Don’t Tell Me I’m Not Worth Your Protection
CA PROP 57
The recently passed legislation in California known as Prop 57, or the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016 , in its wording seems promising; to“protect and enhance public safety” and “stop the revolving door of crime,” along with providing shorter prison sentences for nonviolent crimes. All good things right? Why shouldn’t someone who refrained from violence get to see the outside of their cell faster. Let’s take a look at what constitutes a nonviolent crime. Within California the following are all nonviolent crimes:
- Battery with serious bodily injury
- Assault with a Deadly Weapon
- Solicitation to Commit Murder
- Domestic Violence
- Rape/sodomy/ copulation of unconscious person or by use of date rape drugs
- Human trafficking involving a minor
- Hate Crimes
- Assault w/ deadly weapon on Peace officer
- Active participation in a street gang
- Exploding destructive device with intent to cause injury
Reading some of these crimes — rape, domestic violence and human trafficking — it’s sickening to think that according to our government these are all nonviolent. How is it that the physical and emotional harm of another human being has less protection than carjacking? It seems as though they don’t care about our human rights — after all doesn’t our government thrive off of saying this is important — but what are human rights? By definition, human rights are rights that are believed to belong justifiably to any person. Any person, no where in the definition does it say that women and children are excluded from these. Why is it that women — once again — get the short end of the stick in the political aspect of society? Are we not considered people?
Have we ever been really considered of importance within our societies? “Violence against women such as rape… [and] woman battering…have been seen as personal violences, as domestic problems and therefore privatized and individualized.” Because of this individualization, these crimes are seen as personal matter that have no place within the public view of justice, making it easier for them to be cast aside.
Let us look at rape — categorized as both violent and nonviolent crime. It is considered nonviolent when the victim of rape is unconscious or under the influence of the date rape drug. Other than that exception — which is the cause of many rapes — the definition remains the same. Rape can effect both male and female but the disparity in cases involving women are too big to ignore. In the last seventeen years 17.7 million American women and 2.7 million American men have been victims of rape — these are statistics gathered from those victims who felt safe enough to report. Many people do not report rape because of the fear of the justice system and the way they will be perceived by society.
Loosing your virginity before marriage, no matter how liberal we claim to be as a nation, labels you as impure within society. It is a way of determining our worth — as women — based on the fact that men can “claim” us as solely theirs. When that is taken from someone forcefully, the question of their worth as a human is a constant struggle. Like Kumar explains, by raping women the ties to their men are broken therefore leading to the destruction of their men in the long run. The men feel that the women are their property and when their goods have been soiled they are left with nothing.
Rape culture is support of the idea that women “ask” to be raped due to their inability to act “correctly” in the public eye. “Have you seen the way she dresses? What does she expect?”
“This is why underage drinking laws exist.”
We put blame on the victim without second guessing the effect it can have on their well being. When we have laws that seem to support the attacker rather than the victims, we continue this cycle of brushing off crimes against women. Isn’t it about time we take a stand? Let it be known that we women are much more than something you can hide in the shadows, hoping we don’t cause trouble. Instead of telling us to no get raped, help create a society where rape isn’t brushed off as an impulse. We are people, just like our male counterparts and deserve to be treated as such; in the eyes of our peers, our government and our society.
