Blaming the rape victim

Re “What campus rape crisis?” Opinion, Feb. 24

As a rape survivor and someone who volunteered at a community rape crisis line for nine years, I knew where Heather Mac Donald was headed. She begins with the implication that she spent countless hours sitting by a college rape crisis phone but nobody called. If this were the truth and not a myth, Mac Donald would have stated it outright. If Mac Donald were to respect women’s self-identification as rape survivors -- something she demands of feminists -- she couldn’t label up to 50% of women who report rape as liars, and she couldn’t try to label the rest as promiscuous young women who got what they deserved for not being chaste.

Never mind that chaste young women also get raped. At 15, I lost my virginity through rape. But by the standards used by Mac Donald, I wasn’t sufficiently chaste. No wonder I felt crazy for too long. I liked kissing my boyfriend and, yes, I eventually liked a little more. I clearly communicated that I was going to wait for sex until I was married, and he agreed to respect that boundary. Yet if Mac Donald were to be believed, my getting raped was my fault, not that of someone who lied to stay close enough to succeed at rape.

Marcella Chester

Rochester, Minn.

Mac Donald grossly minimizes violence against women in a way that not only blames survivors of sexual violence but perpetuates the myth that it is OK to rape a person if she has been drinking. It’s true that people make unhealthy choices like drinking too much at a party or becoming physically intimate with someone they don’t know well, but neither of these choices is a rape-able offense. Various studies confirm not only that woman are often forced to have sex against their will, but that men will force women to have sex if they know that they will get away with it.

We are in a state of emergency when it comes to sexual violence on college campuses, and hurtful arguments such as Mac Donald’s only do further damage, making it difficult for survivors to reach out for help after an assault.

Rebecca Peatow

Nickels

Executive Director

Women’s Crisis Line

Portland, Ore.

College campuses are now reaping what they have sown over the last 40 years. It was appalling to me when colleges began allowing coed dorms. What were they thinking? They purposely put testosterone-laden young men in the closest quarters with female students, and then pass out condoms on the first day of orientation. And now they are wringing their hands about the prevalence of sexual encounters on campuses? Give me a break.

Sharon Giannotta

Pasadena

Although everyone is entitled to an opinion, and certainly the Opinion section is the place for this, newspapers have a responsibility to the dignity of human beings. If The Times believed this, it never would have printed Mac Donald’s horrible article. Rape is never the fault of the victim, and it does no good to blame the women who must deal with this tragedy. In the future, think about who you are hurting before publishing such irresponsible journalism.

Gemma Drouhard

Bellingham, Wash.