Who's On Trial Here?

THE VERDICT came down yesterday in the New Bedford rape case. Six men and one woman were tried. Four of the men were convicted of aggravated rape (two last week and two yesterday); the woman was only made to feel guilty.

The trial has drawn wide publicity because of its sensational aspects, including the fact that six men were involved and that the rape occurred in the midst of cheering onlookers. The media attention has surely been personally damaging to the victim, but the ultimate value of the publicity to society may outweigh her pain.

The case has forced us to look at rape and all that it can entail--the attitudes of the alleged rapists, who testified that they thought the woman was enjoying it, the ordeal of the woman who has the strength to press charges and the sexually explicit details.

But more significantly, the case has brought to light issues about women's rights and their relation to our perception of rape as a crime.

Massachusetts statutes define rape as "sexual intercourse by a person with another person who is compelled to submit by force and against his will or by threat of bodily harm." (Intercourse with someone under 16 is also considered rape.) Thus, a prosecutor must prove two things to obtain a guilty verdict: 1) that sexual intercourse occurred, and 2) that it took place against the victim's will.

The defense, in turn, tries to prove the innocence of the accused, as in any other criminal case. But in most rape cases the defense uses a very specific tactic to establish this: it attempts to show that the woman invited the sexual assault, and therefore, the accused thought the woman wanted to have sex.

These tactics are not illegal; in fact, within the framework of legal proceedings they are not unusual. Similar attempts to discredit the prosecution are prevalent in other types of criminal trials.

In cases such as this, however, the degree to and manner in which the victim may be slandered, stripped of privacy, and otherwise traumatized, reveals a great deal about society's perceptions of rape.

Our natural inclination is not to think about it at all, but when we do, we tend to blame the woman. "She must have looked like she wanted it." "She shouldn't have been there anyway." "She must have encouraged her attacker." Or "She didn't try hard enough to resist."

All of these reinforce the idea that the woman was the guilty one and other common myths about rape. We continue to see rape as a sexual crime, not as the crime of violence that it is. And our society, which has supposedly come so far is granting equality to women, still frowns on half its population for going into a bar alone.

In addition to limited safety facing women who travel alone, society seems also to deny women the sexual freedom men enjoy. This allows the defense to bring up the victim's sexual history with the presumption that if the woman consents to extramarital sex with one man in her past, she is willing to consent to it with all men who desire it.

That four of the rapists were convicted--having been found guilty of raping the woman together--points to the strength of the victim's case and its ability to overcome the defense's strategy of defamation. It is a hard-won victory for the woman.

But it should not let us forget that this disturbing crime needs attention on several levels. First, we must change legislation to make facts about the plaintiff's unrelated sexual pasts inadmissible in a trial. Until this is done, many rape cases will continue to go unprocessed, because too many women fear initiating a trial which they know will be traumatizing.

The other essential response to rape--which many groups have successfully carried out in recent years--should be education. Rape should become a topic of everyday conversation so that both men and women can deal with it when it does happen.

The long-term impact of the Big Dan's rape case is unclear. Local rape crisis centers have already reported rape victims withdrawing cases in response to the press's treatment of the New Bedford case. Conversely, the publicity has forced many to re-evaluate rape and push for greater legal safeguards for rape victims.

We can only hope that this provides some comfort to the young woman who heroically confronted her assaulters in court this month and that it gives some incentive to other rape victims to come forward and press charges.