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Rape: The Politics of Consciousness
A powerful feminist examination of the deeply ingrained roots of rape in our shared cultural values
Rape is the most frequently occurring violent crime in America. In this courageous, controversial, and groundbreaking work, the poet, feminist, and philosopher Susan Griffin examines rape as an inevitable result of a culture that celebrates and rewards aggressive sexual behavior in men, and one in which male dominance and female submissiveness have long been considered natural.
With razor-sharp intelligence, clear-eyed candor, and surprising lyricism, Griffin explores the psychological, historical, political, and societal underpinnings of this devastating act, which cruelly denies a victim her self-determination. By viewing the dark phenomenon of rape through the lens of her personal experience—and through the words of injured parties, writers, legal agencies, and the media—Griffin’s powerful discourse is an essential contribution to feminist thought and literature.
Rape is the most frequently occurring violent crime in America. In this courageous, controversial, and groundbreaking work, the poet, feminist, and philosopher Susan Griffin examines rape as an inevitable result of a culture that celebrates and rewards aggressive sexual behavior in men, and one in which male dominance and female submissiveness have long been considered natural.
With razor-sharp intelligence, clear-eyed candor, and surprising lyricism, Griffin explores the psychological, historical, political, and societal underpinnings of this devastating act, which cruelly denies a victim her self-determination. By viewing the dark phenomenon of rape through the lens of her personal experience—and through the words of injured parties, writers, legal agencies, and the media—Griffin’s powerful discourse is an essential contribution to feminist thought and literature.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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343 people want to read
About the author
Susan Griffin
67 books159 followersSusan Griffin is an award winning poet, writer, essayist and playwright who has written nineteen books, including A Chorus of Stones, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Named by Utne reader as one of the top hundred visionaries of the new millenium, she is the recipient of an Emmy for her play Voices, an NEA grant and a MacArthur Grant for Peace and International Cooperation. Her latest work, Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy, on being an American Citizen has been called "fresh, probing" and "incisive" by Booklist.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 23, 2017
In part this book is a reflection/mediation on the subject of rape. Griffin looks at rape though not only a feminist lense but also in term so history. Perhaps the best section of the book is the last section which is a collage.
March 12, 2017
Excellent use of poetry, citations/sources, anecdotes, philosophy, and more.
In Part 1, Griffin goes through some of the basic need to knows about rape and it's deeper meaning; it's not just a physical act, but a psychological one. Rape is not necessarily the psychological problem of a few, but society as a whole. This section is filled with many statistics, which I didn't bother to note because this book is decades old making the statistics outdated, but there were alarming.
Rape is far from an impulsive behavior; most rape is planned (p.5).
Rape itself is learned (p.6)
It is a (ridiculous) myth that women secretly want to be raped.
"In our culture, heterosexual love finds an erotic expression through male dominance and female submission. A man who derives pleasure from raping a woman clearly must enjoy force and dominance as much or more than the simple pleasure of flesh." (p.9)
** "Every man I meet wants to protect me. Can't figure out what from."- Mae West
Griffin argues against chivalry: "In the system of chivalry, men protect women against men. This is not unlike the protection relationship which the mafia established with small businesses in the early part of this century. Indeed, chivalry is an age-old protection racket which depends for its existence on rape."(p.11)
Rape victims are submitted to countless questions about their own sexual mores and behavior. At one time, police tended to believe that a woman without a good reputation cannot be raped." (p.14)
Griffin asserts there is a peculiarity between the clothing women are expected to wear and how that makes it harder for them to protect themselves: "To be feminine is to wear shoes which make it difficult to run; skirts which inhibit one's stride; underclothes which inhibit the circulation. Is it not an intriguing observation that those very clothes which are thought to be flattering to the female and attractive to the male are those which make it impossible for a woman to defend herself against aggression?" (p.16)
The woman has been for so long viewed as property. (This is seen a lot in society today. When men try to stick up for women getting abused or mistreated they say "That's someone's 'mother' or 'daughter'; what if that was your... It's as though the woman being a human being isn't enough, she is only thought to be cared for when she's attached to someone else.) With this in mind, the law of rape is not meant to protect the victim for her sake, but for her husband or father; Griffin says "The law of rape provides an orderly outlet for his vengeance." (p.18)
"Traditionally has been viewed as an offense one male commits against another--a matter of abusing his woman." - Kate Millett (p.19)
"Indeed, the existence of rape in any form is beneficial to the ruling class of white males. For rape is a kind of terrorism which severely limits the freedom of women and makes women dependent on men." (p.21)
Rape rape is an act of aggression in which the victim is denied her self-determination. It is an act of violence which, if not actually followed by beatings or murder, nevertheless always carries with it the threat of death. And finally, rape is form of mass terrorism, for the victims of rape are chosen indiscriminately, but the propagandists for male supremacy broadcast that it is women who cause rape by being unchaste or in the wrong place at the wrong time--in essence, by behaving as though they were free (p.23-24).
Part 2
In this part she discusses the dilemmas and agonies have to go through dealing with rape culture. This includes background information on famous rape cases, their outcomes, and what it means.
After that she begins to dive into more spiritual/philosophical poetics about the image of a Goddess.
Benefits of learning self-defense,
"If I imagine myself guilty,even though I am not, I suffer as if I were." (p.29)
"When we confront rape, suddenly a whole system becomes visible, a system which includes invisibility and silence, which had covered the crime of rape in silence...rape does not end with the changing of laws...the causes go deeper and belong to the whole fabric (p.34).
Much of the study of martial arts, besides the physical development of grace and skill, is a change in attitude. To work against fear, shock, a feeling of defeat. To use the energy of the attacker against himself. (p.35).
She points out that rape is in Mythology: Zeus raped Hera, Persephone was raped, her daughter was stolen and raped with her father's blessing... (p.47)
"Rape is an invention. Rape can be unimaginable." (p.52)
The Griffin moves more specifically to child rape. She says that even if a child is able to forgive the attacker a "certain burden is shifted away from society and onto the child's shoulders. Forgiveness implies understanding." (p.59)
"Just as we are recognizing rape and the sexual abuse of children, just as we turn to face our own shadows, we begin to glimpse a new way of being a woman or a man, a tender space around all that we have bound so tightly with a definition. What we call masculinity and femininity reflect centuries of living within a social system in which men have power over women. One cannot repair the damage of this history simply by combining masculine and feminine characteristics. Rather, we need to explore the genesis of these behaviors and to reach beneath them for what is human, for a response that has not been defined by domination." (p.63-64).
Pornographic images encourage rape (p.64). Pornography, along with racism, poverty, the devastation of the earth, war.
**Sexual pleasure is not an experience of dominance but of merging. It is not an experience of power over another but of vulnerability,even vulnerability to one's own feelings. The pornographer tries to master sexual feeling by mastering the female body. But in doing this, he silences sexual knowledge (p.65). The secret fantasy life of a culture that creates rape is expressed in pornography (p.66).
Part 3: Consciousness
The fear of rape creates the solitude of women (p.70). The act of rape for women is of its very nature never predictable, never chosen, never a fight one has wagered on, always a surprise attack, and for no reason (p.74). "The list of admonitions we must give our daughters is long. Do not look into strange men's eyes. If they look into your eyes, look down, look away....The world, even a girl's neighborhood, becomes a mined field." (p.75)
"We draw the window shades before undressing, pull a cloth quickly over the middle of our bodies, cross our arms over our breasts. Thus we imagine we protect men from themselves. The very existence of our bodies then, our own gestures say is provocation to violence; our bodies then, our own gestures say, is provocation to violence; our bodies become things which we must hide. How does one move bout the world in this body which has the power to invoke malevolence against oneself?" (p.76)
"This culture is a cul-de-sac for the power of women." (p.77)
"Range is masculine and confinement is feminine"-Mary Ellmann
"For more than rape itself, the fear of rape permeates over lives" (p.83)
**"Sexual humiliation is the core of the act of rape." (p.84)
Part 4:The Power of Consciousness: A Collage
This section is composed of all quotes.
"In Levite law, the rape of a virgin was honored as a declaration of ownership and brought about a forced marriage."- Merlin Stone (p.95)
"Rape is a punishment without crime or guilt--at least not subjective guilt. It is punishment, rather for the objective crime of femaleness." - Barbara Mherof and Pamela Kearon (p.97)
"Woman's body is the woman." - Ambrose Bierce (p.101)
"Although societal attitudes no doubt are responsible for the present construction of rape laws, it is also true that this construction serves to reinforce those attitudes. If the laws were changed to relate more rationally to the reality of the crime and to the goal of sexual equality, attitudes about the crime might also change." - Camille E. LeGrand (p.106)
"This view of what a man can assume to be a sexual invitation is unreasonable, but is so well engrained in society that women often accept it as well. As a result, a woman may react to being raped with considerable guilt and refuse to report to attack...a woman should not be made to feel guilty for acts that do not involve express sexual invitation, nor should she be denied the right to change her mind" (p.113)
In Part 1, Griffin goes through some of the basic need to knows about rape and it's deeper meaning; it's not just a physical act, but a psychological one. Rape is not necessarily the psychological problem of a few, but society as a whole. This section is filled with many statistics, which I didn't bother to note because this book is decades old making the statistics outdated, but there were alarming.
Rape is far from an impulsive behavior; most rape is planned (p.5).
Rape itself is learned (p.6)
It is a (ridiculous) myth that women secretly want to be raped.
"In our culture, heterosexual love finds an erotic expression through male dominance and female submission. A man who derives pleasure from raping a woman clearly must enjoy force and dominance as much or more than the simple pleasure of flesh." (p.9)
** "Every man I meet wants to protect me. Can't figure out what from."- Mae West
Griffin argues against chivalry: "In the system of chivalry, men protect women against men. This is not unlike the protection relationship which the mafia established with small businesses in the early part of this century. Indeed, chivalry is an age-old protection racket which depends for its existence on rape."(p.11)
Rape victims are submitted to countless questions about their own sexual mores and behavior. At one time, police tended to believe that a woman without a good reputation cannot be raped." (p.14)
Griffin asserts there is a peculiarity between the clothing women are expected to wear and how that makes it harder for them to protect themselves: "To be feminine is to wear shoes which make it difficult to run; skirts which inhibit one's stride; underclothes which inhibit the circulation. Is it not an intriguing observation that those very clothes which are thought to be flattering to the female and attractive to the male are those which make it impossible for a woman to defend herself against aggression?" (p.16)
The woman has been for so long viewed as property. (This is seen a lot in society today. When men try to stick up for women getting abused or mistreated they say "That's someone's 'mother' or 'daughter'; what if that was your... It's as though the woman being a human being isn't enough, she is only thought to be cared for when she's attached to someone else.) With this in mind, the law of rape is not meant to protect the victim for her sake, but for her husband or father; Griffin says "The law of rape provides an orderly outlet for his vengeance." (p.18)
"Traditionally has been viewed as an offense one male commits against another--a matter of abusing his woman." - Kate Millett (p.19)
"Indeed, the existence of rape in any form is beneficial to the ruling class of white males. For rape is a kind of terrorism which severely limits the freedom of women and makes women dependent on men." (p.21)
Rape rape is an act of aggression in which the victim is denied her self-determination. It is an act of violence which, if not actually followed by beatings or murder, nevertheless always carries with it the threat of death. And finally, rape is form of mass terrorism, for the victims of rape are chosen indiscriminately, but the propagandists for male supremacy broadcast that it is women who cause rape by being unchaste or in the wrong place at the wrong time--in essence, by behaving as though they were free (p.23-24).
Part 2
In this part she discusses the dilemmas and agonies have to go through dealing with rape culture. This includes background information on famous rape cases, their outcomes, and what it means.
After that she begins to dive into more spiritual/philosophical poetics about the image of a Goddess.
Benefits of learning self-defense,
"If I imagine myself guilty,even though I am not, I suffer as if I were." (p.29)
"When we confront rape, suddenly a whole system becomes visible, a system which includes invisibility and silence, which had covered the crime of rape in silence...rape does not end with the changing of laws...the causes go deeper and belong to the whole fabric (p.34).
Much of the study of martial arts, besides the physical development of grace and skill, is a change in attitude. To work against fear, shock, a feeling of defeat. To use the energy of the attacker against himself. (p.35).
She points out that rape is in Mythology: Zeus raped Hera, Persephone was raped, her daughter was stolen and raped with her father's blessing... (p.47)
"Rape is an invention. Rape can be unimaginable." (p.52)
The Griffin moves more specifically to child rape. She says that even if a child is able to forgive the attacker a "certain burden is shifted away from society and onto the child's shoulders. Forgiveness implies understanding." (p.59)
"Just as we are recognizing rape and the sexual abuse of children, just as we turn to face our own shadows, we begin to glimpse a new way of being a woman or a man, a tender space around all that we have bound so tightly with a definition. What we call masculinity and femininity reflect centuries of living within a social system in which men have power over women. One cannot repair the damage of this history simply by combining masculine and feminine characteristics. Rather, we need to explore the genesis of these behaviors and to reach beneath them for what is human, for a response that has not been defined by domination." (p.63-64).
Pornographic images encourage rape (p.64). Pornography, along with racism, poverty, the devastation of the earth, war.
**Sexual pleasure is not an experience of dominance but of merging. It is not an experience of power over another but of vulnerability,even vulnerability to one's own feelings. The pornographer tries to master sexual feeling by mastering the female body. But in doing this, he silences sexual knowledge (p.65). The secret fantasy life of a culture that creates rape is expressed in pornography (p.66).
Part 3: Consciousness
The fear of rape creates the solitude of women (p.70). The act of rape for women is of its very nature never predictable, never chosen, never a fight one has wagered on, always a surprise attack, and for no reason (p.74). "The list of admonitions we must give our daughters is long. Do not look into strange men's eyes. If they look into your eyes, look down, look away....The world, even a girl's neighborhood, becomes a mined field." (p.75)
"We draw the window shades before undressing, pull a cloth quickly over the middle of our bodies, cross our arms over our breasts. Thus we imagine we protect men from themselves. The very existence of our bodies then, our own gestures say is provocation to violence; our bodies then, our own gestures say, is provocation to violence; our bodies become things which we must hide. How does one move bout the world in this body which has the power to invoke malevolence against oneself?" (p.76)
"This culture is a cul-de-sac for the power of women." (p.77)
"Range is masculine and confinement is feminine"-Mary Ellmann
"For more than rape itself, the fear of rape permeates over lives" (p.83)
**"Sexual humiliation is the core of the act of rape." (p.84)
Part 4:The Power of Consciousness: A Collage
This section is composed of all quotes.
"In Levite law, the rape of a virgin was honored as a declaration of ownership and brought about a forced marriage."- Merlin Stone (p.95)
"Rape is a punishment without crime or guilt--at least not subjective guilt. It is punishment, rather for the objective crime of femaleness." - Barbara Mherof and Pamela Kearon (p.97)
"Woman's body is the woman." - Ambrose Bierce (p.101)
"Although societal attitudes no doubt are responsible for the present construction of rape laws, it is also true that this construction serves to reinforce those attitudes. If the laws were changed to relate more rationally to the reality of the crime and to the goal of sexual equality, attitudes about the crime might also change." - Camille E. LeGrand (p.106)
"This view of what a man can assume to be a sexual invitation is unreasonable, but is so well engrained in society that women often accept it as well. As a result, a woman may react to being raped with considerable guilt and refuse to report to attack...a woman should not be made to feel guilty for acts that do not involve express sexual invitation, nor should she be denied the right to change her mind" (p.113)
October 3, 2020
Originally published in 1986, this is still frighteningly relevant. It is a difficult read but an important one as it lays out the societal structural inequalities that allow rape to go almost unpunished in a great many places. Detailed below are 3 of the areas which still resonate today - this is a content warning for anyone who may be triggered not to read further.
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*******
"The assumption that a woman who does not respect the double standard deserves whatever she gets (or at the very least 'asks for it') operates in the courts today." Loc 173 Witness the court cases in recent times where the choice of underwear has been used to discredit the victim, or agreement to sex with one person has been argued to indicate that consent has been given to whoever rocks up. Witness the comments on posts and articles about rape where the victims are castigated for not knowing that the guy was a threat (with the double side of that being NAMALT) or for being intoxicated at a party.
"Pornography, and a kind of subtle, ingrained pornographic culture surround us with images of women who seek domination, humiliation, enslavement, who take pleasure in the these states." Loc 431 Witness the relationship forums online where the (usually) female partner asks for help as to why they have, without consent, been slapped, spit upon, and even choked during sex because of acts seen by their partner in porn. Done incorrectly some practices carry real risk of physical harm. Not to mention that there has been a rise in the number of cases where 'rough sex' has been offered as a defence when a woman has been killed. A defence where we only know one side as the other side is dead, leading to the set up of We Can't Consent To This - a website which details the women and girls (and it is women and girls) who have died allegedly during a sex game gone awry.
"The false complaint is feared more in rape cases than in other crimes because of the basic assumption that many women are either amoral or hostile to men and that women can induce rape convictions solely by virtue of fabricated reports." Loc 1787 False allegations (of which relatively few happen) are without fail brought up on posts and articles about rape, even though statistics don't bear out that women routinely lie about being raped.
Read via Kindle Unlimited.
*******
*******
"The assumption that a woman who does not respect the double standard deserves whatever she gets (or at the very least 'asks for it') operates in the courts today." Loc 173 Witness the court cases in recent times where the choice of underwear has been used to discredit the victim, or agreement to sex with one person has been argued to indicate that consent has been given to whoever rocks up. Witness the comments on posts and articles about rape where the victims are castigated for not knowing that the guy was a threat (with the double side of that being NAMALT) or for being intoxicated at a party.
"Pornography, and a kind of subtle, ingrained pornographic culture surround us with images of women who seek domination, humiliation, enslavement, who take pleasure in the these states." Loc 431 Witness the relationship forums online where the (usually) female partner asks for help as to why they have, without consent, been slapped, spit upon, and even choked during sex because of acts seen by their partner in porn. Done incorrectly some practices carry real risk of physical harm. Not to mention that there has been a rise in the number of cases where 'rough sex' has been offered as a defence when a woman has been killed. A defence where we only know one side as the other side is dead, leading to the set up of We Can't Consent To This - a website which details the women and girls (and it is women and girls) who have died allegedly during a sex game gone awry.
"The false complaint is feared more in rape cases than in other crimes because of the basic assumption that many women are either amoral or hostile to men and that women can induce rape convictions solely by virtue of fabricated reports." Loc 1787 False allegations (of which relatively few happen) are without fail brought up on posts and articles about rape, even though statistics don't bear out that women routinely lie about being raped.
Read via Kindle Unlimited.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2024
A POWERFUL BOOK, BY A WONDERFUL AUTHOR
Susan Griffin (born 1943) is an eco-feminist author, who has written books such as 'Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her,' 'Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World,' 'A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War,' 'Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen,' 'The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society,' 'What Her Body Thought,' 'Pornography and Silence,' etc.
Here are some quotations from the book:
"Like most men he did not understand the urgency of the topic, for, after all, men are not raped." (Pg. 5)
"...according to the Federal Commission on Crimes of Violence, only 4 percent of reported rapes involved any precipitative behavior by the woman." (Pg. 7)
"A man who derives pleasure from raping a woman clearly must enjoy force and dominance as much or more than the simple pleasures of the flesh." (Pg. 8)
"That a grown woman, alone at night, may see herself as rejected, not part of a couple, not chosen, and therefore unworthy... is an evident part of our culture. Yet, when to this rejection is added the intrinsic statement that she is not good enough to be protected... the weight of loneliness, its invidiousness to the self, can become unbearable." (Pg. 51-52)
"The very existence of our bodies, then, our own gestures say, is provocation to violence; our bodies become things which we must hide. How does one move about the world in this body which has the power to invoke malevolence against oneself?" (Pg. 55)
"The overwhelming majority of women were profoundly affected by the rape. Forty-two percent rated it as the most upsetting event of their lives." (Pg. 94)
Susan Griffin (born 1943) is an eco-feminist author, who has written books such as 'Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her,' 'Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World,' 'A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War,' 'Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen,' 'The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society,' 'What Her Body Thought,' 'Pornography and Silence,' etc.
Here are some quotations from the book:
"Like most men he did not understand the urgency of the topic, for, after all, men are not raped." (Pg. 5)
"...according to the Federal Commission on Crimes of Violence, only 4 percent of reported rapes involved any precipitative behavior by the woman." (Pg. 7)
"A man who derives pleasure from raping a woman clearly must enjoy force and dominance as much or more than the simple pleasures of the flesh." (Pg. 8)
"That a grown woman, alone at night, may see herself as rejected, not part of a couple, not chosen, and therefore unworthy... is an evident part of our culture. Yet, when to this rejection is added the intrinsic statement that she is not good enough to be protected... the weight of loneliness, its invidiousness to the self, can become unbearable." (Pg. 51-52)
"The very existence of our bodies, then, our own gestures say, is provocation to violence; our bodies become things which we must hide. How does one move about the world in this body which has the power to invoke malevolence against oneself?" (Pg. 55)
"The overwhelming majority of women were profoundly affected by the rape. Forty-two percent rated it as the most upsetting event of their lives." (Pg. 94)
January 26, 2025
Thought Provoking
It's sad and troubling to say this but I'd be willing to bet, if one were to take a survey somehow of all readers who purchased this book, most would be female and most would identify as victims of rape. Which in turn makes me wonder, what is it we think a stranger might know about the topic that we ourselves don't know? Could it be that we are STILL wondering "Why ME? What did I do?" Could it be after all this time we could still feel ashamed? Still blame ourselves? "
This book is both an uncomfortable read and yet a hopeful and affirming one. While there are some individual stories brushed upon, it's not the type of book that merely lets survivors describe what happened to them. If that is what the reader is looking for, those are quite plentiful in the memoir, non fiction and true crime genres. This book dives into society and cultural views of men and women, old but persistent beliefs that men are entitled to sex whenever they want it and that women are "less than" and besides they "want to be raped."
The author has done her due diligence with research and many of the sources cited are familiar to me and will likely be to others well acquainted with the literature. The statistics and even some of the resources are somewhat outdated due to the time that has passed but if anything that is but a stark reminder that we really have not come far enough in addressing the problems of rape and child s*x abuse and the statistics are now even higher in many jurisdictions I would guess.
This book is unfortunately still somewhat relevant but quite a dry read in terms of data.
It's sad and troubling to say this but I'd be willing to bet, if one were to take a survey somehow of all readers who purchased this book, most would be female and most would identify as victims of rape. Which in turn makes me wonder, what is it we think a stranger might know about the topic that we ourselves don't know? Could it be that we are STILL wondering "Why ME? What did I do?" Could it be after all this time we could still feel ashamed? Still blame ourselves? "
This book is both an uncomfortable read and yet a hopeful and affirming one. While there are some individual stories brushed upon, it's not the type of book that merely lets survivors describe what happened to them. If that is what the reader is looking for, those are quite plentiful in the memoir, non fiction and true crime genres. This book dives into society and cultural views of men and women, old but persistent beliefs that men are entitled to sex whenever they want it and that women are "less than" and besides they "want to be raped."
The author has done her due diligence with research and many of the sources cited are familiar to me and will likely be to others well acquainted with the literature. The statistics and even some of the resources are somewhat outdated due to the time that has passed but if anything that is but a stark reminder that we really have not come far enough in addressing the problems of rape and child s*x abuse and the statistics are now even higher in many jurisdictions I would guess.
This book is unfortunately still somewhat relevant but quite a dry read in terms of data.
September 9, 2022
x fricchettone un po' arrabbiate ma poco
October 22, 2024
"And life, which means everything to me, becomes meaningless, because these celebrations of cruelty destroy my very capacity to feel and to care and to hope."
February 8, 2016
Not a bad discussion of rape in America, but it keeps itself kind of far out there in a lofty philosophical realm. It never completely gets down to brass tacks.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews