Misconceptions about rape
I wish to thank you for the excellent article on Friday, Oct. 6, 1995 edition about rape. Our sisters in Kalynamitra who have done painstaking and painful research into this issue have revealed a lot of misconceptions about rape.
There was one omission which my own work in rape crisis has shown to be important; that is, that rape is in many cases more about power than about sex. The act is one of aggression the perpetrator frequently is frequently impotent or prone to premature ejaculation.
Often the rage of impotence or sexual failure is what stimulates the hatred of women. In this case the rape is often carried out by using objects such as bottles which can cause far greater internal trauma.
This has very serious implications for investigations into rape, as of course, there is no semen to be found if it still in the man or his trousers. Therefore the veracity of women's evidence should not merely hinge on the presence of sperm in the reproductive tract.
The degree to which aggression enters into the act of rape is governed by the degree of respect society holds for women and their right to sexuality. And the upbringing of boys, in particular their relationships with mothers and other significant female figures.
The international legislative response to their reality has been to reclassify rape as a form of aggravated assault (with or without deadly weapons) which involves a different emphasis on the collection of evidence.
Now my second comment which relates to the arrest of the five people in Central Java who supposedly want to establish an Islamic state.
They have subsequently been accused of being communists by Col. Waluyo (Jakarta Post, Oct. 9). This is very puzzling to me as anyone who has read Marx realizes that Marx wanted to establish a secular state in which religion had no role.
His famous "opiate of the masses" slogan brought breathless condemnation from the world for its threat to establish "Godless states". Someone has their ideologies a bit kaku here. They may be agitators, which is anyone's right under a democracy, which after all Indonesia claims to be, but Islam and communism contradict each other. This "reds under the bed" is a tired old trick inevitably trundled out whenever governments feel threatened. Boring.
MELODY KEMP
Jakarta