Sexual Assault

SEXUAL ASSAULT

by Marco M. Pardi

“Woman is condemned to a system under which the lawful rapes exceed the unlawful cases a million to one.” Margaret Sanger. Woman and the New Race. 1920

“It’s like the weather. If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.” Clayton Williams. Texas Republican Gubernatorial Candidate commenting on rape. 1990.

All comments are sincerely appreciated and will receive a response.

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I’ve often said that when a person sits down to write about something it should be something he or she knows. I know about sexual assault, including rape, as a phenomenon. I know it occurs. I know it is almost always not sexual but rather an aggressive act of domination, including rape as an act against civilians in war. But I can’t put myself into the mindset of a rapist, or a person forcefully or even surreptitiously violating a woman’s private space. For that matter, I also can’t find the mindset of someone who uses prostitutes. I am certain I would be non-functional in either case.

The Me Too movement has gained explosive traction, as well it should. I confess to moments of memory search; am I deserving of accusation for some long ago act. Not only have I not found any (and I’m quick to find self-blame), I found myself revisiting a number of instances in which I was used, conned, and/or betrayed by women one would “bring home to meet the parents”. No matter. They have long been someone else’s problem. But having a daughter and two granddaughters (I know I seem to be leaving out my grandson but he’s no one to mess with) I feel even more strongly than I always have about sexual violation. For those who don’t know me, that’s saying a lot.

So, here’s another thing I’m certain of. I could never have been an investigator assigned to “kiddie porn” cases. For one thing I could not look at images to gather the evidence to bring a case. For another thing I’m pretty sure it would not have been long before I gathered locating, travel habits, etc. on a trafficker or perpetrator and quietly did a “Star Chamber” on him myself. The same goes for makers of “crush videos”, of small animals being stomped to death. My preferred therapy for the aforementioned perpetrators is to feed them feet first into an industrial wood chipper.

I’m aware of the clinical interpretations of pedophilia and the therapeutic models commonly in use. But I have never had confidence in therapies for this condition, even chemical castration. And the recidivism rate is so high I cannot justify release, no matter the time served or the therapies used. If I told you there was a 4 in 10 chance of a released pedophile living nearby coming after your child would you accept their release? Okay, 2 in 10? 1 in 10? If life imprisonment is not a satisfactory answer, perhaps a .22 Magnum hollow point to the base of the skull would put the issue to rest.

Speaking of which, during my first field assignment with the Centers for Disease Control I interviewed over a two year period literally thousands of STD (often now called STI) patients to elicit their sex contacts. Not much time passes before the interviews tend to sound alike. But I remember one to this day.

A man in his late twenties presented with co-incident syphilis and gonorrhea infections. At the time, what else he may have had was beyond our testing. As I was eliciting his contacts, prior to giving him his medications, he told me he was a cab driver for one of the several small cab companies in the city. He did not know his contacts because he routinely would cruise by bus stops and, when he saw a girl he fancied, would stop and ask her where she was going. Once he got that information he told her (them) he was on his way to pick up a fare “right near there” and she could ride with him for free. Once the girl was in the car he would quickly go in the general direction but would turn and drive a long way away from where the girl wanted to go. Spotting the rear of a strip mall or some other obscured place he would pull in and stop then tell the girl she could either provide a sexual service for him or she could get out and walk.

If true, and his story was consistent through several repetitions (by this time I had learned how to appear chummy and even envious of sexual “conquests” in order to elicit more contacts to be found and treated) I firmly concluded he was a sexual predator and indeed a serial rapist.

After his medication he apparently felt so admired that he gave me a card with his phone number should I need a cab ride “anytime”. I held on to that and I often considered calling him late one night to pick me up somewhere and then taking him “out of service”…… permanently. Of course, I never did that. But the fantasy was pleasing. And, without a victim, one of the girls, to press charges there was no point in notifying the police.

But, as we’ve recently been reminded, sexual assault is probably the least reported crime in America today. The men who have, and still are criticizing Dr. Ford for not coming forward years ago are either stunningly ignorant or are counting on the ignorance of others. So why do the victims not come forward? I certainly can’t say I know all the reasons, but apparently chief among them is fear of being disbelieved. Along with this is our cultural habit of victimizing the person further by interrogating him or her about their entire sexual history, leading to shaming and ostracism from family and friends. Even today there are people who say, “She invited it” by her choice of clothing.

However, if there is merit – and I think there is – in the position that rape/sexual assault is a crime of domination, not overwhelming sexual urge, then clothing has absolutely nothing to do with it. In twenty two years of teaching college, especially in the warm South, I saw some rather amazing ensembles…or parts of ensembles. Never once did it cross my mind that the young woman was trolling for sex.

To me, sexual assault, the forcing of sex or a sexual contact of some sort on another person is an act of aggression having more to do with the category fixed in the mind of the perpetrator: Woman, or child (male or female) = Victim. I find it obvious that the “treatment” or “therapy” must first be to render the perpetrator utterly and permanently incapable of further aggression. And, given the rate of success with current therapies, I lean strongly toward the position that anything short of rendering the perpetrator permanently incapable will not work.

What do you think?