Akin's comments on rape reflected on campus

While much of the country is in an uproar about Rep. Todd Akin’s recent distinction between “legitimate rape” and illegitimate rape, Rep. Akin’s illogical philosophy is one that unfortunately mirrors the minds of many students at Duke. During my years here, I cannot count how many times I heard students respond to a story about rape with the following remark, “Well was it real rape or just rape-rape?” This remark is akin to the ignorance expressed by Rep. Akin. This hyper-sensationalized and unmistakably sexist idea perpetuates the myth that the “stranger jumping out of the bushes” rape is the only form of “legitimate rape” and in any other scenario the female could have clearly stopped the rape or, in Akin’s mind, a resulting pregnancy.

Wrong. Rape, by definition, is any situation in which someone forces penetration upon another without his or her consent—dark alley or not. If a Duke student decides to go back to her room with her best guy friend, whom she trusts, and he decides to force himself on her despite her repeated pleas for him to stop, make no mistake, this IS rape.

Statistically, stranger rape is rare in comparison to acquaintance rape. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2008, 57 percent of reported rapes or sexual assaults against females were by acquaintances, and only 31 percent of all rapes or sexual assaults were committed by strangers. Consider that two thirds (65 percent) of rapes and sexual assaults were not reported to police from 2006 to 2010, and it is clear that the actual total amount of rapes committed by acquaintances is likely higher than statistics currently suggest.

Yet, in the eyes of Rep. Akin and many of my peers, the suffering that victims of acquaintance rape experience is not seen as legitimate. The idea that a victim is at fault if the perpetrator did not jump out from the black abyss is dangerous to all victims. We should be striving to minimize rape—not blaming victims and making them feel guilty and thus less likely to report rape.

It is my hope that this year students at Duke will strive to create an environment that supports victims, not one that blames them. Duke offers plenty of programs that work to create a more supportive campus. Like many varsity athletic teams this past summer, you can undergo PACT (Prevent, Act, Challenge, Teach) training, which equips students with strategies they can use to combat sexual assault, harassment, rape, stalking and date violence. You can even do something as simple as educating yourself and friends about Duke’s sexual assault policy so that you can understand what sexual assault is, how to prevent it and what to do if it happens. Whatever you do, I encourage that, unlike Rep. Akin, you do something to place the blame where it should be—on rapists.

Sarah Kendrick

Trinity ’13