{"id":665,"date":"2017-12-15T16:01:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T21:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/landishouse\/?p=665"},"modified":"2017-12-18T14:01:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T19:01:19","slug":"no-means-no-yes-means-yes-enough-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/2017\/12\/15\/no-means-no-yes-means-yes-enough-is-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"No Means No. Yes Means Yes. Enough is Enough."},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently finished Kate Harding\u2019s book, Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture-and What We Can Do About It<\/em> (2015). In our current moment, when courageous survivors are coming forward every day to share their experiences of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, it continues to be a timely read. It is both accessibly written and rigorously researched.<\/p>\n

In the book, Harding takes on misunderstandings about what consent means, and spends significant time correcting the myths and misperceptions about false reporting, noting that \u201cbased on the best available data, we can assume that somewhere between 92 and 98 percent of the time, a person reporting a rape is telling the truth\u201d (61). She goes on to provide examples of what happens when people, particularly law enforcement and the criminal justice system, act as if most reports are false.<\/p>\n

Harding discusses the ways in which rape myths affect survivors and their willingness to go forward with their cases or not — and the mostly negative results when they do. She notes the impact of rape culture and gives multiple examples of it, including in advertising<\/a>, in music (see here<\/a> and here<\/a>) and in comedy routines<\/a>. Rape culture is what has produced a \u201cculture in which most victims of sexual assault and rape never report it because they fear they won\u2019t be believed \u2013 and know that even if they are believed, they\u2019re likely to be mortified and harassed, blamed and shamed, throughout a legal process that ultimately leads nowhere\u201d (1).<\/p>\n

Harding pointedly rebuts the incorporation of the term \u201cgray rape\u201d into any discussion of rape. This term was popularized in Cosmopolitan<\/em> several years ago and works to incorrectly and dangerously blur the lines between sex and rape. Harding writes: \u201cThe \u2018gray\u2019 in \u2018gray rape\u2019 is an imaginary fog of questions about what consent means and whether you really need it every<\/em> time\u201d (148, emphasis in original). Normalizing a term like \u2018gray rape\u2019 leads to victim-blaming and misplaced concern about false accusations of rape. There are really no questions about \u201cwhat consent means and whether you really need it every time.\u201d Consent is not ambiguous, as institutions and states are beginning to recognize with affirmative consent policies, and yes, you really need it every time.<\/p>\n

Harding also highlights connections between reproductive justice and rape, arguing that \u201cboth rape and severe abortion restrictions spring from the same fear of women\u2019s sexual autonomy\u201d (126). She describes multiple examples of politicians making claims about rape and pregnancy that range from incorrect to wildly outrageous. Remember Todd Aiken\u2019s bizarre comment about \u201clegitimate rape<\/a>,\u201d or Linda McMahon talking about \u201cemergency rape<\/a>\u201d? Harding does.<\/p>\n

Despite the pervasiveness of sexual violence and society\u2019s completely inadequate response to it, Harding finds \u201cseveral causes for genuine hope\u201d (211):<\/p>\n