Statutory Rape is Not Love
Posted: February 12th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »If you are a movie junkie like me, then you know that Oscar season is the equivalent to the Super Bowl. This year’s contenders are as meaty as ever, exposing the audience to difficult issues that take us out of our individual experience into another’s’ world, exposing the viewer to underlying beliefs embedded within our culture. This year’s “The Reader” offers that opportunity.
The film depicts a fifteen year old boy who has a brief sexual liaison with a woman in her thirties. Within a few weeks, their intense affair ends suddenly when she disappears from his life. Years later, the boy is observing a trial as part of his law school requirements and finds her charged and eventually convicted of a heinous war crime.
The primary focus of the film was grappling with a truth that someone you love may be capable of great evil. We are asked to struggle with culpability, morality and compassion. Yet there was another crime completely ignored by most viewers: the fact that the character development occurred within the context of statutory rape. Switch the genders- how would you react if this was a thirty-something year old man and a fifteen year old female?
Many critiques treated this story as some kind as a coming of age story. Descriptors of the relationship included “a discreet affair”[1], “the innocent purity of first love”[2] and numerous other claims that this was a loving liaison. This is a myth that perpetuates the expectation of silence that boys endure. Males are taught that any sexual experience is masculine and any conflicted feelings suggest that there is something wrong with the victim. They face the trap of being labeled as weak for not being able to stop it, move past it or even for not being able to appreciate it.
Statutory rape: “In accordance with the FBI definition, statutory rape is characterized as non-forcible sexual intercourse with a person who is younger than the statutory age of consent.”[3] The key to remember is that the younger individual is not old enough to legally consent to the behavior. [4] The more years there are between the adult and the minor, the more serious the offense. (http://www.sexlaws.org/what_is_statutory_rape)
Statutory rape is partially labeled as such because the minor is unable to provide consent. Consent meaning the teenager has full disclosure of potential risks. It is inconceivable imagining someone engaging in something he knew would likely result in feelings of anger, betrayal, masculinity issues, legitimacy, difficulty relating to peers, isolation and alienation, guilt, self-blame, shame, sexual issues, low self-esteem and difficulty with trust.
Interestingly, the movie does not neglect this crime, highlighting how confusing it must be to be involved in a relationship that superficially appears to be loving. They also show the devastation both during and after the affair. The teenager disconnects from his social life and is uninterested in developing romantic relationships with females of his own age. He becomes secretive and indifferent to the impacts of his frequent, unexplained absences. Later in life, he is shown to suffer from depression, living with an emotional wall that inhibits connections with his former wife and his daughter. He is sallow, lost and internally tortured.
It is crucial that our society recognize that the use of a minor for one’s own sexual gratification is abusive. If not, we potentially resign the individual to a life of secrecy and shame. We have the power to provide an environment that is able to recognize and thereby address this serious issue. Through this commitment, we provide the emotional safety and nonjudgmental attitude that is essential for survivors to find real healing.
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1 http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/movies/10read.html
2 http://thecriticalcritics.com/
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_rape#cite_note-2
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_rape#cite_note-ojjdp-0
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