Not Saying No Is Not Saying Yes

Unfortunately for 1989 College graduate Lisa Niver, many students have thrown out her case. Never mind that four years ago these students were not in the room when she was raped. Never mind that Pennsylvania law does not even require there to be resistance for an assault to be rape. Instead, they have concluded that because Niver did not walk out of the room with two broken arms, a cracked rib and a voice hoarse from screaming, she was not raped. Niver said she had had sex with her boyfriend before the March 1987 incident. The two had been dating for five months, and she continued to see him for nine months after that night. In relating the events of that night, Niver said the two returned from dinner to her boyfriend's high rise apartment when he locked the outside door, locked the bedroom door and turned on the music. Her boyfriend then pulled her clothes off. She did not physically or verbally resist him, and intercourse occurred. So why is this rape? The answer is simple: because she did not consent. A woman should not have to say "no" to halt sexual advances. Contrary to what so many students and people in general believe, consent is not implied if the woman does not say no. Rather, a woman should have to communicate her consent for sex to occur. The same applies to men. Some people have brought up the point that Niver just did not act at all, and that she did not report the incident to the police. But as Niver herself points out, no one had heard anything about "acquaintance rape" back in 1987. Rape was something that a stranger in the bushes did to you, not your boyfriend, not someone whom you trusted and loved. Niver's actions make complete sense. In uncertain situations, sometimes it just seems best to keep still in order to avoid injury. The real heart of the matter is that a man who has any grip on reality would realize that she was just not interested. Whether he was too stupid to see this or not, however, does not matter. He committed rape by not obtaining Niver's consent. What many of these students who claim Niver was not raped wanted to read was a story in which they could clearly point to the man and identify him as the bad guy. Perhaps a more acceptable story to them would involve a sexually inexperienced freshman from Kansas who got drunk at a party, trusted the senior who said he would walk her home, and was raped, sustaining several broken bones and bruises. Then maybe readers, satisfied with such a stereotypical case, would sympathize with her and say that acquaintance rape is bad. But not all cases are so clear cut. There are gray areas between what is acquaintance rape and what is questionable sexual activity. Men need to recognize that some of their behavior may be questionable even though they are radically different from the man in the stereotyped scenario preceeding. Niver's feelings of fear and victimization are just as real as any other rape victim's. To say that she was not raped is to help set up a litmus test for all rape victims, measuring their bruises, the length of their skirt, their past history. In all honesty, I doubt that her former boyfriend will be successfully prosecuted. Not because he isn't guilty, but because for too many people, Niver's failure to resist is a signal of her consent. The article also seems to bring out fear and anger in men that they may be "unjustly" accused of crossing the bounds of consentual sex into the realm of acquaintance rape. But in a way, that seems more equitable. Now both men and women feel fear. Helen Jung is a senior English major from Youngstown, Ohio and executive editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. No Tagbacks appears alternate Tuesdays.

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