Amy Tiemann: Harrop’s ‘outdated’ views

Froma Harrop’s Jan. 16 column “Is ‘stranger rape’ more troubling than ‘date rape’?” was a crystallized piece of misogyny and victim blaming.

We live in a current era of elected officials promoting the nonsense concept of “legitimate rape,” and convicted rapist Brock Turner served only three months in jail.

Our country’s historical foundation viewed women as the property of their fathers or husbands, or at best second-class citizens, for most of American history. Marital rape was not recognized as a crime in North Carolina until 1993.

Harrop blamed victims by creating a hierarchy of “abhorrence factors” for different kinds of rape. She said “this has nothing to do with sexual mores” but later admitted “this discussion clearly makes a distinction between victims who took precautions and those who didn’t.”

Harrop ignored other kinds of sexual abuse by known authority figures such as relatives, teachers, bosses or religious authorities. Her prejudiced view translates into a call for more police action for stranger rape than acquaintance rape in a disproportionate, zero-sum manner.

These outdated views need to be continually challenged, and our public policy must truly require justice for all victims of assault.

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Amy Tiemann: Harrop’s ‘outdated’ views."