A rose by any other name would smell as sweet… or would it?
Date rape, sometimes also known as acquaintance rape, can be defined as non-consensual sexual activity between people who are known to each other either platonically or sexually. These particular instances of sexual assault take place during a social interaction between the rapist and the victim hence the name date rape. It may be either planned or spontaneous (“Date”). In this sense, date rape is real, and it is tantamount to so-called “real rape”. The problem is that many people incorrectly categorize certain kinds of sexual encounters as date rape. At its worst, women have been known to cry rape on a man with whom she willingly had sex, for revenge. Such treachery is abuse of societal sympathy. Activists who lobby against date rape blow the problem out of proportion. Although it is true that all individuals should make themselves aware and knowledgeable of date rape, date rape is at most no worse than any other type of rape, if it should even be considered differently. Rape is rape; whether you are forced into having sex with a stranger or someone you know makes no difference. Furthermore, the method of coercion matters not, as the results of the encounter are the same. The problem with the concept of date rape is that it opens the door to false rape – rape that never occurred in the first place.
The term “date rape” is used by some women to exploit and manipulate, but in this sense, date rape does not exist. A woman should have the wisdom not to get herself into a situation where she is vulnerable. It is her responsibility to defend herself. As Paglia says, “A woman’s number one line of defense is herself” (541). She should be fully capable of fending off men who try to make unwelcome advances on her. Therefore if a woman, with or without the influence of drugs or alcohol, has sexual intercourse with a man, she has done so willingly. If she is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, then her judgment may be impaired, but the important point is that she still makes the choice. It is simply a bad choice. She cannot use lack of sobriety as an excuse to pin her feelings of guilt and regret onto her partner and blame the other. She should accept the consequences of what events she participates in or what mistakes she makes while she is not sober, because it is her fault that she is not sober (Paglia 539). Now, if a man intentionally impairs a woman without her knowledge or consent, then he is guilty. Note, though, that the crime he has committed need not be known as “date rape”. It can simply be called rape, because either psychologically or physically, what he essentially has done is force the woman into having sex with him without her consent. In this case, the woman should report it to the police as a rape (Paglia 541).
Real rape aside, there is a tendency, or at the least a temptation for women to “cry rape”. The classification and division of rape into subtypes, such as date rape, enable women to more easily point the finger. Assertions that “rape is always the fault of the rapist” give women the wrong idea about what they can get away with (Homeier). Motives for false charges of rape are many. Blind accusations may be made in revenge, or rage. Sometimes the plaintiff is after money. A false accusation of rape can also be used as an alibi to sidestep blame and cover the truth, in the same manner that a bride with cold feet can claim she was kidnapped to cover up running away (“Runaway”). Attention-seeking self-delusion is on the list of reasons as well. Often times, when these ulterior motives are uncovered, the charges are dropped quietly. At first glance, it may seem that when women falsely report rapes, they are the only ones who are affected. The unfortunate truth is that all parties suffer the consequences, if indirectly; a widely publicized incident can discourage other women from reporting rapes at all, and may even empower potential rapists to act (Shiver).
The introduction of the idea of
date rape as opposed to regular rape enables women to personalize the crime, broadening
the roles of both the offender and the victim, making it easy to overstate the
situation. So easy, in fact that the rate
of false reports is alarmingly between twenty to forty percent (McElroy). Women are fueled by their perceived
vulnerability, they are tangled in a web of double standards, and their
behavior is encouraged by the public. Even from a legal standpoint, the charge of
rape is “easily made and difficult to defend against, even if the accused is
innocent” (Young). Women can get caught
up in a mob mentality, reminiscent of the paranoia and mass hysteria of the
days of
Works Cited
“Date Rape.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 2 February 2008. 2 February 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_rape>.
Homeier, Barbara P. TeensHealth: Date Rape. January 2006. Nemours Foundation.
2 February 2008 <http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/date_rape.html>.
McElroy, Wendy. “False Rape Accusations May Be More Common Than Thought.”
The Independent Institute 2 May 2006. 2 February 2008
<http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1719>.
Paglia, Camille. “It’s
a Jungle Out There.” Patterns for College and Writing: A Rhetorical
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G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell.
2001. 538-41.
“Runaway Bride Back at Home.” FOXNews.com 30 April 2005. 2 February 2008
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155119,00.html>.
Shiver, Kyle-Anne. “When Women Cry Wolf About Rape.” American Thinker 15 April
2007. 2 February 2008
<http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/04/when_women_cry_wolf_about_rape.html>.
Young, Cathy. “Who Says Women Never Lie About Rape?” Salon Newsreal March 1998. 2 February 2008
<http://www.salon.com/news/1999/03/cov_10news.html>.