I am reposting this blog entry that originally appeared on October 16, 2016. I have no reason for reposting it, other than I think it’s an interesting piece. Bear in mind that it was written almost five years ago and I haven’t changed the content, so some comments may be outdated.
I just read a very disturbing article about a lawsuit that was just filed against a Jehovah’s Witnesses church in Weber County, Utah. The lawsuit was filed by a woman who claims that she was repeatedly raped by a church instructor and JW officials later her made her listen to a recording of one of her assaults. The woman seeks a jury trial and $300,000 to cover medical care, legal fees, and general damages.
According to the article I read, the woman may or may not have gone to the police after she was allegedly raped by a church instructor. The Salt Lake Tribune states that members of the JW faith are encouraged to bring problems to church elders rather than involving outsiders. Having done my share of reading about Jehovah’s Witnesses and having had a relative who was once a member, I can affirm that this attitude is prevalent among people involved with the Witnesses.
In this case, the assaults against the woman allegedly took place after she went out with the instructor on a date. He took her cell phone from her and said she had to kiss him on the cheek to get it back. She refused, so he kicked her out of his car. Later, he came back for her and the assaults apparently escalated from there. When the assaults were brought to the attention of JW officials, they began an investigation… but it was not an investigation against the perpetrator. Instead, the young woman was investigated. Below is a quote from the article linked above:
In April 2008, the Roy church formed a judicial committee to investigate whether the girl engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior — “a serious sin” in the religion. During the meeting that included her mother and stepfather, the lawsuit states, church leaders played a recording of one of the purported rapes, obtained from the instructor, for four to five hours “repeatedly stopping and starting the audio tape … suggesting that she consented to the sexual behavior.”
The woman alleges that she was raped several times. Realizing the patriarchal culture within the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s possible that she felt like she had to do what this man said. She was likely taught to do whatever the church officials told her to do. As the attacker was apparently her church instructor, she probably felt that she had no choice. It really is a shame that people continue to get and stay involved in religious organizations that promote this kind of thinking and do nothing to empower everyone, not just the men.
This situation among the JWs in Utah sounds an awful lot like the recent hullabaloo about Brigham Young University’s policy of bringing rape victims up on Honor Code violations. Women who dared to report rape to the police or University officials were getting in trouble for putting themselves in situations where they might be assaulted. For the record, I think these kinds of policies are disgusting and they keep our society in the Dark Ages.
Of course people– male or female– who choose to sexually assault others should be held responsible for their actions. At the same time, I don’t think it’s wrong for people to look out for themselves. I wish these churches and universities like BYU would do more to promote personal safety outside of the religious sense. I wish they wouldn’t simply tell women to protect their virginity and purity because that’s supposedly what God wants. They should be empowering them to protect themselves because they don’t want to be victims of crimes.
It’s interesting that this subject came on my radar this morning. I just saw a Facebook post by 11th Principle: Consent about how rape culture develops. Although I would absolutely never say that it’s okay to rape someone, I do think it pays to be careful. One young woman made a comment about how she’d gotten very drunk at a party and was raped while she was unconscious. She wrote that it was wrong that she was raped, but she shared some responsibility in the situation by drinking so much that she passed out. She got a lot of indignant comments from people who said that no part of the rape was her fault at all; she bore absolutely no responsibility toward the crime perpetrated against her.
At the risk of pissing off a lot of people, I will go on record as saying that I agree that rape is never a victim’s fault. However, I do think that everyone– males and females– should take some responsibility for their personal safety. One of the comments I read on the 11 Principle: Consent Facebook page was this:
– if you went for a walk, but someone chose to stab you, should you have stayed in?
-if you decided to go for a drive, but someone drove into your car, is it your fault?
-if you went for a swim, but someone drowned you, was it your fault because you put yourself in a position where you could be drowned?
My response is that in the above examples, precautions could have been taken to lessen the chance of harm or mitigate the harm that did occur. For instance, when you take a walk, you choose areas where there are people around. You carry a cell phone that is charged and ready in case of emergency. You tell someone where you’re going. You might learn self defense. These are things you can do to lessen the chance that you’ll be a victim. You might still end up being victimized, but you will have taken steps to lessen the chance of it.
If you go for a drive, you wear a seatbelt (even though I hate them). You make sure your car is safe to drive. You don’t drink alcohol or take drugs before getting behind the wheel. You make sure you are well rested. You might still have an accident, but you’ve done your part to lessen the probability.
If you go for a swim, you make sure you can actually swim. If you can’t, you learn how and stay out of the deep end until you have the appropriate skills. You take someone with you when you swim. You use floatation devices if you need them. You might still drown, but the chances are not as high as they could be.
When it comes to assaults, sexual or otherwise, I think the same responsibilities apply. Don’t get so fucked up that you black out. Don’t go to parties alone, especially if you don’t know the people hosting them. If you do get assaulted, it’s certainly not your fault. But my guess is that you will learn from the assault and take steps to be sure it doesn’t happen again. It sounded to me like the young woman who said she shared in the responsibility of her attack had simply learned from it. She’d made a mistake by getting so intoxicated. I have made the same mistakes myself on a number of occasions. There, but by the grace of God, go I.
Is it ever your fault if you get assaulted? No. The person who chooses to perpetrate a crime is always the guilty party. But the point is, there are things you can do to lessen the chance that you will be a victim. I don’t think it’s wrong to acknowledge that. I don’t think that line of thinking promotes “rape culture”. I applaud the young woman who realizes that she was wrong to get so drunk that she passed out. At the same time, I think it’s sad that there are shitty people out there who would take advantage of a woman so distressed.
I’m reading the article about the lawsuit against the JWs just as everyone’s talking about Donald Trump’s infamous “locker room” talk. I have friends of every stripe opining on a potential U.S. president talking about grabbing women by their pussies. I have a number of very religious relatives criticizing Hillary Clinton because– well, probably because she’s a female liberal. These same supposedly God fearing people see no problem with voting for a man who brags about forcing himself on women and grabbing their crotches. But if a woman gets assaulted, instead of being outraged, they look for ways to blame her. I don’t think that’s right. But I do think there are things people can and should do to protect themselves.
As for the woman suing the JWs, I don’t think it’s wrong that she’s filed a lawsuit. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of a pervert ending up in power. It’s not just the JWs, either. Lots of churches empower creeps who then victimize their supposed underlings. I’ve read about plenty of religious organizations who don’t do enough to keep bad people from powerful positions. I think they should be held accountable when these things happen. Again, from the article:
A leader from the congregation apparently warned the girl’s parents in November 2006 that the instructor — who previously attended church sessions in Ogden and Oregon — was a “bad kid” who had “engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with a female member of the Clearfield congregation.” The plaintiff says that warning wasn’t enough.
How did the guy end up a “church instructor” if church leaders knew he was a “bad kid”? One has to wonder. At the same time, isn’t it crazy that someone like Donald Trump, who openly admits to being a pervy creep– even if it was privately– might end up leading the country? No wonder we have issues with so-called “rape culture”.