Asking the real question

It's not the verdict that is bothering me this week. Or the trial.

A jury heard the evidence, kicked it around and found former Hawkeye football player Cedric Everson III guilty of misdemeanor assault. That's the jury's job, although I'll admit I'm a little perplexed by its decision.

It's pretty universally agreed that Everson has his one-time co-defendant Abe Satterfield to thank for the walk. Even the judge reportedly said Satterfield's testimony for the prosecution ended up boosting the defense.

Satterfield told the court he didn't give it much thought when Everson tapped him on the shoulder to scoot him out of bed with the woman, or when he tapped him again to get back in it.

Still, I've got a broader unthinkingness on my mind. The way so many amateur jurors seemed to accept red herrings as important facts in the case.

Not that the water-cooler talk had any influence on the outcome of Everson's trial. Our impact is much greater than that. Our unexamined attitudes and biases help make sure most rape cases never even make it to a courtroom.

College-aged women are at tremendous risk for sexual assault, but only the tiniest fraction ever report the crime. They're worried that no one will believe them, that they'll be blamed. Often, victims just blame themselves in the first place.

Nearly all college-aged victims know their assailants; more than half are raped on a date. And even though there's a truckload of research that shows sexual assault isn't falsely reported any more than other crime, we've got this idea that there's a statistically real possibility, if not probability, that the victim just got drunk, woke up sorry and decided to cry rape.

That's not an accident - planting that idea in people's minds is actually a great defense against a charge of rape. Often, it's the only defense.

And we make for a willing audience. Oh sure, surveys show that most of us get it: It's not OK to force yourself on someone, even if they asked you out on a date, or if you paid, or came back to your room, or if you or they had been drinking.

So why are the questions so easy to predict: Did she struggle? Did she lead him on? What was she doing there, anyway? It's all smoke screen for the real question: Did she consent?

It's absolutely true that some women on the UI campus, and everywhere, routinely put themselves in risky situations. They drink too much, they don't stay with friends - they could, and should, do more to keep from becoming victims.

That's important. But it's not the question.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net