Equal Writes

Photo from SarahDeer's Flickr Photostream

by Jillian Hewitt

The New York Times has a tragic story about a woman who was raped by a man who “thought it was invited” because of an ad on Craigslist.  The woman’s ex-boyfriend, Jebidiah Stipe, apparently fabricated an advertisement that read “Need a real aggressive man with no concern for women” and then continued to have e-mail correspondence with the perpetrator in which he claimed that the woman had “a rape fantasy and wanted to be assaulted.”  The advertisement was reported by the victim to the Sheriff’s Department, and it was eventually taken down—but it was too late.  It had already caught the (perverse) attention of Ty McDowell, who contacted the e-mail address that was given in the ad.  He showed up at the woman’s house, raped her at knifepoint, and left her bound on the floor afterwards.

This case, as perverse and strange and horrendous as it is, isn’t unique.  The rise of Craigslist and the availability of anonymity in general that the Internet provides has created new problems with regard to sexual assault.  Not only is it easier for rapists to find victims—their personal information may be published online, their Facebook status may give away their whereabouts—it is also more difficult to assign blame.  In this case, for instance, the actual rapist is claiming that he thought he was invited, and since in his mind he was fulfilling a “rape fantasy,” he is not actually at fault for raping the woman.  On the other hand it becomes difficult to assign blame to the ex-boyfriend, who can simply deny that he fabricated the advertisement and maintained correspondence with the rapist.

This particular case also brings up the issue of “rape fantasy.”  I’ve certainly never met a woman who fantasizes about rape—though I’m not saying none exist, necessarily—but let’s consider a man who would be willing to act out such “fantasies.”  What kind of person would feel comfortable knocking on a woman’s door, having violent sex with her at knifepoint, and then tying her up and leaving her on the floor—all without ever acknowledging that the whole thing was fantasy and not a “real” rape?  I fear that such a man is simply rationalizing his own desire for sexual power; he might like to rape a woman, but knows that society frowns upon it so he turns to “rape fantasies” in which he can tell himself that he is simply giving the woman what she wants.

Finally, this case brings into question the culpability of Craigslist and similar sites that allow for anonymous advertisements.  On the one hand, the website requires a small credit card fee for “adult services advertisements” as well as a working phone number, which in theory should “(raise) accountability to a point where (they) expect few illicit ads will remain,” according to their CEO.  On the other hand, though, there is no way to verify whether the person who published the advertisement is the same person who ends up receiving the “adult service.”  In the case that the site is taken advantage of by predators—as it all too often is—Craigslist not only provides easier access to victims but also makes accountability for such crimes even harder to ensure.

How should courts go about assigning legal blame in situations where one man “designs” a rape and another commits it?  How should we respond to the rising acceptability of “rape fantasies,” and how can sites like Craiglist increase the accountability of its users?