Reviews - On Rape | The StoryGraph

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31 reviews for:

I think this is a very important topic to learn and talk about. I like looking at this through my law school lens but also through my personal experiences.

I think this was quite well written. Did I agree with everything? No. But I think it is still important to learn and read about this. Many facts in this book took me by surprise and I think that they need to be more spoken about.

mairivoice's review

4.0

A little book which packs a huge punch. Greer has no answers but her information on rape not only shows us the extent of it but the inadequacies of a legal and social system that does little to help women or prevent men from raping. Greer highlights that the extent of rape in our patriarchal and capitalist society reflects the very real oppressive relationships between men and women.

gharialgoose's review against another edition

1.0

An out of touch and disorganised essay that claims to be rethinking r*pe but instead says some pretty enabling things (think: r*pe is just ‘bad sex’)

tjthetd23's review against another edition

1.5

medium-paced

catlady2509's review

3.0

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

desterman's review

4.0

Greer's essay is organised into neat little chapters where she firstly defines rape for the purpose of the essay, then goes on to give an overview of the way rape has been viewed by the courts and judiciary, politicians, the media, and society in general over the past fifty years. She spends time examining some of the key questions surrounding rape – the types of perpetrators and their psychology; the difficult issue of consent; the way rape has been punished or dealt with both by organisations (universities, businesses) and the justice system (in a range of countries) over time; and the view of victims of the crime. She raises some thought provoking questions: Is a random attack and rape by a stranger worse than rape or sexual abuse experienced within a marriage or partnership that may go on for years? Is it the rape itself that is most harmful to the victim or is it the medical examination, interviews with police, and court case that follows that creates more damage? Is this in fact what prevents women from healing more easily after a rape? What do you do about cases where men genuinely feel they did have consent? How do you best punish rape? Considering “rape is not a sex crime, but a hate crime” (p.69), is the judicial system approaching it in the right way in terms of custodial sentences? Are the length of sentences for rape creating more problems than they are solving, such as making men more likely to kill their victim or making juries less likely to convict if there is any doubt whatsoever? How do we change a legal system that is misogynistic at it’s core and is so pitted against women it’s almost impossible to win?

Whilst I didn’t agree with all the ideas Greer put forward in relation to this topic and the above questions, I loved that it forced me to consider another view point and contemplate the deeper issues at the heart of this crime. Challenging your thinking is what good writing should do and in my mind Greer is expert at that.