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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1986)
Editorial Campaign will help women report rape A campaign initiated by Linda Ormsbee of Eugene has designated Friday, Valentine’s Day, a day to report past rapes. Ormsbee, who was raped last year, has taken a positive approach to a sensitive issue. Ormsbee’s campaign encourages women to "Report Your Rape. Heal Your Heart.” The campaign itself is positive because it spotlights the problem of unreported rapes. And several beneficial effects could be generated if women heed Ormsbee’s message either Friday or in the future. Women should be encouraged to report their rapes. The day is specifically set aside for women to report rapes that have thus far gone unreported. Establishing a special day may prompt women uncomfortable about repor ting a rape that happened long ago to unburden themselves. It may provide a chance for them to recognize the crime and put it behind them. And by associating the campaign with Valentine’s Day. a positive holiday that focuses on love, reporting rape may be correlated with positive feelings rather than feelings of guilt and embarrassment. And though police may be unable to investigate rapes that happened too far in the past, reports may help them with current investigations. Reports can also give police a clearer picture of the magnitude of the crime. If police are aware of the actual number of rapes being committed, they can devote more resources and hours to preventing it. The day could also encourage women to report rapes in the future. If most rapes were reported, the attitude that women are partially responsible for being raped would erode. Education and increased attention have weakened this attitude in recent years, but the attitude that many women "ask for it” persists. The FBI estimates that about 90 percent of rapes go unreported. Many aren’t reported because the targets of the crime assume part of the blame. But women are not respon sible for rapes committed against them and should not ac cept any burden of guilt. Ideally, reporting rape should carry no more stigma than reporting a theft. By reporting rapes, women can help themselves accept that the rape was not their fault and even tually can persuade society to place full blame on rapists. In addition, if reported, more rapists could be removed from society. If a woman fails to report a rape, she not only ensures the rapist will go unpunished for the crime, she enables him to rape again. Further, if rape was reported as often as other crimes, rapists would feel less secure. Knowing the odds of remain ing undiscovered are in their favor, legal repercussions pro bably do little to deter rapists. But most importantly, reporting rape can be the first step a woman can take to heal herself. By actively doing something, reporting a rape can enable a woman to feel less like a victim and more like a fighter. It can replace feelings of powerlessness with feelings of effectiveness. Ormsbee’s Valentine’s Day campaign can help women to recognize themselves, in Onnsbee's words, as rape sur vivors, not rape victims. Whether women choose to pro secute a rapist or simply to tell the police about a rape, the day can provide women the means to put the crime behind them and begin to heal. v, 1*# I5EEINV0UD FUTURE ATALL DARK5TRANGE&. gg A M\vl Letters Soviet tactics In "Totalitarian morality remakes world" (Oregon Corn mentator. Jan. 27), I quoted Marxist philosopher V.G. Afan savev's views on "communist morality:” ".. that which pro motes the movement of society toward communism is moral." Yet while Communists are oc casionally frank about their amorality. their Western apologists resort to obfuscation, cloaking communist aggression in progressive rhetoric. Two examples: in yet another apologia for Soviet aggression in Afghanistan (ODE, Jan 27), Glenn Sacks writes that the war has not "engendered much popular opposition in the U.S.S.R.Is it necessary to point out to thinking students how vacuous it is to speak ot "popular opposition" in a totalitarian society? Sacks might as well tell us that in Oceania (see "1984") Big Brother's wars enjoyed tremen dous popular support. Max Bennett (ODE. Jan. 30) writes that "when presented with a choice between feudal oppression and the economic and social justice of a Soviet puppet regime,” he’d "take the latter.” Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Party Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co , at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403 The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press The Emerald is private property The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law General Staff Advertising Director Production Manager Classified Advertising Assistant to the Publisher Susan Thelen Russell Steele Vince Adams Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales David Wood Sales Manager, John Boiler, Michael Gray, Robin Joannides, Carlos Lam ad rid, Marcia Leonard, Shawn Leuthold, Julie Lewis, Catherine Lilja, Anne-Marie Vranizan, Laura Willoughby Production Vince Adams, Kelly Alexandre, L ynne Casey. Shu-Shing Chen, Ellen Cross, Monica Dwyer, Stormi Dykes. Manuel Flores, Steve Gibbons, Rob Hare, Mary Lewis, Jim Marks, Ross Martin, Mary May, Mary McGomgal. Rob Miles, Angie Muniz. Kara Oberst, Charla Parker, Ken Parrott, Jennifer Peterson, Jim Pfaff, Geoff Rainville, Michele Ross. Alyson Simmons, Peg Solonika. Gregory Tipps Editor Julia bnippen Managing Editor Diana Elliott News Editor Jolayne Houtz Editorial Page Editor Michelle Brence Assistant Editorial Page Editor Scoti Harding Sports Editor Photo Editor Friday Edition Editor Sidelines Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Community Higher Education Student Activities Student Government University Affairs Robert Collias Karen Stallwood Sheila Landry Allan Lazo Jolayne Houtz Scott McFetrtdge Andrew LaMar Mary Llchtenwalner Linda Hahn Kirsten Bolin Reporters Tony Ahern, Sean Axmaker, Dan Coran, Kim Kaady, Cap! Lynn, Chris Norred, Chuck Thompson. 8.J Thomsen Photographers; Kamila Al-Naijar, Shu-Shing Chen, Maria Corvallis, Steve Gibbons, Rob Hare, Derrel Hewitt, Jim Marks, Ross Martin. News and Editorial Mft-5511 Display Advertising and Business 686-3712 Classified Advertising 686-4343 Production 686-4361 Circulation 686-5511 May I enlighten Bennett about bow the Soviets bring "economic and social justice" to Afghanistan? They point guns at their victims — i.e., lan downers: “Your land or your life!" In America this is called a "stickup," in Afghanistan, "land reform.” Or consider how Soviet soldiers brought "social justice" to one village. "(A French doctor tells how the Russians punished an entire village after some Afgan troops deserted). ‘They tied them up and piled them like wood. Then they poured gasoline on them and burned them alive. They were old men and young .. women and children’ ” (Na tional Review, Oct.4. 1985). Tom Viaoky Managing Editor Oregon Commentator Awaiting reply Would any of you out there care to explain to me how the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of I jmd Management and a host of other public service organiza tions (not to mention the system of financial aid for higher education) qualify as being "horse-and-buggy programs that waste tax dollars and squander human potential” (President Reagan, quoted in ODE. Feb. 5), while increases in military spending, which in sure a future dominated by con tinued East/West paranoia, can bo considered good in vestments? I would like to hear a serious answer to this confusing ques tion. rather than a rephrasing of the rhetorical ramblings I keep hearing from the man who claims to represent the public opinion of our nation. This "Great American Comeback" should include people of all in come levels, not just those who will benefit most from Reagan’s proposed federal budget. How much longer will we tolerate the spending of tax dollars on so-called defensive weapons that do title more than glorify American technology? I'll be waiting for a good answer. Unfortunately, I may have to wait a long time Alan Moore Senior Some choice Audrey Weiss, in her letter to the editor (ODE. Feb. 7). asks. "Why is it that the must zealous crusaders against women's choice are men?” Good ques tion. The answer is probably that men react the most because they are the ones getting screw- " ed by all this new freedom of choice. . - If a man and a women have a sexual encounter, they can choose to a) not use contracep tives; b) use contraceptives, or; c) claim they are using con traceptives and don’t. So far things are equitable. However, if a woman takes choice (c) and subsequently becomes pregnant, she can a) have an abortion; b) marry the father and bear the child, or; c) bear the child, leave the father and then milk him for all he's worth in a paternity suit. Men have less say about this choice. If a woman does bear the child, she can a) let the father see his'child occasionally, or; bj never let the father see his child again. This is exclusively the woman’s choice. What choice does this leave men? Well, we can a) become homosexual and make everyone happy, removing the threat of pregnancy; b) become impo tent, quiet and ineffectual, removing both the threat of pregnancy and of male dominance, or; c) become woman-haters and condemn that entire half of the popula tion for being goofy, thereby leaving the sexual game simply because it's such a pain in the ass. Some choice. Kob Young Senior