Tg Summer Daily Summer Edition of TilE MICl IGAN DAILY Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Tuesday, July 31, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552 Rape laws fail to protect the victim MICHIGAN'S rape laws are both ineffectual, and hope- lessly biased, and must be replaced with more equit- able laws which protect women rather than degrading them as conniving sex objects. The present law states that carnal knowledge of a female "by force or against her will" is a felony. To prove that the act was against her will, the law demands that the victim must have resisted "to the utmost." This standard absolutely discounts the fact that a rape victim is put in fear of her life by her assailant's threats and/or superior strength and may choose to wait out the nightmare rather than risk further physical in- jury. A jury often disregards the alleged threats in a courtroom unless the victim shows that she was bruised, bloody and near dead at the time of the assault. Another concept implicit in the law which is equally appalling is the woman's "asking for it." Here society blames the woman. The defendant's counsel depicts her as a "rape trap" because she presented herself to the ac- cused rapist as an "easy lay." If a woman wears sexy clothes or goes to bars unescorted, she is not regarded as a free-thinking human being; she is a "tramp" and there- fore is not entitled to be free from sexual assault. Most rape victims are more or less acquainted with their assailants and may have had consensual intercourse with them before the attack. Any intimacy between rap- ist and victim will discredit the woman's allegations. Once again, a woman is not regarded as an individual who con- trols her body at all times. Instead she is her sex partner's property who can be violated at the male's whim. Thus, a wife is prohibited from charging her husband with rape. Defense attorneys and other proponents of the pre- sent law say that these considerations are necessary to prevent frame-ups. And, indeed, it would be foolish to contend that fabri- cated stories of rape never occur. However, there is no reason to conclude that juries are less able to deal with these fabrications than they are in any other crime. The "beyond reasonable doubt" standard should be adequate to guard against such unjust convictions. In fact, studies show that a jury tends to sympathize with the offender instead of the victim if there is any indication that her character is less than flawless. A number of changes should be made. Distinctions between rape and other violent crimes must be eliminated. Rape is a violent, brutal attack and not, as some men so callously put it, a crime of overriding passion. The resistance standard must be modified so that a woman need not endanger her life merely to show "ut- most" resistance. The victim's sexual history should not have unques- tionable bearing on the issue of consent. Only when other highly prejudicial evidence is admitted should her sexual history be introduced. The most desperately needed change provides for dif- ferent degrees of rape. This would more accurately reflect the circumstances of the rape and the "risk" taken by the woman. Such a system would prevent juries from acquitting in situations in which they feel the crime does not jusitfy possible life imprisonment. We believe these changes will guarantee more equit- able treatment of women in the police stations, in the courts, and on the streets. A clarification Though intended to condemn only the tactics of the gay protest against the movie "Boys in the Band", the edi- torial of July 28 may have been misconstrued as an attack on gay people or gayness itself. This was certainly not the purpose of the editorial and no insult was intended. Summer Staff ROBERT BARKIN and CHARLES STEIN Co-editors "I FrbiJWAJ4I'M AME, 6Oo.64A MAE16bCOME A gEr ME/ r}"i Distibuted by ostnigeles "mts SYNDICATE ______ nt insan Losers of atergate contest announced; incompetence cited Granted the response was not overwhelming, but the contest still must be considered an unequivocal success. It could not be rationalized otherwise. This, of course, refers to this column's who is your favorite Wat- ergate conspirator contest. It wa not the quantity of entries we were looking for in this competition but the quality of those submitted. Un- fortunately we got little of either. Be that as it may, the contest stumbles along to this traumatic conclusion: Either the entire city of Ann Arbor is without a creative mind or no one reads The Daily. Since my conscious has blocked out the possibility of the latter I must assert that the cause is the former. But, this is not to depreciate the capabilities of our contestants. They tried but they just didn't have. But who is this columnist to judge his peers? I don't have it either. We are left to carry our odious onerous, onus. Here then is the entries in the last annual (we hope) Watergate conspirator con- test. G. Gordon Liddy By H. Robert Chen, Grad. His rambling accounts of his bosses', his bosses' bosses', his bosses' bosses' boss' involvement are fascinating to say the least which is what he did. (Liddy took the 5th Amendment 42 times before a Housing investi- gating committee) Observations of a 21st century time traveller: by Alpha Zeta 4 Napoleon had his Waterloo Nixon had his Watergate Greedy for Power's potent brew Each drank power's bitter fate Dick Moore By Bob Costrell I choose Dick Moore for the best of his recollections. As the Reich's star witness, "Gramps" gave us hope that competence is on our side. John Mitchell By J. R. Randolph My favorite Watergate conspirator is John Mitchell because every time he opens his mouth he has a jowl movement. John Dean By Laura Wolf My favorite Watergate conspirator is John Dean because he reminds me of (name withheld for fear of libel suit), my favorite SGC election enemy. Vegetarian Viewpoint By Robin Hood My favorites are Gordon Strachan because he looks like a parsnip; and John Mitchell because he talks and looks like a hard-boiled egg. What is still to be revealed is the winner or, at least, the best loser. In an existential way we are all losers but that is not germane to this contest. Of course, the biggest losers are the Watergate conspira- tors themselves. Not because they are going to jail, but rather be- Ehert harkin I cause they were ineligible for the contest. They cannot win the great prizes in store for the winner. These in- clude a free cassette tape to do your own bugging, a passport for quick exit from the country, and a free year's subscription to Tb e Daily in order to follow the Water- gate hearings from your Costa Rican hide-out. Here then is The Winner: Getting The Kicks In by James Bader my favorite's Nixon 'cause quick as a vixen in spite of the mixin' he did the fix'en Robert Barkin is co-editor of The Daily. Letters to The Daily should be mailed to the Editorial Di- rector or delivered to Mary Rafferty in the Student Pub- lications business office in the Michigan Daily building. Letters should be typed, double-spaced and normally should not exceed 250 wvords. The Editorial Direc- tors reserve the right to edit all letters submitted. GORDON ATCHESON ... DANIEL BIDDLE . . DEBORAH 600D... JACK KROST .... .,. JOSEPHINE MARCOT'TI. DAVID STOLL .... DEBRA THAL ...... REBECCA WARNER . ...... CHUCK BLOOM .... ...... MARC FELDMAN ......... DAN BORU Sports Editi ILL BLACKF Businesa Mana Night Editor .Night Editor Assistant Night Editor Assistant Night Editor .AssistantNight Editor .....Assistant Night Editor Night Editor .... ....Night Editor S ORD str ... Managing Sports Editor. .......Associate Sports Editor Contact your reps- Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), Rm 253, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), Rm 353, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Rep. Marvin Esch (Rep), Rm. 412, Cannon Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep), Senate, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933. Rep. Perry Bullard (Dem), House of Representatives, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933.