Who really manufactures stories about rape

July 25, 2001
Issue 

BY ANN PITSTOCK & KAMALA EMANUEL Picture

In the context of the racist media hysteria surrounding the rape allegations made against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chairperson Geoff Clark, it was commendable that NSW magistrate Pat O'Shane defended Clark's right to the presumption of innocence. She also condemned his treatment at the hands of the media.

But O'Shane took a disappointing and unnecessary step in bringing into question the motives of all women who make allegations of sexual assault, when she declared on June 14 that "a lot of women manufacture a lot of stories against men".

Using a sexist argument to counter racism serves only to divide indigenous people and pits supporters of indigenous rights and women's rights against each other. It reinforces sexist stereotypes, and needs to be refuted.

According to the 1994 Australian Law Reform Commission report on Equality Before the Law: Women's Access to the Legal System: "The number of relationships in which women are subjected to violence is not known. In one month (November 1993) there were 3009 cases of domestic violence reported to the police in six states and territories in Australia. However, it is thought that many cases are not reported to the police.

"Research in 1992 at Royal Brisbane Hospital found that more than one in five women presenting to the accident and emergency department had been subjected to violence by their partner at some stage of their adult lives. According to Marriage Guidance Australia, almost 40% of couples attending marriage guidance counselling report violence. Historically, domestic violence has not been regarded as a real crime by police. Although this attitude is changing, it persists in many situations.

The same report also found that between 1989 and 1991 the average annual rate of sexual assaults reported to the police was nine times higher for women than men. The average annual rate of sexual assault was 38.3 of every 100,000 people in NSW in these years, according to police statistics.

"However", according to the report "studies suggest that only a small proportion of sexual assaults (a third or less) are reported to the police. Sexual assault is an area in which women are particularly likely to face problems with the legal system. For example the sexual assault victim may feel that she, rather then the perpetrator, is on trial".

It is telling that even if the assault is reported to police, only a small number ever go to court. In 1992, it was reported at a Melbourne stop violence against women public forum that less than a third of all complaints made to the Victorian police are pursued, and of those that are, less than half resulted in a conviction.

Evidence given to the Australian Law Reform Commission illustrates this in practice. As its 1994 report observes: "One woman who had been raped by two work colleagues after leaving their annual Christmas party told the commission of her experience in the court room at the committal proceedings."

The woman told the commission: "In the court room, I gave evidence for four hours. They asked me why I did not fight back, why I had so many drinks, why I had asked them to help me find a taxi and not someone else. Apart from the (sexual assault) counsellor... I was the only woman in the room. When their barrister asked me whether I was a vegetarian, I was confused, and upset. I said 'no'. He then asked me if I ate meat. I said 'yes'.

"When he then asked me why I did not bite off their penises, I became distressed and looked around the court room. At that moment I realised that this was not their trial. The magistrate, like all the others looked at me, waiting for my response. I don't remember the rest of my evidence. The lawyers for the Department of Public Prosecutors said nothing. They were angry with me because after this...

"[The accused men] were not committed to stand trial. The DPP said my evidence didn't stand up, that my story didn't hold, that I was a bad witness. What finally got me was I never got to tell my story. It was as if what happened to me did not matter, they were so preoccupied with the words I chose to express. I felt like the player in a game that I had never played before, and was treated as if I was cheating in some way."

Contrary to what O'Shane implied, it is a lot of men who manufacture a lot of stories about women, and not the reverse.

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