Thoughts on "Rape Script"

I interpret Sharon Marcus’s “Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words” as pointing out an intersection between hegemonic femininity and hegemonic masculine that I find very interesting. It seems as though Marcus posits rape as a place of contact between these brands of femininity and masculinity. Furthermore, since rape is scripted and it scripts, it makes sense that rape must exist in order for hegemonic femininity and masculinity to exist (391). I have a few concerns with this.

First of all, I believe the justice system has a role to play in this rape script. I think that it is both responsible for perpetuating the rape script at the same time as it is disallowed to interrupt the rape script. It is interesting to me that rape can be a socializing factor for gender. Rape creates gender performances through its narrative of male domination over female passivity, and both men and women are, in a way, rewarded if they accurately play their part. The justice system does not provide any actual justice when dealing with cases of sexual violence because providing justice would undermine the construction of masculinity and femininity that essentially structures our every day lives. For survivors of sexual violence to see justice, that would mean punishing masculine dominance. This isn’t something I can see happening.

Secondly, I am concerned with where the folks who lie outside this binary are. If someone isn’t presumably cisgender and hegemonically masculine or feminine, it appears as though they have the privilege of being disallowed this rape script. I know this concern is an obvious one, but for a paper written in the 1990’s I expected space for folks beyond this limited binary. Actually now that I am thinking more about it, perhaps the masculine and feminine bodies Marcus discusses are not necessarily cisgender bodies. Perhaps bodies just have to pass as dominantly masculine or passively feminine in order for the rape script to act as this point of contact. If trans* bodies pass as typically masculine or feminine they would be subjected to the same rape script as cis bodies. 

Marcus’s rape script is a first hand example of how dangerous social constructions of masculinity and femininity can be.