Since January 2009 I have been working with Women and the Law. Recently, I have focused solely on violent (heterosexual) sex crimes in the United States, resulting in a paper titled, “Horny Laws and Shrewd Perspectives: Rebuking, Repairing, and Rebuilding Rape Law.” I mention this because researching and writing on that topic slowly, but ferociously, began to consume my life. I drudged through numerous laws, court rulings, books, articles, and documentaries to write that paper, all of which resulted in an extreme and (usually) frustrated critique of the law’s current interpretations and practices along with charged opinions about apathy, ignorance, and the reinforcement of myths.

Previous to that paper, I was like a majority of Americans, misinformed and relatively ignorant in regards to rape and gendered violence. But now, I have been exposed a reality I never knew existed… and I can’t seem to walk away, nor do I want to. While I am no longer sweating under deadlines or feverishly working to revise that paper, I haven’t stopped analyzing and taking special note of information pertaining to that subject. Unfortunately, I don’t have conclusive answers or even the address of whom your grievances should be addressed, but I am acquiring insight and information that I would like to pass along to you.

More than likely, you’re under the veil of at least two preposterous rape myths, thus I am temped to begin fracturing your brain with statistics and court cases, but I will refrain.

Instead, I will leave you with a couple outrageous articles that a friend sent me today. The first one has to do with Rape Kits. *It is important to note that, in America, approximately 4 million women are raped each year and do not report it (RAINN statistics).* The second and third posting are on the same subject but the authors offer slightly different information, background, and perspectives on what I, too, wish was a sick April Fool's joke from Afghanistan.

Let me know what you think:
Is there such a thing as non-violent rape? Should those kits be thrown out? Should the statute of limitations be changed? Should they run the kits, identify who they can and wait for the men to strike again? Should the women that have them those kits be notified? ...?...

What do human rights mean on a global scene with so man cultures and religious practices? Who should (or should anyone) intervene when institutions of power overtly oppress their people? Who’s problem is it? ...?...
What is your reaction to Clawson’s last full paragraph?




12,000 rape kits, untested
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 03:22 PDT
And now for something completely frustrating: While prosecutors across the country indict teens for taking topless pictures of themselves, police departments in Los Angeles ignore evidence that could help prosecute thousands of cases of violent rape.

Tracy Clark-Flory first wrote about the LAPD rape kits backlog in October, but since then the numbers have gotten even worse: Human Rights Watchreported Tuesday that more than 12,000 rape kits are sitting around untested in L.A. County police departments and crime labs. The kits (taken by an often excruciating, 4-6-hour process) are intended to help prosecute sexual assaults -- as HRW investigator Sarah Tofte writes on Women's eNews, the kits contain DNA and other evidence collected from victims' bodies and clothes immediately after the crime, and they have the potential to identify rapists, corroborate victims' accounts of assaults and exonerate innocent defendants. Of course, in order to serve those functions, the kits have to actually be used. Nearly 500 of L.A.'s untested kits are attached to cases that have passed the 10-year statute of limitations for rape in California, making it impossible to prosecute rapists even if they were to be identified. Thousands more kits have been destroyed untested.

Over-capacity crime labs are by no means unique to LA. According to a federal Census of Publicly Funded Crime Laboratories, crime labs across the country would need to increase their analyst staff by 73 percent to keep up with the need for DNA testing. Since 2004, Congress has allotted millions of dollars to help jurisdictions cut down their DNA backlogs, but the program doesn't stipulate just how the money should be spent. Rape kits, apparently, haven't made it to the top of L.A. police departments' priority lists.

The good news is that a model exists for jurisdictions that want to fix their DNA-testing systems. In 2003, New York City created a policy that ensures every booked rape kit is sent to a lab and tested within 60 days. Prosecutors and police created a special team to investigate rape kit DNA matches. As a result, the city has eliminated its rape kit backlog and seen an increase in arrest and prosecution rates for rape.



Afghanistan legalizes marital rape
1 April 2009
Shortly after Hillary Clinton called the failure of U.S. aid to Afghanistan"heartbreaking," there came some illustrative news: President Hamid Karzai has legalized rape within marriage. You might ask, nervously: This is a sick April Fool's joke, right? Sadly, no, this is a sick reality.

The law gives husbands free reign over their wives

The law, which applies to the minority Shia population, renders meaningless sexual consent within marriage. A Shia woman is allowed to refuse her husband sex if she is sick, but otherwise she has no sexual say-so. As if that weren't enough of a blow to female freedom, the law, believed to be a desperate bid by Karzai for reelection this summer, also stipulates that women must have their husband's permission to leave the house.

In sum, the Shia Family Law legally codifies that common, if taboo, cross-cultural belief that a husband deserves free reign over his wife's body -- oh,and his daughters' bodies. The law bars women from having custody of their own children and endorses child marriage.

Human rights activists say the law annihilates the progress made on women's rights since the fall of the Taliban. In fact, some say it actually makes things "worse than during the Taliban." Mm-hm: Worse than the women-hating (-imprisoning, -beating, -flogging, -mutilating, -stoning) Taliban.



Afghanistan’s Anti-Woman Law
by Julie Clawson 04-03-2009
Last month Afghanistan’s Parliament passed a new law that severely restricts the rights of women. Although the Afghan constitution calls for equal rights for men and women, this new law imposes standards that some say are worse than what the Taliban demanded. This law forbids women to leave their homes except for emergencies; it forbids them to work or receive education without their husband’s express permission; it strips mothers of custody rights to their children in case of divorce; it makes it impossible for wives to inherit land or houses from their husbands; and it even permits marital rape, saying that women cannot refuse sexual relations unless they are sick.

And if those violations of women weren’t enough, it appears that President Karzai approved the law in an attempt to win more votes during an election year. Apparently guaranteeing men the legal right to rape their wives scored high on the felt needs survey for his key swing demographic. This isn’t simply cultural, or a way to “protect” women, as defenders are saying. Expressions of conservative Muslim faith do exist that don’t treat women as pawns to be used by men for their own selfish ends. This is about stripping women of their identity and humanity – controlling all aspects of their lives, including (especially) their bodies.

I’ve heard similar reports out of Iraq. Since the fall of Saddam and the creation of the U.S. approved government, the rights of women have been restricted. Many say that things are worse for women these days in Iraq than they were under Saddam. This seriously bothers me. In all of our attempts to spread freedom and democracy we seem to actually be making things worse for women. And while the U.N. is calling for a repeal of this human rights violation and the British press is reporting on the outrage surrounding the law, I’ve heard very little about it in the U.S. press. Why aren’t we outraged? Why aren’t we standing up to defend the rights of Afghani women?

I have to wonder if we have been so indoctrinated by the anti-feminist rhetoric of pulpits and politicians that as a culture we instinctively shy away from doing anything that might make us seem like man-hating, bra-burning activists. Women in our country can be educated, vote, have a bank account and a job, and yet somehow still think the term “feminist” is a bad word. Freedoms and human rights were fought hard for by our predecessors, who didn’t fear the negative attitudes or hurtful words thrown at them by those who disapprove of equality. We reap the benefits of those pioneers, but are too constrained by cultural ideologies to help bring those same freedoms to other women.

Sometimes though, outrage and activism are exactly what is needed.

1 Comment

1. Katrina on April 11, 2009 at 4:39 PM

   All rape is violent. No matter if the person that has been raped has no scratches or has been beaten/killed. Violence restricts the self-control of the party being harmed, ripping the very freedom they are susposed to be living in from that person. Rape forces one self onto another in a form of "I am greater than you and you have no power and if you think you do I will put fear into you so that your control leaves and I get to take over." It would be a shame and disheartening to hear anyone say that rape is non-violent. It is violent at its core.
   
   I don't think the kits should be thrown out. You can hold blood for yeeeeeeears and still extract the DNA. The statutes should be changed for sure. But the problem is what does it do if a DNA kit identifies someone who has raped another person 15 + years after the assult happened? The person may do the time, yes. But what about the women? I wonder how it really affects them. And like you said, how many other women could this person possibly rape in that time. I wonder what the statistics of repeat offenders of rape are. Or maybe even the average number of women one "rapist" rapes. Its a horrid thing to think about but I think it deems looking into.
   
   I'm not really sure on what you mean by should the women of the kits be notified. So I'll just go with what I think you mean. I think they have to be notified when the "rapist" get caught or they find the DNA match. They will have to go to court anyway for a trial and to testify.
   
   Human rights are so culturally based its crazy.
   I think that is why God calls us to go and disciple nations, not just people. We are to go and "infect" with the atmosphere of the Kingdom so that love prevails over cultural differences and religious practices.
   
   Honestly, I have taken a greater stance on the responsiblity the body of Christ has on these issues, world wide. Its not to tell people what to do and what not to do but its to show the world Jesus by letting them into our own lives. Its giving/showing them what real freedom is. We have the answer. It's our responsibility. Laws and statutes going in place is good but its also something like a band-aid. We have to see Him for ourself so they will she Him for themselves.
   
   With all this said, I would tend to think that you would know I can't comment about any of this without talking about love and the only way to heal and free those who are raped and those who are rapeists is to "insert love here." All evil is the absence of love. I think justice in court should happen but that doesn't change a person's heart or mind about a matter. It may restrain him from doing it again b/c of the time he may serve in jail or something like that. But how many hearts does it really change by just putting someone in jail? I wonder how many sex offenders (rapests) come to know the love and redemption of Jesus in prision. And honestly it seems like the church as a whole isnt doing a very good job of extending mercy to the one who assulted the other, leaving them outside the kingdom when they need to be inside of it. And then its the justice in peoples hearts that say only judgement on the "rapest" because of what the woman had to endure and the pain she went through. Only with an encounter of the love of the Father is she healed. Only with an encounter of the love of the Father are these issues solved on both sides. Only with the Spirit of truth are the hurts healed. Only with Jesus.
   
   My question is ... so what are we going to do?