Victims Are Not To Blame

EXTRACT: In reality, it is common for rapists to get away with their actions. Between half and four-fifths of sexual assaults are never reported to the authorities in the first place - maybe even as many as 95%, as suggested by various department of health reports. If so, a truly appalling statistic. And of those tiny minority of accusations that do come to light, only 6% result in a conviction on the full charge of rape. Conviction rates once formal charges are brought are, of course, higher, 59% in 2009, but most of these come from guilty pleas - meaning that far fewer are found guilty by a jury, underlining the extremely difficult problems posed by ‘her word against his’ trials.
Yet, for all that, the most ignorant and abominably backward attitudes remain stubbornly in place. So in France the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was frequently referred as a “ladies’ man” or the “great seducer” - which now seem to be euphemisms for sexual predator, if not a violently inclined rapist. We now have allegations that nine years ago Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted a French journalist, Tristane Banon, like a “rutting chimpanzee”. Indeed, numerous stories are circulating that ‘alpha males’ prowl the IMF buildings for sex like something out of the “pirates of the Caribbean” - the women employees, from top to bottom, having to be constantly “on their guard” from sexual harassment and intimidation. Institutionalised sexism, IMF-style.
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