Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site utai.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsri!utai!gkloker From: gkloker@utai.UUCP (Geoff Loker) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: ..explicit text.. ; rape worse than murder? Message-ID: <530@utai.UUCP> Date: Thu, 30-May-85 15:53:29 EDT Article-I.D.: utai.530 Posted: Thu May 30 15:53:29 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 30-May-85 16:44:31 EDT References: <560@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <522@usl.UUCP> Reply-To: gkloker@utai.UUCP (Geoff Loker) Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto Lines: 56 Summary: In article <522@usl.UUCP> jla@usl.UUCP (Joe Arceneaux) writes: >In article <560@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> beth@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Beth Christy) writes: >> >> . . . I disagree with you - I think rape is worse than murder. . . > >Agreed that there are people who never "recover" from rape, but then there >are some who do survive it without serious damage (several women I know, >e.g.). On the other hand, *nobody* survives murder. > >-- > Joe Arceneaux Admittedly being murdered is not very nice and can really ruin things, but at least it is over and done with. With rape, victims have to live with the fact of it and the memory of it for the rest of their lives. Some may be able to "recover" from it better than others, but the knowledge of what happened and the memory of it remains as a scar on the psyche. For the lucky ones who are able to return to "normal" (can they ever?), there is still a period of time (weeks, months, years?) during which they have too come to grips with the fact that another human being(*) could have violated them so. During this time of readjustment, can you imagine the feelings that are going on inside them? The distrust of others, the fear of their attacker coming back, nightmares, self-guilt ("What was there about me that made my attacker do that?"), a loathing of the mere touch of someone else, etc? (I'm sure I can't.) And these are the lucky ones who are able to put their experience behind them somewhat. What about the others to whom such feelings and memories are a daily reality? With murder victims, they do suffer, but once the crime is over that's it -- their suffering is done (but not that of their families [that's another can of worms, though]). I think that this definitely shows that rape is a worse crime than murder. (*)--Is it being too fair to the rapist/attacker to consider them human? -- Geoff Loker Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Toronto, ON M5S 1A4 USENET: {ihnp4 decwrl utzoo uw-beaver}!utcsri!utai!gkloker CSNET: gkloker@toronto ARPANET: gkloker.toronto@csnet-relay "How do you hurt a who's lost everything? Give back something that's broken." -- Thomas Covenant