What if I were raped by a comrade?
By Emma.
Trigger warning: this post contains descriptions of the aftermath of a fictional rape – there are no descriptions of a rape event.
The aftermath of rape is different for every victim. I don’t want the anger I am feeling at present to lead me to generalisations. I do not know how I would behave because I have not been raped. On this occasion, I cannot write from experience. I don’t want anyone to read this and believe I am making light of their experiences to make a political point. I am trying extremely hard not to do so, while also trying to release the feelings that have been building up in me over the last week. This isn’t the first time I have spoken of my disgust with the hypocrisy some of those on the left show when turning a blind eye to the unadmirable actions of those they admire before. Sadly I suspect it will not be the last.
The events I allude to in this post clearly centre around the Asaange case. In the interests of balance & justice, it is important to note that no charges have yet been made in this case.
What would happen if I were raped by a man of the left? That’s not a question I’ve ever felt the need to ask myself before this last week. Now, it’s a question that is haunting me.
What if the man who raped me had done great things? If were an incredible orator, a superb thinker and writer? A man by far my intellectual superior? A man whose achievements in life I could not hope to equal. A man who was put on a pedestal by many of those whom I myself admired.
Would I feel any less violated? Would he be any less guilty of violating me? Would I be any less raped? Would he be any less a rapist? NO! NO! NO! NO!
But after what I have seen this week. I believe that if I were to suffer such an attack, there would be those who believe themselves to be my comrade in the fight for equality who would seek to deny me justice, to denigrate my claim, to make me not just the victim but the perpetrator of a greater crime. They would name and shame me. They would show how I have been open in my past about my sexuality, about my sexual history and about my feminism and championing of women’s rights as trumping religious and cultural customs as if they had any bearing on the case. As if my sex life had any bearing on my rape life.
Key “left-leaning” newspapers might hire one of my rapists greatest champions to make his case over and over again. Leading feminists will argue that I can’t have my justice because that isn’t what the case is really about. If I am lucky enough to see the police pursue justice to the fullest of their ability, my fellow feminists – both female and male, despite being largely supportive, will publicly voice their discomfort at the lengths being taken to achieve justice. Will argue that this pursuit of justice is not about my rape, but about my rapist’s politics. Robbing me further of my power and bolstering his once again. And there will be those who either deny my claim outright or who belittle the importance of my experience next to the importance of their great man and his great cause. Some will trample all over my rights in their commitment to their champion.
I know too that the vast majority will not be like this. That there will be many hundreds and thousands who do believe in my right to justice. Too many to link to every one. The left, of which I remain a proud part, have not been shouted down by their small malignant minority.
But, just as it is not when the innocent are put to death but when the terrible are that you find out how you really feel about the death penalty., it is not when a villain commits rape that we find out how women’s rights have advanced but when it is a hero who stands accused.
The sad, terrible and shocking truth is that there are parts of the left who have been exposed in this last week, not as champions of equality, but as defenders of a patriarchal hegemony that denies women politically inconvenient sexual equality. And I now know, with a sad and shocked certainty, that were I to be a victim in these circumstances, my rape would be denied and dismissed by those who DARE to call themselves my fellow champions for equality.
You are not. You will never be. You have bankrupted your right to call yourselves fighters for equality.
Tags: Feminism, Julian Assange, rape
Wednesday, August 22nd 2012 at 23:12
Ultimately rape is a serious crime and it should never be discounted because its not convenient. So many on the left are totally hypocritical in this matter if it was anyone else but StJulian they would not be making up these excuses. I notice he has never directly answered the charges against him. Just some random rant which normally doesnt stand up to a test of logic. Just because someone is doing something you agree with doesnt mean they are not capable of doing nasty things in private. Many people have very different private and public personas. Ultimately its upto a court to decide based on all of the evidence not just the 5% that helps you stick to your predetermined position,
Thursday, August 23rd 2012 at 23:51
As a victim of sexual assault, but more importantly as a woman, I feel betrayed by certain members of the left. Over the past week I have seen people, who I looked up to and admired, scramble to publicly state that what happened to me was not a crime. It was a crime. I did not consent. It nearly destroyed me.
The cheerful abandon with which men like this (and it does appear to be mainly men, with some depressing exceptions) are prepared to toss women’s rights onto the scrapheap when one of their own is threatened has been shocking and upsetting. It makes it seem as if the feminism thing was merely a costume adopted in order to seem more liberal, more cool, more ‘right on’. To gain votes, or support, or sex. Were these men just letting us women have our little fantasies of equality for a quiet life? “Ok love, we let you have your fun, but play time’s over now – this is grown up time, so run along.” When important men come under attack it’s time for the boys to rally round?
I can’t believe the above applies to the majority – most of the men in my life are wonderful, decent people. But it is a particularly harsh blow to realise quite how many men on the left don’t truly stand for equality. It’s not nice to see the mask slip and understand how we have been deceived. George Galloway, John Pilger, Craig Murray, Tony Benn (this last one was my personal worst). All men who have betrayed those who they claim to stand for. The message appears to be that they will support victims of injustice the world over. But only if they’re male. Otherwise they’ll only bother when it’s politically convenient.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 00:06
Hi Jenny,
I don’t know what to add, other than to say thank you for commenting and I couldn’t agree more.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 01:07
No, thank you for writing a post which so succinctly sums up what I, and I suspect many other women, are feeling right now. The allegations against Assange are quite similar to my own, separate experience and it’s not nice to hear that many people would dismiss what happened to me as a minor thing. Obviously as I was not there, neither I nor anyone else can say whether Assange is innocent or guilty. Nevertheless, it has been a pretty terrible week to be a woman, but posts like yours do help us all remember that the whole world has not gone completely insane.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 09:44
Please note that any and all comments naming the potential victims in the Assange case or linking to material that does will not be published.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 11:33
Excellent post on an important subject. I, too, have been disappointed by the response of some on the Left. Why do they feel a need to defend the indefensible?
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 11:34
Bit late for that Emma, the women have gone public themselves.. don’t you find it hypocritical that the media splashed the name of the women involved in the strauss-kahn case all over the shop; but its all hush on the assange case ? what’s that tell you ?
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 11:37
No potential victim’s name should be made public and two wrongs never make a right. Your dismissal of the rights of rape victims into neat conspiracy theories is as insulting as it is demeaning and distressing. You shame yourself and you shame any cause you believe you are promoting.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 14:55
very true except they’re not rape victims and neither of them alleged they were,
the lawyers have twisted the original std inquiry, it pays to read up on Swedish system of justice and the malpractice- its a shame we’ve all been sold a pup, and its a shame so many of you have bought into it .. they’ve done a good stitch-up .
My indignation is well-placed, you’re taking the word of Ms Ny to frame yours. Tell me how angry you’d be if you discovered it was a set-up and I’ll tell you how angry I’d be if either of these ladies were abused !
see we’re not far apart at all
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 15:00
Dave, this is the last time I will allow you to asset falsehoods on this blog. I strongly suggest you read this by David Allen Green (hardly a Government stooge) on the dangerous myths you’re propounding: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2012/08/five-legal-myths-about-assange-extradition
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 15:31
Emma, I’m not here to cause trouble, am as adamant that JA should face the charges in sweden as I am that he should not be extraditrd to the USA.
Can’t be clearer than that.
Re that link. its been falsified by Glenn Greenwald within the hour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/24/new-statesman-error-assange-swedish-extradition
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 15:48
Whether or not you choose to believe Glen Greenwald is up to you. Having had him twist my own words on Twitter in the most obviously political way, I wouldn’t trust his as far as I could throw Mount Everest.
But what he doesn’t do in his supposed “refutation” is address the charge that you made in your original repsonse that this isn’t rape. You can see the documentation from our court here: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2011/2849.html and you can see that the fourth offence listed is rape.
Assange contested that it wouldn’t be described as rape (see point 6 in that document) but a senior judge in this country has argued that what is alledged does constitute rape according to English law (see point 62).
So continuing to claim that what is alledged is not rape – as you have in this thread (“very true except they’re not rape victims and neither of them alleged they were”) – is insulting to the victims of rape, whether or not those victims include those making allegations against Assange. You also intimate they were not abused “Tell me how angry you’d be if you discovered it was a set-up and I’ll tell you how angry I’d be if either of these ladies were abused!”. If what is alleged is true that “Assange, by using violence. forced the injured party to endure his restricting her freedom of movement. The violence consisted in a firm hold of the injured party’s arms and a forceful spreading of her legs whilst lying on top of her and with his body weight preventing her from moving or shifting.” then that is clear cut abuse. Neither of us yet know whether it is true. We won’t until he stands trial and the accusers have their right to a trial fulfilled. Until such a time your are insulting victims of sexual assault everywhere by raising your political beliefs above their right to justice.
You should be ashamed.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 15:51
Ok. We don’t know if they are rape victims or not.There hasn’t been a trial yet. That is the point. Like you, Dave, I’m against the extradition of Assange to the US but very much for him facing the charges in Sweden. I understand people’s desire to defend the institution of Wikileaks and protest against what they see as US imperialism. However, in certain sections of the left, this well meaning desire has turned into rape apology.
I think that the point that Emma was making in her excellent post was that the defence of Assange has now become a debate about what constitutes rape. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but some people are so desperate to stand against what they view as an injustice by actually suggesting that penetrating a sleeping woman is not a crime. Like it or not, this is what Assange is accused of doing and, legally, this is rape. It’s rape in Sweden and it’s rape in the UK. So he is accused of rape, even if he eventually is found to be innocent of this crime.
You mention that neither woman initially alleged that they were raped in those words. I obviously can’t comment on the specifics, given that I’ve never met either of them. But I can say that a very, very common reaction to sexual assault is for the victim to fail to perceive it as such. I didn’t initially because I literally could not countenance the idea that a friend who I trusted would treat me with such disrespect and disregard. I preferred to consider it my own fault. It took time for me to face the facts. With that in mind I can see, theoretically, how these two women could have done the same in response to being assaulted by someone who they admired for his good works. There is no ‘normal’ way to respond to rape, but when experts do compile common reactions, denial and self blame are almost always at the top of the list.
But as I say, I do not know if Assange is innocent or not. I wasn’t there. The charges amount to rape. The reactions of the two women are fairly common among victims. But who can say for sure? Only a court. If it were to come out that this is a ‘set up’ then I would be as angry as I always am when I hear about a false allegation of rape (which is rare, despite what certain papers would have you believe). But my anger with certain people on the left would remain because they would still have insisted that sex with a sleeping person is not rape. And it is. And that’s my point.
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 16:57
Surprise, surprise – turns out Greenwald is twisting other people’s words too: https://twitter.com/Klamberg/status/239027463391424512
Friday, August 24th 2012 at 22:38
My anger is that people on the left and the right are not giving due respect to the female victims and Julian Assange. The women are entitled to a degree of anonymity and confidentiality in relation to such allegations. Indeed, such allegations should not be discussed (and accepted or ridiculed) in paper columns/blogs around the world in the way that they have been. These women are entitled to respect and for their allegations to be dealt with in accord with the law. Some of the press (left, middle, and right) have shown little respect for the women’s allegations and rights. Likewise, we cannot assume the guilt or innocence of Assange in respect of those allegations. He is entitled to a fair and just trial and all should make every effort to avoid pre-judging matters.
Instead of discussing the merits or otherwise of the allegations, we should be seeking to find a way of getting the allegations dealt with via a fair and judicial process. In my view there needs to be diplomatic efforts being undertaken to enable a trial in Sweden, with Assange given the opportunity to participate via videolink (see http://www.politicsblog.org.uk/?p=281).
Friday, September 28th 2012 at 18:59
What’s even worse are the recent revelations of systematic rape on an almost industrial scale in Rotherham and Rochdale and the authorities did nothing about it. Sensitivity to cultural issues and fear of being branded racists crippled them into inertia. For years Ann Cryer was branded a racist for daring to raise these issues. Sadly this is an even greater crime that the defending of Assange by the usual suspects. Peter Watt summed it up on Labour Uncut but the lack of outrage from politicians as a whole is frightening. What’s your take Emma? It seems to me there is a real horrible strain of misogyny running through some parts of the left.
Friday, September 28th 2012 at 19:14
I completely agree. There seems to both a sexist and classist take – seeing young working class women as worthless.
Friday, September 28th 2012 at 20:29
Exactly. And also worryingly an increasing fear of offending certain communties, the vast majority of whom would deplore such behaviour. Interestingly almost exclusively the women who were abused were white and yet no mention of this fact on the couple of BBC news reports I listened too. If this had been white gangs targeting black/asian women all hell would have been let loose. Bizarrely little has been made of this issue by the authorities.
Saturday, September 29th 2012 at 15:47
Hi Emma. I hope you haven’t replied because you’re busy and not because when race is involved it seems a no go area for certain sections of the left!
Saturday, September 29th 2012 at 18:57
Well a. I was driving for 7 hours and b, I didn’t think more needed to be said.
Monday, October 1st 2012 at 08:54
OK. But I do detect a brushing under the carpet generally of this case and an unwillingness to air people’s fears/worries in public. Much easier to say ‘yes that was awful what happened’ and then quickly move onto the next thing. Neither of your replies mentioned the cultural/race aspect. Just class and sexism.