Jan 07 2013
Katie Buckland Reflects on Rape Culture at Home and Abroad
The brutal gang rape in Delhi, India of a 23 year old woman who died of her injuries continues to generate protests in India and internationally. With the permission of her family, Indian media have now revealed that her name was Jyoti Singh Pandey.
While US commentators report on the abysmal state of Indian women, American women also face extremely high rates of rape and sexual assault, and antiquated rape laws still remain on the books, making justice elusive for rape victims.
For example, right here in Los Angeles this past Friday a three judge Appeals Court panel reversed a rape conviction after learning that the woman who was raped was not married. The judges cited a law put onto the books in 1872 which states that it is only rape if the rapist is pretending to be someone’s husband and tricks the woman into having sex. Therefore if the rape victim is unmarried, according to this antiquated law, sexual assaults against her are not considered rape.
While the use of this 19th century law to protect a rapist is shocking, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has just called it “arcane,” vowing to work with the state legislature to revise it.
On January 7, 2013, Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar interviewed Katie Buckland, Executive Director of the California Women’s Law Center.
Watch a video of the interview here:
Bipasha Shom recorded this interview.
One Response to “Katie Buckland Reflects on Rape Culture at Home and Abroad”
Rape of women continues unabated. I remember years ago participating in a few “Take Back the Night” marches. I stopped going because it felt like the marches had no impact- they weren’t even covered by the mainstream papers. I should have found an alternative way to challenge this reality, but as a rape victim myself, I didn’t want my life to become defined by this event. But still, every time I see and hear about this, I get sick. Will things NEVER change for women?