Ms. Magazine tells FBI: Rape is Rape

by Roxann MtJoy · 2011-07-18 08:48:00 UTC
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When it comes to defining rape, the FBI has a shockingly narrow stance on the subject. According to the Uniform Crime Report (the annual report of crime statistics compiled by the FBI) some of the acts not considered rape by the FBI include: forced anal sex or oral sex, rape with an object, and statutory rape. It also never counts when men or transgendered persons are raped, nor when alcohol or drugs are used to incapacitate the victim. That's why Ms. Magazine launched the No More Excuses: Rape is Rape campaign to ask the FBI to update this dangerously inaccurate definition.

This is about more than just semantics. As I said back in September, how can you effectively fight an enemy when you don't know its size? It is hard to believe that law enforcement agencies are taking rape seriously when they refuse to acknowledge so many of its devastating forms.

More than just an modern definition (the FBI's is almost a century old), Ms. wants action. There is an unacceptable backlog of untested rape kits -- collections of any physical evidence the attacker may have left behind, including vaginal swabs, urine samples, blood tests, and fingernail scrapings -- in the United States. Tens of thousands (some estimates even put the number closer to 200,000) of these kits sit in police custody, gathering dust. That means countless rapists are walking free, able to rape others. Just last week, a suspect was named in a 1995 rape of a teenager in Houston because it took the police twelve years to get around to testing the evidence collected.

As part of their campaign, Ms. Magazine has been publishing the disturbing stories of rapes that wouldn't be counted under the FBI's narrow definition. One anonymous woman tells her wrenching story of being roofied and sexually assaulted:

After only that one glass of wine I felt very tipsy (which was not like me at all!). I was poured a second glass. After that, things got fuzzy. ... I felt like I had no strength. ... I tried to speak and I don’t think it came out right. But all he kept doing was telling me it would be over in a little while. I started to cry, I struggled to get up, but I could not. I don’t know how long it went on, but it was both vaginal and anal … and all I did was cry and try to say stop over and over and over. I think I passed out then. ... As I started asking around, most people told me the same thing … there was no use reporting it …

It is time to take rape -- all rape -- seriously. Join Ms. Magazine in asking law enforcement to stop making excuses and start taking action.

Photo credit: two gypsy hearts

Roxann MtJoy is a freelance writer who previously worked as a case manager at a domestic violence shelter. She is currently attending graduate school for theater in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

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