Statistics and sex crimes

Re “The decline of rape,” Current, Feb. 18

Mike Males presents an impressive array of statistics to support his thesis that sexual violence has declined over the last several decades. Unfortunately, he misses the most important reason for this decline: the progressive acceptance, at a progressively younger age, of consensual sex by the female population.

Although legally even consensual sex is statutory rape below a certain age, prosecution is only possible if a complaint is made. And, contrary to popular belief that reporting such incidents is more likely in these days of female emancipation, the very acceptance of sexual activity by young girls makes sexual violence an unnecessary relic of the past, especially if such activity is among peers.

LASZLO STRAKA

Alta Loma

*

Males reports impressive data indicating a significant decrease in violent crime against women over the last three decades. It is so refreshing to read something supported by good evidence in a day when the media, movies and books prefer to make their money pandering to our anxieties and prejudices. Males offers an elegant challenge to those who would rather have their beliefs confirmed than know what is really happening.

RAY MENZIES

Irvine

*

Males theorizes that the “three-decade decline in teenage and young-adult rape,” an admittedly underreported crime, most likely can be explained by “generational developments,” such as the increased status of women that “fostered new attitudes and laws that rejected violence against women.” He believes this explanation is supported by statistics indicating that, during this period, rape arrests fell by “80% among Californians under age 15, much larger than the 25% drop among residents age 40 and older.”

There is another explanation. Over the last three decades, popular culture has become so coarsened and our youth so sexualized by that culture that children under 15 frequently do not know rape when they experience it. They have been raped by the culture.

MARY LOUISE

BLACKSTONE

Arcadia