Germaine Greer brands most rapes as just bad sex

The writer and feminist has suggested that the crime should be punishable by 200 hours of community service.

Germaine Greer appearing on Nine’s 60 Minutes in April.

Germaine Greer has dismissed the violence of rape and suggested that the crime should be punishable by 200 hours of community service.

She called yesterday for an overhaul of the criminal justice system saying that most rapes did not involve any injury and were “just lazy, just careless, just insensitive”.

The veteran feminist, who in recent years has annoyed many sections of society, said the “official position” that 70 per cent of rape victims suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder in comparison with 20 per cent of military veterans was ridiculous.

“At this point you think, what the hell are you saying? That something that leaves no sign, no injury, nothing, is more damaging to women than seeing your best friend blown up by an IED is to a veteran?” she said at the Hay Festival. She argued that society should stop “pathologising” rape and saying that it destroyed women’s lives. “We haven’t been destroyed, we’ve been bloody annoyed, is what we’ve been.

“I reckon 200 hours of community service will do — would do me. I suggested a long time ago that maybe a little tattoo would be a good thing. Maybe an ‘R’ on your hand. I’d prefer it on your cheek.”

Greer, 79, recounted how she was “violently raped” as a 18-year-old by a public schoolboy rugby player and “beaten half-unconscious”. She did not report it to the police and the man subsequently raped another woman, who also did not give evidence in court.

Greer said that “feminists would tear my head off for saying this” but she “wasn’t that angry … I still don’t feel angry enough”.

The broadcaster, writer and academic said that women who did report sexual crimes to the police had tough experiences in court. She said they were ferociously cross-examined and treated as a piece of evidence.

“This is a mess, it’s a big mess. And it’s getting us worse than nowhere. Because it’s one thing to be raped, but it’s another thing to try to get the person who outraged you brought to justice and then be totally discredited,” she said. “That humiliation must be even worse than rape.”

She added that the issue of consent should be taken away with some cases treated as grievous bodily harm. Convictions would thus carry lighter sentences, presenting easier choices for juries. “Where it’s his word against hers and the penalty is seven years or something, juries won’t convict,” she said.

She said that the majority of “rapes don’t involve any injury whatsoever”. “We are told it’s one of the most violent crimes in the world. Bullshit,” she said.

“Most rape is just lazy, just careless, just insensitive. Every time a man rolls over on his exhausted wife and insists on enjoying his conjugal right, he is raping her. It will never end up in a court of law.”

She continued: “Instead of thinking of rape as a spectacularly violent crime — and some rapes are — think about it as non-consensual, that is, bad sex. Sex where there is no communication, no tenderness, no mention of love. We used to talk about lovemaking.”

Greer added that the #MeToo movement generated on the back of the accusations that were first made against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein last year, would have little impact.

“Everybody thinks that the #MeToo generation is going to make such a big difference. It will be extraordinary if it makes any difference at all. Because they are still going to have to argue the issue of consent,” she said.

The Times