The Rape of America

By Robin of Berkeley

Let's start by analyzing the mind of a rapist. His goal: Domination and absolute power, through any means necessary.

His motivation: punishing another, degrading her, feeling superior and God-like. Making her feel like an object, nothing, a no-thing.

What else propels him? Taking what he wants just because he wants it. Feeling the surge of power, the adrenaline rush, the thrill of stealing a piece of her.

Anything else? Feeding primitive, twisted impulses; expressing sadistic needs; the savage excitement of subjugating and controlling another.

Those most likely to rape? Someone who was sexually abused himself, an outsider, a person robbed of a normal childhood. A man who has carved an identity out of rage and envy and resentment. Someone who feels entitled to take whatever he wants.

What fosters rape? Parents missing in action. A culture that thumbs its nose at God.

And a society that minimizes crime, that even heralds certain criminals as heroes. (Some Black Panthers were rapists, yet they're revered as idols.) A culture where punishment is weak and politicians are moral cowards, fearful of the ACLU.

What else? A media that celebrates debauchery, that entertains through degrading and objectifying. Popular rap songs and cool hip-hop artists whose words slice and dice women. Films where anything goes, where hot lesbian sex scenes are as omnipresent as those boneheaded authority figures.

And the aftermath of rape? The destruction of something in the victim that will never return: a feeling of safety in the world, in her own body. The nightmare of being treated as an animal -- no, worse than this, since animals are now venerated. And from this nightmare she may never completely awaken.

This, in a nutshell, is how rape works. But words alone can never capture the enormity, the horror, the soul-crushing evil of rape. And not only females can be victims; men and little boys are violated, with women, on rare occasions, as perpetrators.

The word "rape" has an intriguing history. It originally denoted the violent seizure of property. I'm going to use the term in both the historic and modern sense to convey what is happening today.

This country is being raped.

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