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catsim 's review for:
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
by Jon Krakauer
This book is about the intersection between rape culture and sports culture. But ultimately, it’s about the victim’s stories and experiences, and how the justice system (the police and the attorney’s office) failed them time and time again. It’s a very tough read as the victim’s describe, in detail, the trauma they lived through. Krakauer treats both the topic and the victim’s with the respect they deserve. He interviewed many people to get to the root of the issues in Missoula and also conducted extensive secondary research in order to better portray all aspects of rape in this country.
It is very evident that Krakauer was biased in writing this book (as some reviewers have complained about). Even acknowledging that everyone has implicit biases that they can’t get rid of, I don’t think Krakauer having a bias in this case is a bad thing. His bias is his argument - that victim’s should be believed, that rape culture makes it all too frequent that a rapists behavior is excused and downplayed by the public and the police, and that unless consent is explicitly given, the sex is not consensual and is rape. Krakauer even focuses on how college campuses and administration sometimes perpetuate rape culture (and its link with sports culture).
While reading this, I have never hated sports culture more. I know that sports culture is more than hypermasculinity, blind adoration of the fans, and fans justifying and accepting athletes behavior and putting them on a pedestal so they think their actions have no real consequences; however, reading this book, it's hard to think that it could be anything else.
It is very evident that Krakauer was biased in writing this book (as some reviewers have complained about). Even acknowledging that everyone has implicit biases that they can’t get rid of, I don’t think Krakauer having a bias in this case is a bad thing. His bias is his argument - that victim’s should be believed, that rape culture makes it all too frequent that a rapists behavior is excused and downplayed by the public and the police, and that unless consent is explicitly given, the sex is not consensual and is rape. Krakauer even focuses on how college campuses and administration sometimes perpetuate rape culture (and its link with sports culture).
While reading this, I have never hated sports culture more. I know that sports culture is more than hypermasculinity, blind adoration of the fans, and fans justifying and accepting athletes behavior and putting them on a pedestal so they think their actions have no real consequences; however, reading this book, it's hard to think that it could be anything else.