Rape is (mostly) not about power and the patriarchy

The allegations by former Liberal party staffer Brittany Higgins shone a light on the issue of sexual offending.

Since the news of Brittany Higgins’ allegation of sexual assault at Parliament House came to light last month, Australian journalists have become increasingly focused on the issue of sex offending, culminating in last week’s breathless reporting on a historical rape allegation regarding Christian Porter in 1988. Unfortunately, much of the commentary on these issues has been coloured by a particular ideological lens, and in some cases the rhetoric has been at odds with the facts.

The ideological lens through which sexual assault is viewed today has a decades-long history, starting with Susan Brownmiller’s fascinating but factually wrong 1975 treatise, Against Our Will, in which she argued that rape is “a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear”. Brownmiller’s analysis grew out of second-wave feminism, which viewed gender relations through a conflict theory (that is, Marxist) framework, wherein women as a class were oppressed by men as a class. Second-wave feminists believed that sexual violence was one of the tools by which the patriarchy used to keep women subjugated.

But although it was a challenging and influential work of theory, Brownmiller’s central claims just haven’t been supported by empirical data over the past 45 years.

So what does the data indicate? While it is true most victims of rape are female (around 80 per cent), victim of crime statistics collected by the ABS also indicate that it is overwhelmingly a crime committed against young people — including boys. The age at which a female is most likely to be sexually assaulted is between 15 and 19 — while she is still in high school. The age at which a male is most likely to be sexually assaulted is under the age of 15 — while he is still a child. In a third of the cases, the rape has occurred in a “family or domestic violence” situation.

That 14-year-old boys and 15-year-old girls are most likely to be targeted by sex offenders seems at odds with the notion that sex offending is primarily motivated by power. Both in a legal sense and financial sense, children do not hold power. And yet they are more likely to be victimised by sex offenders than adults in their 40s or 50s.

Another popular trope that has proliferated in recent days is the notion that the rule of law is “broken” in regards to sexual assault because only a small number of cases that are reported end up resulting in convictions. The implied argument seems to be that police and prosecutors drop cases because they don’t “believe women” or because the threshold for evidence is too high. To be sure, many cases are dropped because prosecutors have insufficient physical evidence to work with. Nevertheless, researchers have found that one of the most common reasons for case attrition is lack of co-operation from the victim, not police.

A victim may decide to drop charges or withdraw her witness testimony at any point during the investigative or prosecution process. As is the case in domestic violence situations, an unco-operative victim is more common when the offender and victim are known to each other. Ask any police officer and they will relate that such situations can be incredibly frustrating for law enforcement, especially when the offender is known to be a recidivist.

Many high-profile journalists on social media in recent days have expressed that it is “understandable” that women may not want to go to the police straight after a sexual assault has occurred, and should not be judged for this. This is a reasonable sentiment when considering the emotional health of trauma survivors. Each individual is different, and will process distressing events in their own way. There is no one-size-fits-all approach when dealing with trauma.

Nevertheless, young people should be aware that the likelihood of a conviction declines for any crime as reporting is delayed. Eyewitness testimony may be sufficient to convict offenders in some cases, but not all, and many cases will need physical evidence to substantiate witness testimony. If we want to increase convictions for sex offending, we should be encouraging women (and men) to report such crimes as soon as possible, not scaring them off with stories about how going to police is like “being raped a second time”.

As a society, we need to find a balance between being compassionate and understanding of the personal choices victims make, while at the same time educating young people about our justice system and how it works. Young people need to know that evidence is critical in pursuing justice if a crime is ever committed against them. And prompt reporting is the best way to ensure that such evidence can be collected and stored by the appropriate authorities.

Law enforcement has come a long way in the past few decades in developing a trauma-informed, victim-focused approach. Some jurisdictions will no doubt be more victim-focused than others, and there will be variation in the system. But going to the police is the first and most important step in a path toward justice, and police today have a range of services that they can offer victims to help them cope with the trauma they have experienced. We do young people a disservice if we discourage them to pursue redress through our justice system.

Claire Lehmann is founding editor of Quillette, a platform for free thought.