Rape is gendered and it’s not.

Jos Truitt presents rape as simultaneously embedded in a gendered culture of violence and an act that is genderless. The gendered nature of rape has been explored in a number of our previous readings and class discussions. Brownmiller conceptualizes rape as a class gender war in which all men consciously keep all women in a state of fear. Mackinnon explores the role of gender inequality in coercion and consent. To find evidence on the gendered nature of rape and sexual assault it is possible to look no further than at statistics on assailants and victims. It is well understood that rape is gendered.  However, this does not make Truitt’s statement any less true.

As I currently understand it, the over-arching patterns and consequences of rape are gendered, however individual experiences can be genderless. Cahil provides insight on this in her critique of Brownmiller in which she states that the outcomes of rape (women’s fear, institutionalization of inferior social status etc.) do not explain why rape continues to happen.  Since these outcomes are rarely consciously sought, the factors that lead someone to rape are not part of a clear formula and are not uniformly motivated. There is a correlation between gender and rape; the relationship is not causational. Victims and perpetrators can be anyone, men, women, trans*, genderqueer or two spirit. Truitt’s contribution to the understanding of rape is not “sex-neutral,” it does not separate rape from gendered sexual hierarchy by stating rape is only an act of violence.  Instead, her assertion calls attention to the application of a strict gender binary that fails to recognize the diverse experiences of survivors and upholds archaic definitions of rape as well as legal and social structures that re-victimize and oppress survivors of rape whose genders are non-conforming. 

The social environment and pattern of violence of rape are gendered, but the act of rape on a case-by-case basis is genderless. Anyone can be a victim or assailant, regardless of gender. In order to recognize diverse experiences and breakdown the social, legal and cultural systems that create additional burdens for survivors, the concept of rape needs to be appropriately complex.