http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/09/10/asian_rape_survey_why_did_the_ap_exclude_partner_rape_from_its_headline.html
After reading Jessica's post about (please excuse the simplification) the trivialization of rape, I felt the need to post and comment on the issue myself. The findings of the study mentioned in this article are themselves disturbing, but what I found particularly horrifying was the fact that the study didn't necessarily consider rape by a partner legitimate. To reiterate, the study found that 1/10 women in studied Asian states had been raped. As if an afterthought or a byline, it then mentioned that if rape by a partner was included, the numbers rose to 1/10. Last time I checked, rape is rape is rape. It is ridiculous that rape by one person seemed to "qualify" more than another. Obviously there is a problem that all of this abuse is occurring, but I think we also need to reflect on our academic analysis of such issues.
Oh god! Hannah today in the Gender Justice class we were talking about this issue in great detail. The last time I checked rape is rape too, but many people seem to disagree. In our society there are 'two spheres'- the public and private. When this was being discussed by the dead white man named Locke he actually explains that it is unethical for the private sphere t to be invaded by the public sphere. The private sphere has its own hierarchy which boils down to the husband having control over his wife. Therefore, the husband can do anything he wants to his wife without fear of public (societal/governmental) repercussions. Now we are in 2013 and that is still the case for most victims of domestic sexual/physical/mental abuse. The patriarchal ideal of what is private and public allows humans to be subordinate to their partner, and in that situation people are abused. The women/men that are raped not by a domestic partner seem to have more of a voice because the abuse occurred in the public domain. Once someone is locked into a partnership though all hell can break lose. Therefore, we need to be taking more classes where we can analyze the political stance of why these types of horrors occur. Once the idea of private and public spheres being separated disappears (I don't see this happening anytime soon btw) then domestic rape/violence will be voiced even more.
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