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.
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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.”
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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