Rape Is Rape: How Denial, Distortion, and Victim Blaming Are Fueling a Hidden Acquaintance Rape Crisis

What a compelling case Jody Raphael makes to clarify her message about acquaintance rapes.Through references to studies on rape and through interviews with rape victims, Raphael articulates some of the challenges that a rape victim faces - especially those raped by someone they know. One, a rape victim is met with indifference and disbelief and is further punished for having complained about her situation.While one may have read about victim blaming before, to read about such instances one after the other, page after page, was proving to be very depressing. These victims faced further harassment from their friends, police, hospital and their universities. The situation was reinforced in the cases of celebrity rapes as well. In almost all celebrity cases, the victim was met with suspicion by the media. After all, why would the celebrity have to do that? It was more probable that the woman was a money digger! The audacity of justifications for rape, left me gaping with wonder.Raphael also makes a wonderful case about how rape is denied in the media. In the beginning chapters, the author takes us through various studies of rape victim advocates and of rape deniers, clarifying how data can be wrongly used to deny the prevalence of rape.It is a brilliant book. Acquaintance rape is difficult to prove. In most cases the rapist would put forward the defense that the rape was consensual. Thus, the act may either be seen as a response to 'bad sex' or as a stupid act rather than a criminal one. In most cases it is difficult to prove that that rape had occurred. However, Raphael suggests that even in those cases, there are physical evidences which may be useful. But the system needs to be supportive of rape victims to make sure that those evidences are collected. But in most cases, the initial response is to question the rape victim about the clothes they wear, the amount of alcohol in their body, or the place they chose to be. This book is a reminder for the last line in this book - Rape is Rape. There can be no justification.

Raphael’s book is very well done, I would recommend it. I foudn this book very thought provoking and will be referencing it in my own work and courses I teach---realluy useful information. I bought this book when I heard that there was some controversy over it---I wanted to see what the issue was. Raphael reviews several points of view regarding sexual assault, rape, and in particular acquaintance rape. To be clear, this is not a singular view that all men rape, or all rape is the same & should be treated as such. Instead, the complications of a variety of sexual assaults, consensual relations and the request to stop those behaviors, and the influence of drugs and alcohol on intimate relations & sexual assault are considered. Additionally, prison rape is also addressed. Further, the often unique issues of these situations on college campuses are also examined.Using several first-hand accounts of acquaintance rape, Raphael is able to focus on several key factors that are necessary to understand the larger social implications while keeping it grounded to real-life examples. The quality of the research does not stop with the text itself, there are also about 50 pages of endnotes, references for further reading, and an index. I have already recommended this book to colleagues and persons working with sexual assault survivors. Check it out.

And Julien Assange is involved. I wouldn't want to read a book on the subject that is harrowing. Conservatives have a fancy word for rape. It is "forced consent." They also have another word, "claim."

Professor Raphael's book eloquently exposes long-held and stubborn but ultimately fatuous myths about sexual violence and how the issue is dealt with in the media and society in general. Raphael has a deep grasp of this issue that few have obtained, and hers appears to be a wisdom born of long study and critical thought. Amusing to me recently have been the pathetic attempts by elements of the Penn State community to somehow discredit Raphael's comments on the Sandusky case and the Penn State leadership's miserable and unconscionable response to it. The fact is that Raphael is utterly correct about everything she describes in terms of what Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno shamefully did (or more importantly did not do) in the face of that particular horror. Facts are stubborn things; Raphael has been true to them. Read this book if you want (or need) to know what they are.

Jody Raphael's "Rape is Rape" is an interesting, important, and timely piece on rape culture in contemporary society. Some of the stories and statistics are shocking and unnerving, and the book alerts its readers to a real crisis that's impacting society today. Professor Raphael doesn't leave us with only gloom and doom--she suggests ways in which to combat and move forward from the acquaintance rape crisis, and the media's portrayal of it. I recommend this book highly, but warn that personal accounts within the book can be highly graphic, and possibly triggering for some readers.

This book goes to the heart of a serious and seemingly endless problem for women in this society. Even in the 21st century, women must deal with interpersonal violence and then have media and small-minded, closed-minded individuals blame them for what is clearly the perpetrators problem. Instead of telling women to stay home and stay off the streets, we need to take the perpetrators, the criminals off the streets! Thank for such a well-researched and well-crafted book. A must reading for all.

This book is well written and makes a good case for why the rape culture persists. I especially like the debunking of other "research" that appears to have been designed as a way of minimizing rape. I am disappointed to see that there are so many intelligent women out there working as shills for rape-deniers. Raphael exposes them. Well done. Highly recommend.

This book describes the experiences of women and the effects of this terrible crime on them. Very sad. If only the men who rape could experience the horrible effects they have on the lives of women, it wouldn't be so much fun - at all!

Rape has to be one of the crimes which produces an emotional response in anyone - it is an emotive subject. Because of this it is too easy for any book written about the subject to descend into a vitriolic rant rather than report facts and figures. The author of this book avoids this trap and the women she interviewed all describe their experiences in low key terms which make a huge impression on the reader because of their restrained language.The book covers not just rape of women and girls but also looks at the way abuse of boys and men is treated by the authorities. All too often victims are not believed and if the assault happens in connection with an institution such as a church, university or school the powers that be have every incentive to protect the reputation of their own organisation.In the UK there is the ongoing example of the Jimmy Savile case and those who have been exposed in the resulting police investigations. There is a disinclination to believe victims who accuse celebrities because certain people just don't commit those sort of crimes. This was the defence used in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case.I accept that some people may lie about sexual assault just as they may lie about other crimes for a variety of reasons but it is all too easy to assume that all victims lie. Rape and sexual assaults are the only crimes as far as I am aware in which society and the courts tend towards blaming the victim. No one blames people whose houses are broken into but too many blame rape victims or say they invited the attack by their behaviour.This book makes interesting and shocking reading for anyone who thinks that people in positions of power are above reproach and that all women lie about sex. Two things stick in my mind after reading this book. The first is that a US senator could actually say in public that if a woman is raped she will not become pregnant because her body will naturally block the pregnancy because of the circumstances so there is no need for abortion to be allowed on the grounds of rape. The fact that the woman is pregnant proves she wasn't raped. The second is that the reaction of blaming and often punishing the victim is very similar to the stoning of women for having extra-marital sex in some predominantly Muslim countries.I found the book disturbing and compelling reading. The author quotes many academic studies and there are notes on all the chapters and a recommended reading list as well as an index. While the book concentrates primarily on America it is still of relevance to readers in the UK and other countries.