"She Said - She Said"

“She Said – She Said”

Who is responsible for date rape? Camille Paglia (2009) argues women

are responsible for their actions. Susan Jacoby (2009) insists

that most men and women behave in a civilized way. When asked if men

convicted of date rape, should be accountable for their actions, I look at the

question again.  It does not say, “charged.” It says, “convicted.” A trial

allowed evidence from both sides and a judgment was made.  In that

scenario, a man is accountable.

But, and I must be very clear here, Camille Paglia’s essay

is the strongest argument of the two. It addresses the whole situation.

It addresses the behaviors leading up to the occurrence. It identifies college

students as those who are most likely to be involved. It identifies college

campuses as the location where this most often occurs. It points out that

college administrators are not qualified to make a judicial ruling.

Have you heard the saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound

of cure?” Here is another one, “Prior preparation prevents piss-poor

performance.”  Each one of these sayings tells us to put some thought into

what the troubling situation is or has the potential to be, and figure out a

way to either avoid it or deal with it, while preventing serious damage.  

Paglia argues that the “only solution to date rape is female self-

awareness and self-control. A woman’s number-one line of defense against

rape is herself.” (p. 509)

“You’ve got to be kidding,” my inner idealist says. “Surely you don’t

expect a woman to be pre-cognoscente and predict how a man will behave

in this situation?” “No. I do not,” I answer.  Neither do I think that she

should assume he is going to act with any sense of decency.  The Rape,

Abuse and Incest National Network reports that as of 2007, 1 in every 6

women will be victims of an attempted or completed rape. That is 17.7

million American women. Consider those numbers. Are you going to tell your

daughter that it is ok to take the gamble and go out drinking with local

fraternity boys? No, that defies good judgment.

Susan Jacoby’s (2009) critique of Paglia’s (2009) essay starts with an

anecdote about a personal experience she had. Her thesis states that

civilized behavior trumps hormones. Refuting Paglia’s main point, she uses a

technique called reduction and absurdium. This allows her to uncover a flaw

in Paglia’s logic and carry it to an absurd conclusion. If men are not held

accountable for their sexual actions then, “few women would escape rape

and few men would fail to commit to rape” (p. 512) but then she lessens the

effect of that by acknowledging that there is a minority of men who “can’t

stand to take “no” for an answer.” (p. 513) However, Minnesota Men’s Action

Network reports “2/3 of college men surveyed said they would rape if

they thought they could get away with it.” That small minority that Jacoby

references, does not sound small anymore.

Jacoby summarizes Paglia’s essay, introducing her readers to the

date rape debate. She compares Paglia’s points and contrasts

them to her own. She also uses templates for disagreeing, which brings her

arguments to the reader in a more objective way, proving that she has

thought about this subject and is not having a knee-jerk reaction. Both

writers could have made their arguments stronger with the use of statistics

or clear academic references but they did not and I would be interested in

knowing why they made that decision. Neither conclusion delivers fireworks. 

Paglia’s is stronger because it not only supports her thesis, but also makes a

call to action.  Much like her essay, Jacoby’s conclusion relies on the reader

to make the civilized decision. This implies that if her audience disagrees

with her then they are somehow less than civilized. That may work for some

readers. However, I choose personal safety over an assumption about

someone else’s ability to be civilized. The need for law enforcement proves

that is the smarter argument every time.

Resources:

Nadell, J., Lanagan, J., Comodromos, E.A.. (2009) The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Research Guide, and Handbook. (7th ed.). New York, NY. pp 506-514.

Sexual Abuse Statistics (nd.) Minnesota Men’s Action Network. Alliance to Prevent Sexual and Domestic Violence. Retrieved on December 30, 2009. From http://www.menaspeacemakers.org/programs/mnman/statistics

Who are the Victims? (2009). Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Retrieved December 30, 2009. From http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims