TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2005
NEWS
5A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KU WOMEN RESPOND
The University Daffy Foundation randomly surveyed about 209 KO women use a toothbrush. More than 100 women responded to the survey. The following are the results based on some of the questionnaire women answered. The bushmen following answers said once how many people refused that option. Not all respondents answered every question.
Photo Illustration by Courtney Kuhlen/KANSAN
If the answer to the previous question was no, asked a reason.
Local rape crisis experts said fear could be the main reason women don't report rapes to authorities. Some women are not emotionally stable enough to endure evasive medical tests and police interviews.
What was the relationship between you and the attacker?
- Other: 6
fortable thing. Sometimes people don't want to pursue legal action and they think if they tell anyone, they feel they will have to pursue that."
Even if women file a report, they still have the option not to press charges.
Lauren Doerfler, sexual assault nurse at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said women are asked to make a police report either anonymously or with their names.
Women can choose to stop at any time and can choose not to do any portion of the kit. The kit includes taking hair samples from the head and the pubic area, as well as vaginal and mouth swabs.
Including interviews with sexual assault nurses and police, the process lasts three to four hours.
"We want to make sure we get the story straight," Doerfler said.
All women who complete the kit are given precautionary antibiotics in case of an STD and have the option for a free dosage of the morning after pill to prevent pregnancy.
Doerfler said women should complete a rape kit regardless if they've decided to press charges.
"After 72 hours after the rape, any source or trace of evidence is gone," Doerfler said. "If you change your mind, you still have the evidence."
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
For women who do report a rape to police, a number of seemingly daunting tasks lie ahead of them. If the rape is reported in a timely fashion, women will be asked to complete a rape kit and investigations will go beyond a simple police interview.
"It's very common that when they get off the stand after testifying, they just lose it," Moseley said. Part of her job is comforting a witness afterward to be sure she knows she is not alone.
Among the most difficult tasks is describing the rape to an open court, said Delores Moseley, coordinator of victim witnesses for the Douglas County District Attorney.
Moseley knows what women fear about going to court, and says helping them endure the emotional hardships are a part of her job.
She tries to dispel the myths women have about pressing charges against their attacker.
"A lot of women have a preconceived notion of what testifying will be like," she said.
Part of that comes from media coverage of high profile cases such as the rape prosecution against Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Moseley said
"That case makes our job much more difficult," she said.
A lot of things went wrong at that courthouse in Eagle County, Colo.
For example, staff released the name of the accuser to the media, and she was harassed at her home and received at least two death threats.
Eight months have passed since charges were dropped, yet a simple Google search with the keywords "Kobe Bryant accuser" produces more than 100,000 hits, most with her name and picture.
As a result, more victims fear what will happen if their case goes to court, Moseley said.
More than a year had passed before Angela thought of filing a report against her rapist.
But, at that point, all evidence was gone. She said she knew it would become an issue of her rapist's word against hers.
"It would've been pointless," she said. "I couldn't get any kind of support or proof. It would've been so hard to get a verdict in my favor."
Anne felt the same way about reporting her rape to police in Spain.
She was drunk that night and the rape wasn't forceful. She thought people would automatically think it was her fault for being in that situation with someone she just met.
"It's just a twisted situation with too much alcohol and being with a person who seems trustworthy." Anne said.
Moseley agreed that alcohol makes a case harder to prove in court.
"We have to convince 12 people to come to a unanimous decision," she said. "Sometimes the ones on campus are a little harder to prove. It's because of alcohol for sure."
Help and Education
The number of rapes reported to Lawrence Police has increased from 27 in 2000 to 49 in both 2003 and 2004.
Moseley said she's seen an increase in the number of women who come forward in the last few years.
And while it is important for women to press charges against their attackers, it's more important that women know they have options and places to go if they need help, she said.
Public education about rape and sexual violence has contributed to this increase, she said.
Sexual violence education has been growing in the past 20 years, said Kathy Rose-Mockery, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center.
"More people are becoming aware and speaking up and using resources." Rose Mokery said. "Women
can't change incidents, but they can use resources."
Places like GaDuGi SafeCenter and the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center have improved teaching programs to reach more students.
For example, the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center has initiated the Sexual Violence Education and Support Service program this semester.
The program focuses on education and visits residence halls and fraternities and sororities on campus.
"Our goal is to reduce incidents in the community," Rose-Mockery said. "It's a tall order for a small program."
"I didn't know most people were raped by someone they knew," Angela said. "I want people to know it can happen. I want to inform people. It happens so often and people don't get help for it."
Both Anne and Angela said they probably would have reported their attacks to authorities had they known more about rape.
For Angela and Anne, the days are becoming easier because counseling is a part of their regular routine through Counseling and Psychological Services.
Angela said the rape is something she has come to own. It is something she makes a conscious decision to think about — and sometimes cry about.
While the rape was a horrible thing, Angela said she has grown from the experience.
Both women are working on regaining control of their lives.
It's a slow process, but they're getting though it. They both said the hardest thing was realizing the rape was not their fault.
"I never asked to get raped. I was in a normal situation," Angela said. As a result of the rape she is more conscious of who she is friends with and hardly ever lets another person make her drinks.
"I'm just more careful," Angela said. "But I'm not going to be afraid to live my life."
— Edited by Jon Ralston and Stephanie Lovett
Lawrence man breaks silence
Mark Cline has a story to tell, but no one is listening.
A woman raped the 47-year-old Lawrence resident more than 12 years ago.
He's only been vocal about the attack for a few months.
Disappointment for the soft-spoken man has sunk in. He had hoped to be a leader among rape victims — especially male victims — within the community. But if no one listens or believes him, he's not quite sure what he can do.
While not well known, or acknowledged, men can be victims of rape. One of every 10 rape victims are men, according to Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.
"From the general public perspective, it's misunderstood," Judy Parker said of male victims. "So many people are unprepared to hear about it and deal with it."
Parker, Catholic Community Services of Lawrence director and counselor, said a lot of people thought a person must be physically forced into a sexual act before it accounted for rape. Therefore, people assumed men could not be raped, especially if the perpetrator was a woman.
Rape is a crime of force, she said. Sex is the medium that it utilizes. Even forced oral sex can have the same criteria. Parker said.
It was a summer night, and like many nights, Cline was camping at Clinton Lake.
Cline considers his rape a "little rape," because the woman performed oral sex rather than intercourse.
His bike broke while he was on on a ride. He was walking back to his campsite when a car approached him.
A man and a woman were in the car.
He reluctantly accepted a ride.
The man, who was driving, told the woman to get in the back seat with Cline to help relay instructions to Cline's campsite.
She climbed in the backseat and began to undo Cline's belt buckle. He protested, but she pushed his hands to his sides and told him to relax.
Cline said he was frozen with fear as she performed oral sex on him.
The hardest part of his experience has been the lack of support from the community. Cline said.
He said his story had gotten him kicked out of stores and other places because his narrative makes people uncomfortable.
"There is a larger support for women in the community." Parker said.
It's difficult for the community and a man whose been raped to accept the male in a victim role, especially when the rapist is a woman, she said.
It was hard for Cline to realize he was a victim. It was embarrassing, and he was ashamed his body reacted to the rape. After all, he's been physically intimate with only one woman his entire life.
He said he was afraid people would believe him less if they knew it felt good to him.
"The orgasm was very pleasurable," he said. "When I first reported that, I lied."
"Basically the aftermath was an intense battle in my brain," he said.
Parker said the reaction among male and female victims of rape were generally the same and should be treated similarly.
"They need to recognize that it's a trauma like other traumas," she said. "To get through it — and there will be scars — they need to get professional support."
That's why Cline is trying to tell his story. He said that he wanted other men to know it happened and that they didn't have to be ashamed about it.
"I want everybody, the public, to know what happened to me to encourage other people to tell their stories," he said.
Edited by Kendall Dix
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