4A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 6, 2002 OP/ED Cibe £irbtigau !DuiIg 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE " < The great thing about hanging out with Republicans is that it's very unhip for both of us." - U2 lead singer Bono on fraternizing with conservatives at the World Economic Forum, as quoted by Reuters. r p@LL2N ~. NONC'LL MISS IT./ /r oA' -E / 6l CHIP CULLEN GRINDING THE Nips . 80? i C ni QCa boy I o Ma+ . Go , " Attn. women: You don't stand a chance MANISH RAIJI NOTHING CATCHY L adies, I've got }> something to tell you; it's unfortu- nately something you } probably already know. If a guy rapes you, there's almost nothing you can do about it. It starts from the beginning; a guy is likely to be stronger than you and capable of forcing himself upon you. If force doesn't work, coercion (GHB, etc.) almost certainly will. After the deed is done, you'll probably only tell your closest friends - certainly not the police. If you're brave enough to go to the police, they'll probably pat you on the head and tell you that there's not enough evidence. If they decide you've got a case, it's probable that the courts will disagree. And if the courts figure that you've been raped, the guy's probably going to get the equivalent of a stern talking to. And through all of this - not to men- tion the rest of your life - you'll be looked at as "that poor girl who was raped" or, worse yet, "that bitch who cried rape." Sad, but true. Usually I find feminist complaints about the patriarchal nature of society to be nothing more than hogwash. (I actually heard someone trying to explain the "fact" that the letter "M" is patriarchal in that it not only is the first letter of "male," but it is also an upside down "W." And since there are more words that start with "M" than "W" ... you get the point.) But in terms of rape, I totally understand. Rape, as word, has no meaning anymore - rape jokes are seen as tasteful because rape is considered funny. People cringe to hear pedophile jokes, but ones about rape are always greeted with laughter. Furthermore, rape is the only crime for which the victim is somehow guilty for having a crime perpetrated against her. If I got my car stolen, no one would seriously condescend me by saying "Well, you asked for it." It doesn't matter if my car is nice, it doesn't matter if it was parked in a bad part of town, it doesn't even matter if I leave it unlocked, keys in the ignition, idling in front of Chesey's in Ypsilanti. I might be accused of being unsafe, perhaps even dumb, but no one would honestly say "Hey man, you really wanted your car stolen." But rape? "You asked for it" is the knee-jerk response. You can be dressed up in a mu-mu with earmuffs and army boots on, but you still asked for it - you're still a woman of loose morals. With that much stigma attached to rape, coupled with the near impossibility of get- ting justice, is it a surprise that women don't report it? The number of women who bear the burden of rape alone is significant. There are two relevant crime databases in this country - the Uniform Crime Report and the National Crime Victimization Survey. The UCR compiles police reports from across the country while the NCVS anony- mously surveys a wide range of American households. According to the UCR, rough- ly 90,000 rapes were reported last year. But according to the NCVS - which allows people to report crimes without anyone knowing about it - 300,000 women were raped. Less than a third of all rapes get reported - for the other 210,00 rapes, women weighed the desire for jus- tice versus the social stigma attached with reporting rape and decided that the stigma was too much. Let me repeat that, in order to stress the horror of that sentence: 210,000 women weighed the desire for justice versus the social stigma attached with reporting rape and decided that the stigma was too much. Let me address the other side for a moment (fitting, since "the other side" is the gender to which I belong). Some guys think that women call any bad sexual experience rape. "She obviously didn't get off and then decided to call it rape."* I don't even need to argue against this line of reasoning; it's absurdity is self-evi- dent. But among the less chauvinistic of my species, there is serious confusion regarding what rape is. If a girl has been drugged with GHB(eta), she's the victim of rape. If a girl is drunk and passed out, she's the victim of rape. But what if both parties are drunk, not passed out and certainly wouldn't be caught holding hands (let alone copulat- ing) if it weren't for the alcohol? Is that rape? And if it is, who did the raping, since both parties were drunk? What if the girl's drunk (but not drugged or passed out) and the guy's sober? He's sleazy, yes, but is it rape? The ambiguities aside, it's still clear that rape is a tremendous social problem. Even if I were to take a spectacularly sex- ist view and suggest that fully half of the women who reported rape on the anony- mous NCVS are just "whiny bitches,"** that still leaves 150,000 rapes per year, of which 60,000 are not reported - nearly half. The stigma of rape is that heavy. It's disgusting that women don't have a chance when it comes to rape. I, for one, would rather live in a place where, if my car got stolen, I don't have many options. My car can be replaced. A woman's sense of safety and dignity? Not so much. *Yes, 1 have actually heard this. **Yes, I have actually heard this, too. Manish Raiji can be reached at mraqi@umich.edu. 6 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Writing a tetter to the editor? Our address has changed.Now, e-mai letters@michigandaiy.com Tom Monaghan should do with his money 'whatever he jolly well wants' To THE DAILY: I Peter Cunniffe's editorial, The World's Biggest What? (2/5/2002), reveals that he does not understand the rights of property- owning citizens. Tom Monaghan has owned the land near US-23 and M-14 for quite some time. Now it seems that he wants to use some of his land to erect a very large crucifix, almost 200 feet taller than the current "World's Largest Crucifix" which stands at 55 feet in Indian River, Michigan. Cunniffe argues that the cross will send a false message concerning the values of the largely non-Catholic Ann Arbor. He makes much of Monaghan's personal con- victions, but those should make no differ- ence. The cross which Jesus died upon is certainly not a symbol exclusive to Roman Catholicism. It may in fact be true, as Cunniffe fears, that the cross would suggest "a char- acter about an area." Cunniffe's fault is assuming "an area" to mean Ann Arbor, and not simply Monaghan's land. The fact is, Monaghan's property is his property. Whether one agrees with Monaghan's wonderfully pro-life stance, where is the harm in him publicly proclaiming that he is Christian? What Cunniffe fails to admit is that Monaghan earned the money and should be able to do with it whatever he jolly well wants. If he wants a towering figure of the crucified Jesus on his property, let him build one. ANNE NAGRANT LSA senior Cunniffe's column offensive, 'out of touch' with students T ruJT AT i Rev. Jerry Falwell. Furthermore, I disagree with Cunniffe's statement that the statue of Jesus "suggests a character about an area," as if the statue symbolizes something negative. Whether one believes Jesus is the son of God, one can hardly say that a statue of Jesus would reflect unfavorably on this city. Jesus was the most perfect person ever to walk this earth. Is Cunniffe against the statue because he believes it tarnishes the reputation of the community or simply because a conservative wishes to express his religion on his own private property? Cunniffe asks "Why do I get the feeling that what he's actually building is a giant middle finger pointed right at our going- straight-to-hell campus?" This question is ludicrous. As a Christian, I am offended by Jesus being associated with this vulgar sign of anger. Cunniffe's politically correct opinions against "shoving religion down people's throats" may serve him well on the Daily's editorial staff, but are sorely out of touch with the majority of students. ANDREW HOEKSTRA LSA Freshman Seibert's column dignifies gender stereotypes To THE DAILY: I am writing in response to Mr. Seib- ert's column, The Truth about Cats and Dogs: Los Gatos. Seibert stated, "It is a well-known fact that men typically use logic and cognitive reasoning to dictate their actions, while women typically allow their emotions to guide them." I question where he got this "well-known fact." Both men and women use emotion and cogni- tive reasoning to guide their actions. In fact, they are inexorably connected; one cannot think without emotion and one can- not emote without thinking. This is why most people say, "I feel ... " when they mean, "I think ... " In addition, as to saying that "this may ha re~n w men in our society hold ert that our National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, is a woman. One can argue with her politics, but no one can argue that she has not preformed extreme- ly well in the male-dominated realm of security. Finally, Seibert says that it should be obvious that this stereotype does not apply to everyone, but by writing a column on the stereotype that women do not think but feel, he has dignified it and applied it to all women. MARGARET PETERS LSA Senior Senior issue 'tasteless,' 'poorest excuse for satire' reader has seen to date To THE DAILY: Friday's issue of the Daily was the poorest excuse for satire I have seen to date. Although some quips were laughable (i.e. kid slipping on the ice), the majority seemed to be written in tasteless, sailor- mouthed drunkenness. Next time you decide to amuse yourselves by mocking handicapped kids, the faculty, homosexu- als, minorities, violated sorority girls, hardworking athletes and religious groups, please designate your free-for-all to a sepa- rate issue or spare our tuition. Show some University pride! This time I didn't even tear out the crossword! KRISTEN BLOOMSTROM LSA sophomore Editor's note: The Daily operates on ad revenue. It is completely financially independent of the University and does not receive any of students' tuition dollars. Editorial page shows bias for 12-year-old Vietnamese girls, illicit drug use To THE DAILY: In past editorials, the Daily has argued that those wxho hbuv products made in sweast- 0 6 U : Aw