Rape

"Hit-and-run rape of large numbers of Bengali women was brutally simple in terms of logistics as the Pakistani regulars swept through and occupied the tiny, populous land, an area little larger than the state of New York. (Bangladesh is the most overcrowded country in the world.) The Mukti Bahini “freedom fighters” were hardly an effective counterforce. According to victims, Moslem Biharis who collaborated with the Pakistani Army—the hireling razakars—were most enthusiastic rapists. In the general breakdown of law and order, Mukti Bahini themselves committed rape, a situation reminiscent of World War II when Greek and Italian peasant women became victims of whatever soldiers happened to pass through their village."

"Rape in Bangladesh had hardly been restricted to beauty. Girls of eight and grandmothers of seventy-five had been sexually assaulted during the nine-month repression. Pakistani soldiers had not only violated Bengali women on the spot; they abducted tens of hundreds and held them by force in their military barracks for nightly use. The women were kept naked to prevent their escape."

"Khadiga, thirteen years old, was interviewed by a photojournalist in Dacca. She was walking to school with four other girls when they were kidnapped by a gang of Pakistani soldiers. All five were put in a military brothel in Mohammedpur and held captive for six months until the end of the war. Khadiga was regularly abused by two men a day; others, she said, had to service seven to ten men daily. (Some accounts have mentioned as many as eighty assaults in a single night, a bodily abuse that is beyond my ability to fully comprehend, even as I write these words.) At first, Khadiga said, the soldiers tied a gag around her mouth to keep her from screaming. As the months wore on and the captives’ spirit was broken, the soldiers devised a simple quid pro quo. They withheld the daily ration of food until the girls had submitted, to the full quota."

"The most serious crisis was pregnancy. Accurate statistics on the number of raped women who found themselves with child were difficult to determine but 25,000 is the generally accepted figure. Less speculative was the attitude of the raped, pregnant women. Few cared to bear their babies. Those close to birth expressed little interest in the fate of the child."

"A Catholic convent in Calcutta, Mother Theresa’s, opened its doors in Dacca to women who were willing to offer their babies for overseas adoption, but despite the publicity accorded to Mother Theresa, few rape victims actually came to her shelter. Those who learned of the option chose to have an abortion.... Planned Parenthood, in cooperation with the newly created Bangladesh Central Organization for Women’s Rehabilitation, set up clinics in Dacca and seventeen outlying areas to cope with the unwanted pregnancies."

"Mulk Raj Anand, an Indian novelist, was convinced of conspiracy. The rapes were so systematic and pervasive that they had to be conscious Army policy, “planned by the West Pakistanis in a deliberate effort to create a new race” or to dilute Bengali nationalism, Anand passionately told reporters."

"Coercion within marriage or concubinage might be repugnant, but it remained fundamentally legal."

"Complete legal capacity is only held in a person who has complete control of their body and mind. Slavery is premised upon the absence of control over the body, since it transfers control of the body and labour of the slave to another person, including sexual control. Therefore to ask the question pertaining to compulsion or consent of the enslaved person is to ask a question that does not have legal salience. Enslavement by definition removes the requirement for consent."

"In medieval early modern Islamic legislation on zina, therefore, a number of issues collide with one another, setting the foundation for eventual modern reinterpretations. Most fundamentally, sex law is intimately connected in this jurisprudence-as it is in the modern period-to both political identity and political space. At the same time, however, although there is a definite overlap between rape and adultery under the larger rubric of zina, the two remain relatively distinct-rape having to do with inappropriate copulation and adultery having to do with violating a contract. Likewise, for the most part sexuality and reproduction are emphatically separate-pregnancy irrelevant to adultery legislation and (male) sexual behavior the issue at stake in determining sexual crime. Nonetheless, there is also a starting point set here for an eventual conflation of rape and adultery as well as an eventual conflation of sexuality and reproduction. Indeed, by the time the early modern Ottoman codifications were being promulgated, these lines had been effectively blurred. Sexuality and reproduction remained to some extent separate, but with the collapse of hadd and tazir, sex crime became increasingly political and increasingly central to state structures. Likewise, sex crime became far more closely linked to emerging notions of the public and the private spheres-the primary difference between the seventeenth century and the nineteenth century being the seventeenth century emphasis on quasi private contracts and the nineteenth century emphasis on the emphatically public social contract. Moreover, these issues play almost the same role in medieval and early modern Catholic, French, and Italian law. There is, for example, a definite overlap in medieval France and Italy between rape and adultery-rape “defined as any sexual act outside of marriage and in particular applied to sexual intercourse with virgins, regardless of the aspect of violence.” At the same time, however, the punishment for adultery/rape-death and/or the obligation to settle a dowry on a deflowered virgin -sets up distinctions between the two that should at this point be familiar. The emphasis on the marriage contract, for example, once again creates a situation in which the punishment for raping a woman capable being contracted in marriage (i.e., a virgin) is far less severe than the punishment for raping a woman who could not be contracted in marriage (i.e., a married woman)."

"Obviously, the rhetoric of the public/private distinction that would underlies modern political behavior had not been constructed in the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There does, however, appear to be a starting point set for an eventual movement in that direction. A hierarchy of sexual vulnerability (married women to young boys to unmarried women to adult men) is being formulated here and then linked to notions of physical mobility and space. Those who are more sexually vulnerable cannot venture out into public space; those who are less so can cross the public/private divide with more confidence. Likewise, those who are a threat are primarily defined as such because they are capable of carrying those who are threatened across spatial lines. And indeed, theoretically, at least, the crime that was rape occurred only as a result of a violation of these assumptions about space.38 Finally, for women but not for men,39 it was the precise act of entering into a contract (marriage, concubinage) that redefined both sexual vulnerability and physical mobility. It was indeed the contract above all that defined sexualized political space (“the public”) and politicized sexual space (“the private”)."

"In this interpretation, in other words, zina as rape led to a severe, corporal tazir punishment that bore very little relationship to hadd adjudifications. At the same time, however, it was not just zina as rape, but rape along with abduction-the movement of perpetrator and his victim across space-that merited this particularly formidable response. The crime, that is, was conceived of as one that struck not just at sexual morality, but also at emerging notions of public and private space. And indeed, a second moment at which corporal punishment continued to be invoked was one that also revolved around questions of space. In this situation, however, the issue at stake was the respectability of the woman involved in the case. As Pierce argues, [I]f the mufti gave the category muhaddere [respectable] a definition, imperial law endowed it with material consequences. According to the statute books issues by the sultans, penalties for illegal behavior might differ according to whether a woman was muhaddere or not ...[i]n other words, the non-muhaddere woman might suffer a severe flogging and a substantial fine, while the parallel punishment for the muhaddere woman was the public humiliation of her husband the imposition of a comparatively lesser fine. By translating muhaddere as “respectable,” Peirce provides the literal translation (veiled, modest, concealed) with a significant social and legal meaning. At the same time, however, by choosing the word “respectable” in particular, she likewise gets at nascent modern notions of, of course, “respectability,” of the spaces in which respectable women travel, of where exactly women of what type move.33 Along with this new, sliding scale of fines linked to social status linked to corporal punishment,34 therefore, we can also see by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries an interest on the part of the Ottoman government in defining not just the contract and copulation as they relate to sexual crime, but the sexual, moral, marital, economic, and political status of the individuals involved in them-especially to the extent that this status was manifested in movement across space."

"I should also emphasize that corporal punishment continued to play a role in the jurisprudence of the early modern period. As Judith Tucker notes in her analysis of seventeenth and eighteenth century legal structures in Ottoman Syria, for example, the shifting line between adultery and rape led many jurists to develop completely new types of physical punishment to respond to sexual crime. While noting that most judges did not make use of these prescriptions int heir actual adjudications, Tucker observes that, [t]he various evolving Ottoman criminal codes (kanun) authorized the Islamic judge to fine a perpetrator of simple za in lieu of applying the hadd penalty of the shari'a, but in the case of forced abduction and rape, whether of a woman, a girl, or a boy, the criminal code prescribed castration of the guilty."

"Sixteenth and seventeenth century Ottoman legislation on adultery and rape, for example, stipulated the frequent use of fines, moving away from the earlier emphasis on corporal punishment The hadd penalty for flogging or death for sexual crime *or even else severe tazir variations on this punishment) was for the most part replaced in this period by a scale of fines that depended on an individual's marital, religious, and economic status. This did not mean, however, that hadd punishments disappeared completely. As Leslie Peirce notes, the punishments articulated in the codes are “qualified .. with the brief statement provided the sharia punishment is not applied.'” Nonetheless, the basic assumption was that “the fine for adultery imposed on a rich Muslim was six times greater than that imposed on a poor Muslim and twelve times that imposed on a poor non-Muslim or a slave” Fines tied to both economic and political/religious status, in other words, replaced universal physical punishments applicable to everyone in the Muslim community."

"The fatal blot in Islam is the degradation of women. ... The Muslim soldier was allowed to do as he pleased with any infidel woman he might meet with on his victorious march. When one thinks of the thousands of women, mothers and daughters, who must have suffered untold shame and dishonour by this license, he cannot find words to express his horror, And this cruel indulgence has left its mark on the Muslim character."

"A man may gratify his passion with his female slave in whatever way he pleases. It is lawful for a man to perform the act of Azil (i.e. coitus interruptus) with his female slave without her consent, whereas he cannot lawfully do so by his wife unless with her permission. The reason of this is that the Prophet has forbidden the act of Azil with a free woman without her consent but has permitted it to a master in the case of his female slave."

"It is otherwise where a woman, residing in the house of her husband, refuses to admit him to the conjugal embrace, as she is entitled to maintenance, notwithstanding her opposition, because being then in his power, he may, if he please, enjoy her by force."

"A woman went out to pray at the time of the Prophet, and she was met by a man who attacked her and had his way with her. She screamed and he went away. Then another man passed by and she said: “This man did such and such to me.” A group of the Muhājirīn came by, and she said: “That man did such and such to me.” They caught the man who she thought was the one who had attacked her, and brought him, and she said: “Yes, this is the one.” They brought him to the Messenger of Allah, and when he issued orders concerning him, the one who had attacked her, stood up and said: “O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who attacked her.” He said to her: “Go, for Allah has forgiven you, and he said kind words to the man. [...] And he said concerning the man who had attacked her: “Stone him.” And he said: “He has repented in such a manner that if the people of Al-Madīnah repented like this, it would be accepted from them."

"Al-Nasafi added an undeniable shade of violence to his discussion on marital rape. While he argued that a necessary condition of hitting one's wife is to leave her intact or sound, soundness is not a cindition for sex. so if a wife dies while her husband is having sex with her, he is not liable."

"The last solution offered by Al-Kasani is especially disturbing, since it forces a wife to engage in non-consensual sex. If a wife's nushuz consisted of her sexual refusal, then her husband could have sex with her against her will. According to al-Kasani, marital rape was legally permissible."

"Thus, marital rape is literally uncriminalizable under dominant interpretations of shari‘a."

"For premodern Muslim jurists, as well as for those marginal figures who believe that the permission still holds, the category "rape" doesn't apply: ownership makes sex lawful; consent is irrelevant."

"Though I believe in the strongest possible terms that meaningful consent is a prerequisite for ethical sexual relationships, I am at a loss to find this stance mirrored in the premodern Muslim legal tradition, which accepted and regulated slavery, including sex between male masters and their female slaves....I recall no instance in any Maliki, Hanafi, Shafii, or Hanbali text from the 8th to 10th centuries where anyone asserts that an owner must obtain his female slave’s consent before having sex with her. Indeed, I am aware of no case where anyone asks whether her consent is necessary or"

"...marital rape is an oxymoron; rape (ightisab) is a property crime that by definition cannot be committed by a husband."

"The followers of Imam Abu Hanifah said: "The right of the sexual pleasure belongs to the man, not the woman, by that it is meant that the man has the right to force the woman to gratify himself sexually."

"We need more rape jokes. We really do. I love that some people applauded that. Needless to say, rape, the most heinous crime imaginable. Seems it’s a comic’s dream, though. Because it seems that when you do rape jokes that like the material is so dangerous and edgy. But the truth is it’s like the safest area to talk about in comedy. Cause who’s going to complain about a rape joke? Rape victims? They don’t even report rape. I mean, they’re traditionally not complainers. Like the worst maybe thing that could happen, and I would feel terrible, is like after a show maybe somebody comes up to you and is like, “Look I’m a victim of rape, and as a victim of rape I just want to say I thought that joke was inappropriate and insensitive and totally my fault and I am so sorry.”"

"Does Djilas, who is himself a writer, not know what human suffering and the human heart are? Can't he understand it if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometers through blood and fire and death has fun with a wench or takes some trifle?"

"So now how am I going to live with him? As what? Is this still a husband? Is it a wife? If he can be raped, who is protecting me?"

"We do not discount the seriousness of rape as a crime. It is highly reprehensible, both in a moral sense and in its almost total contempt for the personal integrity and autonomy of the female victim and for the latter's privilege of choosing those with whom intimate relationships are to be established. Short of homicide, it is the "ultimate violation of self." It is also a violent crime because it normally involves force, or the threat of force or intimidation, to overcome the will and the capacity of the victim to resist. Rape is very often accompanied by physical injury to the female and can also inflict mental and psychological damage. Because it undermines the community's sense of security, there is public injury as well."

"He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister: for rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus."

"The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye, And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enforcèd chastity."

"Rape, call you it, my lord, to seize my own, My truth-betrothèd love and now my wife? But let the laws of Rome determine all; Meanwhile I am possess'd of that is mine."

"You are both decipher'd For villains mark'd with rape."

"Show me a villain that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be revenged on him."

"What is’t to me, when you yourselves are cause, If your pure maidens fall into the hand Of hot and forcing violation? What rein can hold licentious wickedness When down the hill he holds his fierce career?"

"Rape is a crime and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas."

"Let fair humanity abhor the deed That spots and stains love's modest snow-white weed."

"What win I if I gain the thing I seek? A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week? Or sells eternity to get a toy?"

"Pure Chastity is rifled of her store, And Lust, the thief, far poorer than before."

"No man inveigh against the wither'd flower, But chide rough winter that the flower hath kill'd. Not that devour'd, but that which doth devour, Is worthy blame."

"Any lawyer who says there's no such thing as rape should be hauled out to a public place by three large perverts and buggered at high noon, with all of his clients watching."

"Women are terrified of being raped, but somewhere in the back of every womb there is one rebellious nerve end that tingles with curiosity whenever the word is mentioned... Raped women have been divorced by their husbands — who couldn’t bear to live with the awful knowledge, the visions, the possibility that it wasn’t really rape."

"Thou hast a daughter, thou hast a wife too; So most of you have, soldiers; why might not this Have happen'd you? Which of you all, dear friends, But now, even now, may have your wives deflower'd, Your daughters slav'd, and made a lictor's prey? Think them not safe in Rome, for mine liv'd there."

"Rape is like bad weather: if it's inevitable, you might as well relax and enjoy it."

"He expressed some of his desire by a grunt. If he only had the courage to throw himself on her. Nothing less violent than rape would do. The sensation he felt was like that he got when holding an egg in his hand. Not that she was fragile or even seemed fragile. It wasn’t that. It was her completeness, her egglike self-sufficiency, that made him want to crush her."

"Take pity of your town and of your people, Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command; ... If not, why, in a moment look to see The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters."

"Perhaps it is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused and, in reality, it is she who must prove her good reputation, her mental soundness, and her impeccable propriety."

"There was a young fellow named Scott Who took a girl out on his yacht, But too lazy to rape her He made darts of brown paper Which he languidly tossed at her twat."

"If an accused man believed the woman had consented, whether or not that belief was based on reasonable grounds, he could not be found guilty of rape."

"Rapists often recall being intensely angry, depressed or feeling worthless for days or even months leading up to the rape. Very often the rapists say that the trigger for the rape was when a woman made them angry, usually by rebuffing a sexual overture. The men experienced the rebuff as an insult to their manhood that intensified their emotional misery."

"Societies with a high incidence of rape ... tolerate violence and encourage men and boys to be tough, aggressive, and competitive. Men in such cultures generally have special, politically important gathering spots off limits to women, whether they be the Mundurucu men's club or the corner tavern. Women take little or no part in public decision making or religious rituals: men mock or scorn women's practical judgment. They also demean what they consider women's work and remain aloof from childbearing and rearing. These groups usually trace their beginnings to a male supreme being."