The Accused

540 Words2 Pages

Rape is sensitive subject. People avoid talking about it at all costs and even try to pretend that it does not happen. But rapes are reported every six minutes in the United States. (Jaffe, Lansing & Kaplan, 1988) The Accused does not dance around rape. The movie centers around Sara Tobias, a young woman who was the victim of a rape. The rape occurred in a bar filled with men, multiple of which committed the crime. The movie then follows Sara as she is hospitalized and is assigned a lawyer, Kathryn Murphy. Kathryn Murphy does get the criminals in jail, but not for a sentence appropriate to the crime. Sara Tobias demands justice. So Kathryn and Sara go after the other men that were present in the bar for encouraging the rape under the charge of criminal solicitation. Although justice was eventually served, this movie shows just how much misogyny, patriarchy, rape culture, and gender roles impact our society.
Misogyny is a major obstacle that Sara must overcome on her journey to justice. According to Webster’s new world college dictionary, misogyny is the “hatred of women”. In fact, ...

Show More
Related

  • R V Ewanchuck Case Study

    1964 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the second wave of feminism in the 1960’s women have demanded for equality rights. The R V. Ewanchuck case created many disagreement’s with feminists on the topic of rape myths. It has not only been seen as a precedent for the criminal law but as well an eye opener for the society to create awareness for this act. Since society continues to support most rape myths, it overlooks the act itself and puts the blame and responsibility on the victim as opposed to the perpetrator. This has created a rape culture within society. The term rape culture was created to demonstrate the ways in which victims were blamed for sexual assault, and how male sexual violence was normalized. Feminists are exploring the world of rape myths in Canadian law

    Read More

  • Rape In Missoula, By John Krakauer

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rape is a hidden epidemic that affects many lives world wide. It is a problem that is so terrifying and uncomfortable that people do not talk about it. John Krakauer, author of Missoula, focuses on this issue of rape in the college town of Missoula, Montana. His focus is specifically on the case of Allison Huguet and Beau Donaldson. As the progression of Allison 's case continues we learn of more and more rape cases that happened to women on this same campus. A majority of women do not report these cases, we later learn as Krakauer continues through Allison 's case, because reporting and pursuing the case would be giving their life away. [4] Of course Allison decides to go through the trails of Beau Donaldson, however it is obvious that it is extremely difficult to convict someone with little evidence. As hard of a read as Missoula

    Read More

  • Janie and Hester: Dealt Unfair Hands But Played the Game

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Facing sexism and mistreatment at the hands of oppressive men is one of the biggest challenges a woman can face in contemporary and traditional societies. All challenges animate life, and we are given purpose when we deem it necessary to overcome said trials. Post-completion, life’s tests let us emerge with maturity and tenacity that we could not find elsewhere. Janie and Hester were dealt unfair hands in life, yet instead of folding and taking the easy way out, they played the game. They played, lost, and played again, and through this incessant perseverance grew exponentially as human beings.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    2274 Words  | 5 Pages

    illustrates the discrimination against women and the issues that arise from a gender double standard society.

    Read More

  • All Men Are Created Equal: Except Women

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most horrible things that has erupted from the subjugation of women is rape culture. Rape culture is the downplaying of the crime of rape to appease the violator, the accusation that the victim made a choice that led to their rape, or even jokes that suggest rape. According to Jessica Valenti’s, “In Rape Tragedies, the Shame Is Ours,” in today's world many people give in to rape culture by participating in these acts that somehow change our mindsets into believing that, “it is more shameful to be raped than to be a rapist”. Once ...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Criminal Deviance

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the victim on this show was taken seriously and given a rape kit, she was still asked what she was wearing and whether or not she welcomed the man’s behavior with flirtation. These sorts of questions do touch on how many rape cases are biased against women and do not usually work in their favor. Also, motivational theories in sociology focus on social factors which drive a person to commit crimes (Wadsworth). In this case, the defense argues that the woman’s behavior, appearance, and attitude demonstrated that she wanted to have sex. As a result of these social factors and indicators, he to committed a deviant

    Read More

  • Echoing Footsteps: Rape, Victims, Survivors, and What We Can Do

    3235 Words  | 7 Pages

    Acquaintance rape, sometimes called date rape, is the most common form of this crime. Yet, until the 1980s, it was virtually unheard of (Warshaw 2). We believed that rape was fairly rare. When it did take place, we wrongfully assumed that the victim was an idealized virginal school girl and that her attacker was a ruthless and depraved psychopath, armed and lurking in the shadows (Warshaw 14). This image needs to be destroyed. Rape is common. One in four women will be raped during her lifetime. Current statistics say that a woman is raped every four seconds in this country (Anderson 213). These women will be assaulted by people they know, most often by people they trust. They will be disbelieved when they tell their story. They will...

    Read More

  • Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

    2449 Words  | 5 Pages

    Smith Susan L. “Neither Victim nor Villain.” Journal of Women’s History Vol. 8 No. 1

    Read More

  • Examining of Estrich´s and Pineau´s Discussion on Rape

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Estrich demonstrates, the law on rape has major flaws. The law exposes traditions and attitudes that surround women and sex. It condones the idea that sex contains male aggression and female passivity. The law uses three different criteria to label an act of sex as rape: mens rea, force, and consent. Estrich feels that these features demonstrate sexist attitudes within the law. Our legal system abandon’s mens rea which is Latin for “guilty state of the mind.” It is the perpetrator’s ability to understand force and non-consent. A woman must demonstrate resistance. The man can escape by stating he did not realize the woman was not consenting. So, the court turns to the woman to see if she provided proper evidence that she did not consent to the sex.

    Read More

  • Myths And Stereotypes In Rape Joke By Patricia Lockwood

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the stereotypes and myths that are seen throughout the areas, we are able to see how things make a difference when it comes to how things are portrayed. Victims of rape should not blame themselves or see the situation as a joke, which is proven in Patricia Lockwood’s poem, “Rape Joke”. She uses a very unique style of a story-like poem to tell a story of an instance that could happen and how to see the situation afterwards. There is the aftermath of how victims feel and act after going through the traumatic experience of a rape. Lockwood is able to portray that experience in detail in her poem “Rape Joke.”

    Read More

  • Comparison of One is Not Born a Woman by Wittig and The Second Sex Simone De Beauvoir

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...rms of power and source of pride in society. Emphasizing sexism in language and rising the concern with words can be a vital feminist strategy to provoke social change (Weatherall, 2002). Language can produce a false imagination and represents women and men unequally, as if members of one sex were somehow less wholly human, less complex, and has fewer rights than members of the other sex. Sexist language also characterizes serotypes of women and men, sometimes to the disadvantage of both, but more often to the disadvantage of women. (Wareing & Thomas, 2012). As a result, it is necessary that individuals have the right to define, and to redefine as their lives unfold, their own gender identities, without regard to genitalia, assigned birth sex, or initial gender role. Language about women is not a nonaligned or an insignificant issue but profoundly a political one.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Susan Griffin's Rape: The All-American Crime

    928 Words  | 2 Pages

    Susan Griffin’s Rape: The All-American Crime touches on many issues within American society. She begins by recounting how she was taught to be afraid of strange men from such a young age that she had not yet learned what it was she was so afraid of, and then goes into her experience with harassment, an experience shared by every woman at some point in her life. Griffin recounts the belief that all rapists are insane and the proof that they are just normal men and dispels the myth that rape is normal activity that is prohibited by society. However, she goes on to clarify that our culture views rape: “as an illegal, but still understandable, form of behavior” (Griffin 514). It seems that the wrongness of rape is determined by the situation in

    Read More

  • Comparing the Escape Theme in Raise the Red Lantern, Handmaid's Tale, and Doll's House

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women have suffered as the result of harassment and discrimination for centuries. Today, women are able to directly confront their persecutors through the news media as well as the legal system.  Three important literary works illustrate that it has not always been possible for women to strike back. In Raise the Red Lantern, The Handmaid's Tale, and A Doll's House, the main female characters find ways to escape their situations rather than directly confronting the problem.

    Read More

  • The Equal Pay Act

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most related terms when women’s right is brought up are feminism and feminist. A feminist, by definition, is someone the fights for feminism. The definition of feminism, one the other hand, is very complex. Throughout history, the word has continuously had bad images and connotations thrown its wa...

    Read More

  • To Stop the Rape Culture

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is not uncommon in this day and age to hear someone say, “Well if she wasn’t dressed like that,” or “she was drunk and asking for it,” when you hear the unfortunate story of another girl being the victim of sexual assault or rape. It is likewise as common for these crimes to go unreported, due to the victims feeling they will not be believed, or become subject to further shame and humiliation. This is because of the idea of “rape culture,” a term coined in the 1970’s during the second wave of feminism. It suggests that the reason that these actions and concepts are so commonplace is because they are things ingrained into our collective psyches from a very early age. As a victim and survivor myself, I believe that this needs to change. The only way it will, however, is if we as a country take a stand now and put a stop to what perpetuates it further.

    Read More

More about The Accused

Open Document