Readers of this blog know that I’m not prone to comment on sensational criminal cases, but I’ve already posted on the Duke rape case a couple of times, and more importantly in my mind on the prevalence on rape culture in America. It’s only natural that the arrest of two Duke lacrosse players warrant attention, though I’m admittedly torn on my opinion. On the one hand the massive attention this case has received misplaces the perception of where the threats of sexual violence exist and directs fear towards unknown “others” instead of the men who actually are raping women: their friends. On the other, this attention can help bring justice in a situation that might normally never see light of day.

Rape is a problem that is so universal it resists attempts by people to create us versus them mentalities of otherness on it. Or rather, the truth about rape resists these labels and categories, but unfortunately it’s much easier to blame men on whole or a few groups depending on who the speaker is. Just as AIDS isn’t simply a gay problem, rape isn’t a problem about just white men or just black men or just athletes etc.

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Creating indistinct and distant groups to blame - in the Duke case, white athletes - isn’t an answer for a culture-wide problem. It might feel good to have an easily identifiable villain, but the result is that instead of having a movement focused around eradicating rape culture, you have a mob. And mobs tend not to make distinctions when it comes to their perceived threats. No sane man thinks rape is in any way acceptable and that’s a point that can’t be lost. Treating men as a dangerous other misses this fact.

In this case, the moral isn’t that black women need fear white men or the inverse that white women need fear black men. While race, class, and power dynamics might have played a role in this particular case, they are not germane to the problem of rape on whole. Looking at this case as a microcosm for rape culture fails when combined with the many aspects of privilege that contributed to it - fear of others that surround this tragedy don’t speak to the dangers a culture of rape has for women in our society.

Sensationalism distracts from the particular problem of rape while amplifying the outstanding nature of this case - white rich educated men attacking a black working class older woman. Atrios has a problem with the sensationalism that I’d normally agree with whole heartedly.

People are raped and killed every day, but some stories bubble up to the national media for bizarre reasons. In some sense this isn’t really fair to the accused or the accuser, as the media attention they get is disproprtionate to the importance of the situation. It also gives viewers a rather distorted view of crime and the justice system generally in this country. And, it provides additional privileges to people who can afford celebrity lawyers/PR people who can spin their way into the press. They also of course take time away from coverage of stories of actual national importance.

I tend to agree with this analysis for the likes of Natalie Holloway, Kobe Bryant, or any countless number of missing white girls of the week. Mysteries and tragedies might tug at our heartstrings but I find it hard to place their importance next to a president who spies on Americans outside the law and an occupation of a foreign country that can only be described as a disaster. I don’t presume that the producers at CNN, MSNBC, and Faux News have a monopoly on the truth when it comes to discerning which rape cases merit national attention, so it’s difficult for me to believe that their priorities have any orientation other than ratings.

But the reality is that though the Duke rape case is sensational and outside any standard representation of how rape occurs and who perpetrates it, it is important for the number of issues of privilege that have served to protect the defendants and their teammates thus far. The attention that this case has received has contributed to a month-long police investigation which has fully addressed the victims story of events and brought charges in light of the evidence.

Steve Gilliard addresses the role national attention has played in this case contra Atrios.

Now, 1 in 20 college women are raped. I think the ONLY reason this is news is because the woman accuser was older, with a family, and not a Duke student. If this had been a white Duke coed, the intimidation factor to keep her silent would have been intense, more than she could bear. A quiet withdrawal and a new school is what you can expect, if she just doesn’t suffer in silence until she sees a shrink years later.

This is news because they couldn’t isolate and pressure her, make her doubt what happened. The usual pressure rape victims can face when they know their attacker.

Isn’t fair to the accuser? Without national attention and local support, the pressure would have been intense on the DA to drop the case. Rape cases are hard to prove, hard to get witnesses for, and everyone wants them to go away.

What national attention can do is level the playing field. Even a DA’s office can be overwhelmed by rich kids and their lawyers. With press attention and public interest, the accuser is more likely to be heard.

One of the thing that drives me nuts about the left is the assumption that news kills other news. It doesn’t. People think “wow, if there wasn’t the Duke rape trial, people would care about Iran”. It doesn’t work like that and never has. Crime is newsworthy and always has been.

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These cases are of national importance. College rape by athletes is a common occurance and one underplayed by universities. It may not be Iraq or Iran, but it matters to people. News isn’t just what some people think are important, it is what is happening.

Gilliard is absolutely right. The attention the national media will bring can keep pressure on to bring justice in this case. I don’t know what happened, if this woman was brutally raped and beaten or if the story is an elaborate fabrication. I’m inclined to believe every word of her charge, but the defense claims the two accused have alibis. For the DA to charge these two young men out of a lineup of forty-six similar cohorts makes me think he has some damning evidence. We’re going to find out the truth because there has been pressure - national pressure - to resolve this case, to address the charges, and to show that not every rape victim need remain silent.

This case too complex to boil down to addressing only rape culture and leaving it at that, as I’d tried to do before. The issues surrounding rape culture persist and must be addressed to improve the lives of women of all races, classes, and educational levels. Rape culture remains, but justice isn’t going to to be absent from this particular case. If these boys are guilty of rape and are convicted, the case can serve rape victims around America by showing that they can bring their attackers to justice, that the world cares and will listen to them.

The Duke case isn’t typical and its details aren’t representative of the problem of rape in America. If we can remember that while we move forward, if we can avoid projecting the problems of privilege and otherness that reside throughout the Duke case onto rape on whole, then this tragic story may demonstrate its importance - by being an exception where a victim of rape receives the justice and protection by law that her attackers never afforded her.

[Update]

Here’s a few more links about the case…

Feministe: Two Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested

TBogg: Seduced by the Jungle Rythms

Feministing: Two Men Charged in Duke Rape Case (with link to original Smoking Gun report)