Consent vs. Coercion

Some things are universal. The world is made up of 195 different countries and approximately 6,900 distinct languages, but people are people anywhere you go and everyone has to function within this society and its various subcultures-- including what "rape culture" entails ("Linguistic Society of America”). The numbers vary from nation to nation, but worldwide an estimated one-in-three women endure physical or sexual assault at least once in their lifetime, with certain regions or groups being more at risk than others (“Facts and Figures”). Given the statistics, at some point in their lives everyone will almost certainly have to deal with the aftermath of sexual assault, whether it be their own or that of someone they know. Therefore, this is a topic with which everyone ought to be familiar. To that end, this essay will cover the culture surrounding rape, including the stigma; how blame is assigned; and the role of gender in this subject, the murkier matters of statutory rape and sexual coercion, some of the current laws relating to rape in the United States, and how the evolution of these laws reflects the existence of rape culture.

So what is rape culture? There are many definitions for this particular phenomenon available by an almost endless amount of sources of various reputability and agendas. When breaking down the terminology, it is easy enough to discern the essential facts, however; it is the culture that has evolved surrounding the matter of rape, manifesting both socially and legally, in ways that range greatly from painfully blatant to dangerously insidious. The presence of rape culture is illustrated in a number of ways, with one of the clearest being attitudes and behaviors that have a high rate of correlation with sexual aggression and violence. Examples of this include gender bias, the viewing of pornography — which has been studied to have a strong association with a propensity to sexual violence in men — and the implementation of alcohol as a suggestive and facilitating agent to help minimize awareness and resistance ("Understanding Rape Culture"). Some aspects of rape culture are more apparent than others, such as telling victims that it was their fault they were assaulted due to their previous sexual history or the way they were dressed or behavior they were engaging in (Madden). However, others, such as the underlying mindset concerning assault are more subtle, but no less harmful.

The media plays an ever-increasing role in shaping beliefs and opinions, and the social attitude pertaining to sexual assault is no exception. There are constantly fresh news stories appearing about sexual assault cases in which the perpetrator receives an incredibly mild sentence, if they are not let off altogether on a technicality or because in "he said, she said," "his" voice is often heard the loudest. And in response to such cases, the majority of the social outcry sympathizes with the perpetrator rather than the victim, whether by blaming or even threatening the victim, or by saying that the perpetrator did not deserve to have their "life ruined" by the assault charges or the ensuing consequences. Too often, this is seen on campuses, leading to the victim being horrifically shamed by those around them and the resounding sentiment that the attack did not warrant the assailant losing their place at the school or the damage to their "promising futures (Madden)." In 2011, a sixteen-year-old girl who was gang-raped by two high school boys while she was impaired by alcohol; afterward, the boys spread photographs of her during the assault to their friends and on social media. Two years later when the trial was occurring, CNN reporter Poppy Harlow made the comment, "It was incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good futures, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart (Madden)." Believed was the operative term because the outcome of the trial was that both boys were charged as mere delinquents and given minimum sentences.

While at first glance it might seem like rape laws would be as straightforward as any other criminal act that has a perpetrator and a victim (or that it, at least, ought to be), this is far from the reality. These set of laws are filled with pitfalls and convolutions, many are highly controversial, and as a whole they still being excogitated as times change. Two of the areas with the biggest contention are statutory rape and sexual coercion versus sexual consent (Palombo). Of these two, the former has a clearer definition; statutory rape is sexual acts that occur when one of the participants is legally unable to give consent due to their being younger than the age of consent, which varies from state to state ranging from sixteen to eighteen (Norman-Eady). It is a strict liability crime, meaning intent has no bearing upon the degree or illegality of the crime. As an additional charge, for example when in conjunction with aggravated rape, it can contribute time to the sentence, while on its own it is a lighter charge than any other form of rape (Tracy). Most cases are between two individuals who are willing participants who are romantically involved, with one being over the age of consent and one younger.

The issue of consent and coercion is considerably more complex. The difference between the two can be a fine line, particularly for someone not within any given situation in the moment. More and more, the question of "What does 'sexual consent' mean and why is it important?" is being raised and brought into the sexual health and safety conversation. For a long time a common policy on college campuses was that of "No means no," meant to emphasise the importance of consent, but the most prominent problem with that is that it is simply not that straightforward. Everyone reacts differently to being in the midst of a sexual assault, and not everyone actually says the word no, whether because they disassociated, froze up, did not feel they were able or allowed to say no, or for another reason entirely. An argument used to acquit perpetrators of sexual violence has been that the victim did not verbally communicate no, when in reality that is only one small factor of many that means "I do not want this." For these reasons, the "No means no" movement has begun transitioning to something more accurate— "Yes means yes," otherwise known as affirmative consent (Rubin).

The other side of sexual consent is sexual coercion. According to the Communication Reports for 2001, "Any sexual activity, from kissing to petting to intercourse, that is achieved through the effective removal of choice and without the consent of the person is a form of sexual coercion (Spitzberg)." This can mean almost anything from emotional blackmail to even the implication of physical harm. The pervasive nature of sexual coercion is one of its most serious dangers, and has a great deal to do with the stigma of shame that sex has not entirely been able to shake. In fact, over 40% of sexually active individuals have reported that they have used token resistance in sex, and its casual, conventional use sends the message that men in particular are supposed to be pursuant and not to take reticence at face value (Spitzberg). Another contributor to this pervasiveness is the situationally inherent likelihood that coercion happens in personal contexts, out of sight of anyone who might otherwise help the coerced party by interceding, which serves the dual purpose of not providing them a plausible out. Unsurprisingly, sexual coercion can be incredibly and uniquely difficult to prosecute.

An estimated 288,820 people become victims of sexual assault and rape in the United States each years, not including those under the age of twelve— and the younger the group the more at-risk, with an additional 22% being under the age of twelve at the time. Young men in college are around five times more likely to be sexually assaulted than non-students of the same age. Based on statistics collected by the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) and the Department of Justice, over 5,198,760 people have been raped or sexually assaulted in the last eighteen years, 90% of which have been women, putting the number at 4,678,884. Another statistic reported by RAINN is that 13% of women who survived their rape later attempt suicide, meaning, therefore, in the last eighteen years alone approximately 608,255 women have tried to kill themselves because they were raped. With numbers that heavy and astronomical, they are more than enough to speak for themselves…and that is with sexual violence crimes being the single lowest reported violent crimes. Each and every single one of those numbers is a person's life, their family and friends and loved ones, their doubts and aspirations, their hopes, their ambitions. One thread connected to another and another, and outward from there. These are people, real people, and there are too many stories who have gone unheard, although with the backlash and aftermath of reactions it is not hard to understand why most choose to keep it to themselves.

No percentage of a statistic, no matter how minuscule, is insignificant. In 2009, the life of a young girl — a member of the 22% of younger-than-twelve-years-olds who were sexually assaulted — was altered from whatever path it may have previously been on. Just one of literal thousands like her, another sexually based offenses that was never officially reported. One of the 30% who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder beginning over nine months afterward, one of the 13% who considered suicide as a result, one of the 37% who would experience problems with friends and family and develop chronic trust issues and increased difficulty feeling close to others. Over the years, this girl would discover a growing affinity for the law and realize the empowering potential implications of using her love of language and writing to argue on behalf of those without a voice. This girl would go on the become a Criminal Justice major at a small-town private college outside of Boston, with ambitions of becoming a prosecuting attorney one day. If she was only the infinitesimal 0.00000346% of the sexual assaults of 2009, what stories do all the others have? Each and every one matters.

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