Is the BBC turning into Channel 4?**

I’ve been keeping informed with emails from London Feminist Network Yahoo group about this programme ‘Consent’ which is being aired this week or next week at 10pm. **Amendment: this is in fact the wrong programme name. The programmed being aired on Channel 4 at 10pm Sunday 21st Jan is called 'Consent' and then the programme I am referring to is called 'The Verdict', which is going to be on BBC2. However, these two programmes seem remarkably similar. I'm wondering if they are linked in some way?***

The problem with this programme, apart from the fact that viewers will be drawn in by the ‘cliffhanger’ idea of whether a rape victim is telling the truth or not, is that there has been no indication from the BBC that they have consulted the proper channels – so they have not sought information from rape crisis organisations or police units for rape victims and survivors and so on. AND the jury will be celebrities!!! Add to this mix Jeffrey Archer – who has been in prison himself – and you have a recipe for misinformation and the assertion that women are innate liars, especially when it comes to rape.

The entire focus of the programme will be on whether or not a woman who has been raped is telling the truth. Especially since (apparently) the rapist (the accused) will be a “famous” man. This shouldn’t invalidate a woman’s claim that a man raped her. Neither should whether a woman was drunk, wearing a short skirt or low cut top, or what her sexual history is.

When a man is raped, I doubt they bring up his sexual history or what he was wearing or how much he had been drinking. The double standard is still very much in evidence in the justice system. Rape conviction statistics are at an all time low – precisely because juries and judges bring bias with them into the courtroom (juries inevitably read about ‘false claims’ of rape in the media – which is much more pervasive than reporting about rapes that HAVE been convicted).

It is extremely difficult for a woman to admit that she has been raped, let alone go to a police station and give evidence. I imagine it would be very disempowering – having to be examined and then having to be cross-examined when you are the one that has been raped. Then having to stand up in court and see your rapist get away with it because it’s his word against yours. And women who have been through all that then have to deal with the reaction of society – if the rapist is found ‘innocent’ when he is not – then the woman will no doubt be considered a liar.

And the misperception of rapists as ‘monsters; men who are maniacs or psychos’ is rarely the case. Many men who rape are just as normal as any man you see walking past you in the street – granted, they think it’s acceptable to see women as sex objects and think it is acceptable to view women as existing for their gratification and don’t respect them – but they are generally men that have families and friends and have normal lives. The media usually just reports the cases that are viewed as particularly striking for some reason or other (ie. When it’s a case of drunken consent or one person word against another etc).

And I refuse to believe that men can’t stop once they’ve started – when a woman says no, she means no, and a man CAN stop. I seriously don’t believe that men are driven by their sex drive, and it’s impossible to stop. Why is man’s sexuality higher and more important and more uncontrollable than a woman’s? The view that men can’t control themselves paints them as uncontrollable, primeval beasts which cannot be trusted at all – and is this a flattering picture? I don’t think so – I think this discriminates against good men.

I won’t be watching 'The Verdict' and I will be complaining to the BBC at:

Phone: 08700 100 222
Textphone/Minicom: 08700 100 212
Write: BBC Complaints, PO Box 1922, Glasgow G2 3WT

There doesn’t seem to be an email address on the BBC website but there is an online complaints form at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/make_complaint_step1.shtml

**This is a reference to the fact that Channel 4 has become extremely mediocre over the past two to three years (Big Brother etc).

***If you want to complain about the Channel 4 programme which is on Sunday 21st January at 10pm, the contact details are as follows:

Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place
71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6QT

Telephone: 020 7492 2222
Textphone/Minicom: 020 7242 8159
Fax: 020 7242 3696

I'm not sure whether the Channel 4 programme is the same as the BBC2 one, but people are welcome to watch and critically evaluate the programme or complain.

Men Stop Raping

I, too, am tired of the constant implication that women are in some way to blame for rape. They are not. And I hate our society, the media, misperceptions and women hatred for somehow implying that women have to stop rape themselves, when it is men that do it (yes, men get raped, and this applies to all types of rape, men on men, men on women, women on men).

I am sick of hearing in the media that because a woman was taking a stroll out late, because she was out having an evening out with her friends and just happened to get drunk, that because she is wearing a short skirt, it was somehow her fault. It is the person who raped that needs to be held accountable. I am sick and tired of hearing the typical 'false allegation' claim that some people put forward in court because of lack of evidence when it is painful enough for a woman to even admit that she has been raped, for fear of being branded with 'damaged goods', 'liar'; and having to go through the pain of people saying 'well, if she did this or that' then 'it wouldn't have happened'.

What do you suggest? That women curtail their freedom and stop living their lives altogether? That they must not even *think* of doing a particular thing just because someone will turn around and say it was her fault for getting raped because she even *dared* to go out with a short skirt or low cut top (which is actually most women as not many other 'styles' of top are available). The following list has been posted on several feminist blogs.

From The F-word blog:

If a woman is drunk, don’t rape her.

If a woman is walking alone at night, don’t rape her.

If a woman is drugged and unconscious, don’t rape her.

If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don’t rape her.

If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don’t rape her.

If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you’re still hung up on, don’t rape her.

If a woman is asleep in her bed, don’t rape her.

If a woman is asleep in your bed, don’t rape her.

If a woman is doing her laundry, don’t rape her.

If a woman is in a coma, don’t rape her.

If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don’t rape her.

If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don’t rape her.

If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don’t rape her.

If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don’t rape her.

If your step-daughter is watching TV, don’t rape her.

If you break into a house and find a woman there, don’t rape her.

If your friend thinks it’s okay to rape someone, tell him it’s not, and that he’s not your friend.

If your “friend” tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.

If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there’s an unconscious woman upstairs and it’s your turn, don’t rape her, call the police and tell the guy he’s a rapist.

Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it’s not okay to rape someone.

Don’t tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.

Don’t imply that she could have avoided it if she’d only done/not done x.

Don’t imply that it’s in any way her fault.

Don’t let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he “got some” with the drunk girl.

Don’t perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

If you agree, re-post it. It’s that important.

-Author unknown.-

The Feminist Blogsphere is growing...

I've finally got my Gender and Society essay done (last week) and I'm now focusing on my next essay which happens to be about Feminist Utopias and Dystopias and how they have changed the utopian genre and other genres (namely Science Fiction and Fantasy). I'm concentrating on Woman on the Edge of Time (Marge Piercy), The Telling (Ursula K.LeGuin) and The Handmaids Tale (Margaret Atwood). It's really interesting but the reading I have to do about utopia and dystopia is kind of complex, blah. I lament the fact that academic writing thinks it has to be 'wordy' - you can actually make it quite simple and still get the same points across!

Anyway...I've also become quite caught up in the growing feminist blog tradition and I've also joined a yahoo group 'protestnow' which is really making me feel as though there are other women out there that feel the same about patriarchy and women's objectification as I do. When I was doing Gender and Society at Uni, Celia Kitzinger (a lecturer at York Uni), our lecturer, asked the important question of whether the label 'feminist' was important. I notice that some people say things like 'I'm not a feminist but...' and although it's great that they understand that women still get a rough deal, there is nothing wrong with the word feminist.

To say that you are a feminist is to affirm the efforts of those that came before us - people like Emmeline Pankhurst, Andrea Dworkin and many others. There has been such a huge backlash against feminism that I sometimes worry that identifying as a feminist is going to cause awkward situations in which people may try to argue against the obvious, that we do not need to fight any longer. I hate it that people make fun of feminism, "bra burners", "hairy" and so on. I lament that bras are so bloody uncomfortable sometimes but then I do feel that they give some much needed support especially if your breasts give you back problems.

And I don't know what the hell is wrong with being hairy: men grow beards and moustaches and don't shave their legs or genitals. Shaving your genitals causes loads of problems and it is a sign that you are a woman to have pubic hair. I do shave my underarms and leg hair but only when I decide to wear a skirt and only because I have my fathers genetic tendency to sweat a lot and shaving my underarms helps! But I don't think we need to justify our own bodily practices unless they become huge problems such as feeling that you cannot go out without makeup at all, that you spend less time enjoying yourself and more time applying makeup and so on.

The label Feminist is a positive one - it acknowledges that you are prepared to take action against patriarchy and make sure both women and men are seen as human beings and not as dominant or subordinate. It is the same with disability - everyone should be seen as human beings with the right to be happy and live in a society that does not objectify or cause needless pain. To identify as Feminist is to take control of your own future and to make sure future generations of women are not subordinate, are not objectified and are not raped, molested or victims of domestic violence. Men need to change their attitudes but we cannot do it for them: they must take the initiative themselves also. Would a father want their daughter to be a stripper or raped or objectified? Men need to questions things too.

I've also been thinking about my reactions to things I see on TV or in films. My boyfriend, his parents and I were watching 'A History of Violence' at the weekend while I was in Edinburgh. There was a scene that made me feel panicked, fearful and powerless as a woman: namely that of a husband almost strangling his wife and then ending with them having rough meaningless sex (obviously in the missionary position) on the stairs. I understand why I felt so disgusted: because it clouds the reality of violence against women and then sexualised it and made violence into something that women enjoy. I really hate this whole attitude that it's okay that women can be strangled and nearly killed and then shows a husband or partner 'taking their liberties'.

It is not sex, it is rape. I don't know if other people who watch the film will feel the same as I did, but I know recently that I've started to object much more vocally about the kind of so called sexualisation of violence in movies. It is no wonder that films have deeply ingrained patriarchal attitudes towards sex and violence because pornography appears to be the same ('gang bangs' and women being degraded and supposedly enjoying it etc). I don't understand how men can find the pain and degradation of women a 'turn on'. Men don't seem to understand that by using pornography, they are watching a woman being degraded and hurt (despite their supposed 'enjoyment').

If you don't agree with me, then look at these websites that will back up my opinions and dispel the myths of sexual violence and pornography:

http://www.genderberg.com/
http://www.oneangrygirl.net/antiporn.html
http://mindthegapcardiff.blogspot.com/2006/03/campaign-in-need-of-some-awareness.html
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/

There are also some feminists that take a less radical view but I fail to see how they can justify the pain and violence inherent in pornography and sexual violence. I hope the above links help to dispel any myths about pornography, sexual violence and rape, but there are many other feminists out there and I'll add their blogs to my links collection :)

So long and have a nice day! :-D