my local rape crisis line, I would never report without an advocate at my side. Thankfully in the US we have the RAINN.org phone and online hotlines. Local advocates have a history with the police in their area and can help victims make their decision with more information than I or any blogger could ever give them.

Oh, and believe me, we’re united on the Hirshman front. The fact that she thinks not reporting rape somehow negates someone’s feminist credentials or even loads them with the responsibility for future crimes is disgusting, and the way the site tried to later brush it off by saying feminism was dead just made it worse.

I think you have hit on something that is really tricky with feminist advocacy. Ideally, we want to enable more women to report their rapes. What is tricky, and why I completely disagree with Hirschman is that she assumes that a given person hasn’t done enough or has done the wrong thing by not reporting a crime, which is not a message I am getting from you. I think you are right that women should be encouraged to treat crimes against them as worthy of reporting, but I think the better way to frame it (better than Hirschman, I mean) is by telling survivors that they have been wronged and should not be ashamed to report what happened to them. And by creating support structures, such as advocates who can accompany the survivors and support them through their dealings with police. Maybe what we really need are volunteer counselors or lawyers who will go with the survivor to make the report, and who can ensure that they are treated with sensitivity and respect by the authorities or else.

I also appreciate the fact that you are willing to engage in discourse after being told “nope, you’re wrong.” The strength of my response to your initial post has more to do with the intensity of my disagreement with Hirchman than with the point that we should enable survivors to report.

-Izzy

Abyss: Again, like I’ve said above, you’re right. My previous comment was just about rape reporting, but I didn’t mean to belittle or ignore other feminist actions with regard to the legal system behind rape convictions or female victims in general. If the discussion about rape centres on victim behaviour, we have failed hugely; that doesn’t mean that we should discount the positive behaviour of victims, because it’s important to extend them our support.

I never suggested, though, that “all we do about reporting” should be urge victims to report. I never even said we should do that. I just think we should foster a pro-reporting culture with full understanding of the many reasons why it’s never easy and often impossible. More importantly, we should be fighting the legal systems that are in place to receive and deal with reports of rape, but I think we are trying to do that and I was just making one small point about victim support rather than a comment on rape and the justice system.

Thanks for your replies.

If all we do about reporting is debate about whether we should or should not urge rape victims to report then we have failed.

If our only practical discussion about prevention centers on the behavior of victims and potential victims then we have failed.

My problem with pushing to report (even if it’s a gentle push) is this:

Many victims describe that the trauma that they endure from reporting the rape is worse than what they suffered at the hands of their rapist. They generally have little in the way of support. Not to mention, the conviction rate of rapists in this country is abysmally low making justice very unlikely. So, until we can guarantee rape victims are treated fairly and appropriately like every other crime victim, it would be disingenuous at best and dangerous at worst to do anything more than be supportive of whatever the woman needs to do to heal.

Of course, we need to be supportive of anyone that decides to report, but until we’ve banished the culture that makes rape the victim’s fault instead of the rapist’s, we really can’t expect the victims of an incredibly ingrained rape culture to do more than survive.

Your heart and thoughts are in the right place, it’s just that society isn’t there with you…yet.

I think we already do. The problem with these “women should” things that Ms. Hirschman and like-minded people say “women should take responsibility” “women should report their rapists” “women should learn self-defense” ist that those statements suggest that women are not “taking responsibility.” Many more men than women are murdered every year, and unlike female murder victims, they are often murdered by strangers, in scenarios that involve alcohol. Also, in a rape case, the rapist is more likely to be intoxicated than the victim. But we do not say “men should take more responsibility for their drinking, because drunk men commit/are the victims of violent crimes involving alcohol.” That should tell us a little bit about the social drives that are underllying this “helpful” advice to women.

-Izzy

PS–Someone stole my backpack once. I didn’t report it. I did report a threatening phone call. It led to a waste of about two days of my time, because the cops didn’t take it seriously, and didn’t even bother to write down, in their report, that I used to work for a legal organization where I rejected the post-conviction requests of rapists and murderers for legal assistence, and that some of those people are now free on parole. And my name is rather unusual, so they could find me for a $40 or so people search online.

I am deeply, deeply against the judgmental attitude directed toward women who don’t report their rapes. I’m against any attempt to pin responsibility for further rapes on victims who don’t report, and against any attempt to belittle their feminist activism. I really am.

But I do think feminist blogs should breed a culture that supports and encourages the reporting of rape. Rapists need to be brought to justice. That is a horrible mantle to have to carry, but for anyone considering it, I think feminists and feminist blogs should provide a supportive environment and a culture which sends the message that it is the right thing to do. It’s not always possible. We should never expect it. But I’m afraid that feminist blogging is moving too far in the direction of “don’t report it if you don’t want to” and not far enough towards “you are amazing and brave and please report it if you can”. That’s my view on the issue, I think.