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Alicia Motta Irizarry
PY453-6-SP
Terrorism is a concept that is often used to define attacks made by foreigners to obtain
political power. According to Sheffield, “The word terrorism invokes images of furtive
organizations of the far right or left, whose members blow up buildings and cars, hijack planes,
and murder innocent people in some countries other than ours.” (Sheffield, 1987) Today we
will call this act political terrorism because this phenomenon goes further beyond ISIS and
Osama Bin Laden. Terrorism is not the act of blowing up a plane, it is the fear it penetrates in
the people, even if they are not directly harmed. When Osama Bin Laden ordered the attack on
The World Trade Center, fear was not just in the people being attacked, it was in the Oval Office
and in each and every one of our hearts. Scheffield reminds us, “But there is a different kind of
terrorism, one that so pervades our culture that we have learned to live with it as though it
were the natural order of things.” (Scheffield, 1987) She calls it sexual terrorism, and we,
women, are the targets. Where we come from, our social status, race, age, etc. are irrelevant
because “it is a system by which males frighten and, by frightening, control and dominate
females” (Scheffield, 1987) everywhere. Although sexual terrorism involves many different
aspects, this essay will focus strictly on rape and rape related ideas. But most importantly it will
I come from a place where rape culture is very prone. Every night, when I finished
studying in the library of my university, I proceeded to walk to the train station or the parking
lot. The feeling of anxiety, fear and terror that I carried every night, was not pleasing. I was
terrified that some guy would come and rape me. There have been numerous rape cases
reported in that same parking lot. How am I not supposed to live in constant fear of my life?
Women are in constant fear for their lives because “the essence of terrorism is that one never
knows when is the wrong time and where is the wrong place.” (Scheffield, 1987) The problem
with this type of terrorism is that society encourages it by promoting violence against females,
teaching men to be sexually violent and dominant, and providing them with justifications to
their means. This is the reason why rape is not just an act of terrorism, but a terrorist
institution. Claudia Card defines institution “by both a form of social activity structured by rules
that define roles and positions, powers and opportunities, thereby distributing responsibility for
consequences.” (Card, 1991) This all applies to rape, since it is a social activity imposed by men
on women, structured by rules and limits that define roles (dominant and submissive),
sometimes assume it is natural. This normality belittles the act. According to Sheffield, “Society
manifests this attitude by simply denying the existence of sexual violence, denying the gravity
of these acts, joking about them, and attempting to legitimate them.” (Scheffield, 1987) This is
precisely why the offenders do not realize the severity of their acts. Most men when accused of
rape act surprised about it. Sanday wrote, “The correlates of rape strongly suggest that rape is
the playing out of a socio-cultural script in which the expression of personhood for males is
directed by, among other things, interpersonal violence and an ideology of toughness.”
(Sanday, 1981) Men act surprised when called on the act because society makes them feel it’s
part of their violent nature. When Sheffield asked who might be the typical rapist, her answer
was far too simple. One day, I was talking to a male friend, who confessed something that was
very disturbing. When he was five-years-old, he was raped by his uncle for the first time. The
child had no idea what was going on. Innocently, he thought it was normal. So normal, that he
started doing it to his friends. It was not until he was called out on it that he understood the
magnitude of what he was doing. Leaving his soul scarred for life.
The assumption that only mentally ill strangers are rapists, is a blasphemy. According to
Sheffield, “The ‘typical’ sexually abusive man does not exist.” (Scheffield, 1987) In fact, it is
more likely to be raped by a known person, than a complete stranger. A child molester is very
likely to be a family member of the victim. This is called incest and if the rapist is charged (not
likely), it is never more than ten years in prison. Sheffield states, “This contrast suggests that
sexual abuse of children is tolerated when it occurs within the family and that unqualified
protection of children from sexual assault is not the intent of the law.” (Scheffield, 1987) How
can incest be tolerable? I do not know. However, the fact that it is, normalizes the act.
According to Peggy Reeves Sanday, “When the character of the father-daughter relationship is
primarily indifferent, aloof, cold and stern, rape is more likely to be present.” (Sanday, 1981)
The worse part of it all is that there are myths on incest that regard the child as the seducer, or
argue that it was part of his imagination. Scheffield gives an example about a judge who
accused a five-year-old girl of being an “unusually promiscuous young lady” (Scheffield, 1987),
and thus provoking a twenty-four-year-old man into raping her. That is not all, she sentenced
him to ninety days of prison, for raping an innocent baby girl. The author wrote, “Making a
victim believe she is at fault erases not only the individual offender’s culpability but also the
responsibility of society as a whole.” (Scheffield, 1987) Evidently, this young girl is not the first
When it comes to rape, society always imposes some or all culpability on the victim.
According to Sheffield, “Early and sustained sex-role socialization teaches that women are
responsible for the sexual behavior of men and that women cannot be trusted.” (Scheffield,
1987) She explains that either the woman willingly participated in the victimization or that she
lied about it. Women are always blamed for dressing provocatively, being seductive, or “asking
for it”. These are few of the thousands of reasons why society is always victim blaming. Another
reason according to Sanday, “men (are) creatures who cannot control their sexual impulses.”
(Sanday, 1981) Apparently these impulses are caused by women being women. If women are
characterized for being beautiful, provocative and seductive; how can rape be justified on the
fact that women are who they are? Blaming a woman for being raped is as ridiculous as blaming
Gwen Arujo, a transgender woman, was murdered for being herself. That is not all, she
was blamed by her murderers, for her own tragic death. One of them expressed, “If you find
out the beautiful woman you are with is really a man, it would make any man go crazy.”
(Bettcher, 2007) She was accused of deception, like a woman is accused for seduction when
raped. Bettcher wrote, “I am specifically concerned with the ways in which the victims of
(Bettcher, 2007) If heterosexual and homosexual women live in constant fear of being raped,
imagine a trans woman. Here sexual terrorism goes beyond rape, all the way to murder.
Imagine the terror they go through in their daily lives for reasons like rape, public exposure (like
Gwen), and murder. Just so the murderers can be charged on second-degree murder caused by
sexual provocation, with no hate-crime charges. This is the terrorist institution in a nutshell.
If Gwen was raped, it would be permitted, just because she was transgender. Claudia
Card lists a couple of women who are not allowed to count as rape targets. For example,
prostitutes, ‘non-virgins’, women previously raped, a woman who has had past relations with a
specific man or type of man, wives (by their husbands), etc. Trans women can also be
categorized here. They would not be considered as rape victims for their inferior social status.
According to Sanday, “a rape prone society… is one in which sexual assault by men of women is
either culturally allowable or, largely overlooked.” (Sanday, 1981) For example, in Kikuyu of East
Africa, there is a ritual called Kuihaka. It consists on a young man finding and raping a girl or
woman, preferably from an enemy tribe, to prove his manhood. If he did not comply with the
cannot get married without being gang raped first. This is done when the girl is fourteen to
fifteen-years-old, and only when the ceremony is completed she is allowed to marry a man that
will “protect” her. Also African-American slaves would fit into this category. Opal Palmer Adisa
explains, “that legally the concept of raping a slave simply did not exist. One cannot rape one’s
own property.” (Palmer, 1992) Even though slavery was abolished, “For African-American
women, rape continues as an ever present threat to their particular bodies.” (Palmer,1992) In
fact, the supposition of women as property is one that persists in our contemporary society.
African-American slaves were not the only ones viewed as property. This ideology is one
that has persisted through the ages. According to Sanday, “rape is linked with an overall pattern
of violence and that part of this pattern includes the concept of women as property.” (Sanday,
1981) Psychologists like Sigmund Freud may argue that this violent instinct is innate.
Nonetheless, it is a social construct, supported by history, literature, philosophy, law and all
other patriarchal institutions. Sheffield stated, “Rape was originally a violation of a father’s and
husband’s property rights; consequently, a husband by definition could not rape his wife.”
(Scheffield, 1987) This means that when a woman was raped by a man (not her husband) it was
not considered as a violation to her human rights, but his property rights. According to Card,
“Rape has historically been treated by men as a crime of theft against other men.” (Card, 1991)
These suppositions support rape as terrorist institution; the devaluation, objectification and
Could it be possible that the roots of this institution were based on hatred towards
women? Aristotle classified women in the same category as slaves and barbarians. If that is not
historically recorded hate, I do not know what is. This form of hate is called misogyny. Could
there be any other answer to why men find it so natural to be violent towards women? How
they find the audacity to rape them? Is it audacity or unconscious hatred? Adisa writes, “Past
and present analysis shows that rape is not a crime of uncontrollable sexual passion, but one
used to vent misogyny and to exert physical, political and economic control.” (Palmer, 1992)
The author uses an analogy explaining how a woman’s body is a battlefield. This battle often
goes beyond rape and straight to ‘femicide’. Sheffield explains that sexual terrorism sometimes
is so aberrant that we find it inconceivable. She gives an example of the execution of fourteen
women in 1989, by a twenty-five-year-old man who claimed that feminists had always enraged
him. The author writes, ““Femicide” ... describes “the murders of women by men motivated by
inside her. Where can women feel safe in a world like this?
Claudia Card would argue that women are hypothetically safe with a guardian. Or at
least society thinks they are. Living in constant terror of being alone, is something that all
women experience; not emotionally, but physically. Walking alone may seem as something
ordinary, but for women it takes courage. It is a battle with our insides. Anything that can feel
wrong, does. Card argues that terrified women, comply with men’s demands. Men give “good
girls”, something very pricey, protection. Women, by believing they have earned this
protection, also feel in debt. Card writes, “In the system of chivalry, men protect women
against men… Indeed, chivalry is an age-old protection racket which depends for its existence
on rape.” (Card, 1991) If women do not accept this protection, they are alone, in danger, and
held accountable for anything that happens to them. If we accept this protection, who is going
to protect us from the protector? Often, chivalry comes with liabilities and that is precisely why
women are not safe anywhere. Once women accept this protection they are consenting the
submission of their bodies, because it is what they have learned, it is the norm.
“Protected women” are not the only ones who feel this indebtedness on the inside
around men. We have all felt it, at least once. When women accept to go on a date with a man,
it is often presupposed that they are giving sexual consent. One of Cards rules is, “that consent
once given cannot be withdrawn.” (Card, 1991) This is often a problem with rape, because this
rule, internalized by the terrorist institution, makes women think that once we say “yes”, we
are not allowed amend it. Nonetheless, it has to be kept in mind that not all rapes require
sexual assault. Pineau argues that “Date rape is non-aggravated sexual assault, non-consensual
sex that does not involve physical injury, or the explicit threat of physical injury.” (Pineau, 1989)
The problem is that non-aggravated sexual assault is not taken seriously; and this is in fact, the
reason why women don’t realize date rape is actual rape. Often women get raped and they do
not even realize it. One day, I was with a friend talking about life, and she told me that she had
sexual relations with this guy she did not like. “Why?”; I asked. She answered; “I do not know,
he wanted to, and besides, he was paying for everything.” So I asked her if she had enjoyed it
and she quickly answered: “no”. It did not cross any of our minds that she was raped. Why? As
Pineau writes, “Her uncertainty is reinforced by the cultural reading of this incident as an
ordinary seduction.” (Pineau, 1989) This is because rape is a terrorist institution, supported by a
patriarchal society, and the reason we view acts like this normally.
The ultimate question; why is society like this? Simple, it benefits from this terrorist
institution. Why else would governments prefer protecting men against rape accusations, than
accusing them for committing the act as such? Card argues, “that a state supports a racket even
when it penalizes rapists, if it can be shown to be responsible for the continued threat of rape
and to benefit from that continued rape.” (Card, 1991) How can this support be proved? The
answer is: propaganda. Rape is everywhere. According to Sheffield, “The propaganda of sexual
terrorism is found in all expressions of the popular culture: films, television, music, literature,
advertising, pornography.” (Scheffield, 1987) Capitalism sells woman’s sexuality in every way it
possibly can. Card explains that some movies glorify rape. She writes, “In each, rape is
presented as thrilling and fulfilling for a woman.” (Card, 1991) This normalizes rape for both
men and women, giving them fantasies about it and therefore, facilitating it. Rape sells. It sells
“good girls” to protectors and helps the market sell everything else. It even sells items that
protect women from the act it sponsors. This institution legitimately supports society politically,
Historically, society has psychologically internalized myths and the people have held
them accountable. Sheffield wrote the following myths, “All women want to be raped. No
woman can be raped if she does not want it. She asked for it. She changed her mind afterward.
When she says no, she means yes. If you are going to be raped, you might as well relax and
enjoy it.” (Scheffield, 1987) People actually hold this as truth. It has been two years since I
liberated myself from using bras, because they are uncomfortable and I do not need them. My
grandmother has always been controversial about it. One day, she was taking me to the
university and I was wearing short trousers because it was 100*F (38*C), and she had the
audacity to tell me; “that is why girls get raped.” That day, I miserably understood that if I was
ever raped she would think it was my fault. Next, I will cite a simple, yet powerful poem by June
Being female already presupposes that we are asking for it. How can a flower be asking
for it if she is just being a flower? Another myth could be that men cannot control their sexual
impulses. It can be argued, that they just do not want to, because society says that being
violently sexual is the norm and so they believe it. For the record, none of these myths can be
held for true whatsoever. However, another problematic and one of the most important, citing
Sheffield, “Our refusal to accept the fact that violence against females is widespread
throughout society strongly inhibits our ability to develop meaningful strategies to eliminate it.”
(Scheffield, 1987) My conscience forbids me of viewing a future where I am able to walk alone
unterrified.
Rape as a terrorist institution seems harder to abolish than as a mere act. The way it is
implemented in all aspects of society augments the feeling of terror. The fact that people do
not realize what they are part of, makes it easier for its agents (government, market, state,
religion, etc.) to harbor evil deeds. Misogyny, women viewed as property, the devalued value of
consent, victim blaming, rape myths, the normality of rape, etc. are all aspects that carry this
terrorist institution high and make it potent. If it is still not clear how rape is a terrorist
institution, I will make it simple. Rape is a socially internalized activity that promotes violence
and inflicts a feeling of terror in women’s daily lives, supported by cultures all over the world,
that follows a set of norms, punishments and myths, that define roles and powers, to benefit
organizations that justify the means; like the government, state, religion and market, who are,
and always have been, historically governed by the the dominant male, who this institution
correspondingly benefits.
people into oblivion. Like the patriarchy, another institution that molds society in such a way
that it is unrecognizable (to many). Both rape and the patriarchy work ‘equiprimordially’ in their
quest to dehumanize women. To eliminate these, the world would have to be reborn. These are
ancient institutions that go beyond our era; recorded in literature and history. Is it possible to
eliminate institutions that have been alive since before time itself could be recorded? All I know
is that I live for the day when women can wander about the night without destination. Be
guided by the stars and truly appreciate the moon’s perfections; without internally feeling pain
Bibliography:
1. Card, C. (1991) Chapter 12. Rape as a Terrorist Institution. In. R.G. Frey & C.W.
Violence and the Politics of Illusion, Hypathia, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 43-65
3. Pineau, L. (1989) Date Rape: A Feminist Analysis, Law and Philosophy 8, pp. 411-
418
In. L.L O’Toole, J.R. Schiffman & M.L. Kitter Edwards, ed., Gender Violence:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2nd ed., New York: New York University Press, pp.
97-124
Women Writers Explicating Rape, In. L.L O’Toole, J.R. Schiffman & M.L. Kitter
Edwards, ed., Gender Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2nd ed., New York:
Explicating Rape, In. L.L O’Toole, J.R. Schiffman & M.L. Kitter Edwards, ed.,
Gender Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2nd ed., New York: New York