Rape Crisis HOT LETTER

Cleveland Rape Crisis Center 3201 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland 44104 391-3912 (answered 24 hrs., 7 days)

THE RAPE CRISIS CENTER

VELAND

celebrates its 4th anniversary with

VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION DAY

FEBRUARY 5, 1978 5:30 pm

Three of Cups, 12814 Buckeye Road

Matron Tickets: $10.00

RAPE

CRCC Volunteers: Free

Your purchase of one Matron ticket pays for dinner for you and 1 volunteer M.C.-Sandy Johnson-Public Affairs Director, TV-8 the first annual Big Button Award

good food cash bar

TEST YOUR RAPE I.Q............

Are you able to identify a RAPE incident? Someone's life you know may depend on it. Below are seven case situations which may or may not be defined as rape. Test your Rope I.Q.

Woman No. 1 is walking to her car in a parking lot after finishing work at 11 p.m. A man she does not know comes out of the shadows, beats her up, and drags her to a far corner of the parking lot. There he has sexual relations with her. RAPE() NOT RAPE ( )

Woman No. 2 meets a man in a bar and after some conversation, agrees when he offers to take her home. He, rather than taking her to her apartment, takes her to a deserted road. Although she resists, he has sexual relations with her. RAPE ( ) NOT RAPE ( )

Woman No. 3 has been dating the same man for three months. They are at the man's apartment where they are kissing and embracing. After some period of time, the woman states that she wants to stop. The man continues and after a struggle, he has sexual relations with her. RAPE() NOT RAPE ( )

Woman No. 4 lives alone. She awakens during the middle of the night to see a man she does not know entering her bedroom window. He pulls a knife and tells her to do as he says and he will not harm her. He approaches the bed and tells her not to resist. She doesn't and he has sexual relations with her. RAPE() NOT RAPE ( )

Woman No. 5 answers the doorbell to find a man who says he is a telephone repairman checking service in the area. She lets him in and he slaps her, forces her into the bedroom, and has sexual relations with her.

RAPE() NOT RAPE ( )

Woman No. 6's boss has made repeated advances to her and she has always said no. One night he asks her to work late and just before they are ready to leave, he forces her to have sexual relations with him.

RAPE() NOT RAPE ( )

Woman No. 7 has been dating a respected bachelor. One night he makes advances to her, and she says no. He continues and has sexual relations with her. Afterwards he apologizes, saying he didn't know what he was doing. As she is leaving, he tucks a $20 bill in her purse. RAPE() NOT RAPE ( )

The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center identifies all the above situations as instances of rape. "Rape," in the words of the hospital systems coordinator, Lorraine Schalamon, "is violent behavior expressed through sexual aggression.'

The first situation usually everyone can identify as rape. It's the BLITZ type. The rapist appears out of the blue and is unknown to the victim. A swift assault ensues.

However, the second situation is also a rape. Generally, harder to get a conviction from the courts, this CONFIDENCE rape involves trust, then a betrayal of that trust by the rapist.

This particular situation "is real common", says Ms. Schalamon. Often the man is a "regular" in the bar and people will tell the potential victim that he's an "okay" fellow. It is not until the assault is reported, evidence collected, and the case in on trial that the truth comes to light; He's done this kind of thing before.

The third woman is victimized by a SEX-STRESS situation. CRCC recognizes this as a rape. But the courts do not. As Schalamon says, the woman is still "out of control". And there is a struggle. The woman's initial consent allows for a sexually conducive atmosphere that turns into either perversion or violence.

If this woman were to call CRCC, a counsellor would talk with her. They realize the trauma for her is just as great as for the BLITZ rape victim. And a legal advocate is provided for her as for anyone if she decided to prosecute.

The fourth situation, again, is the BLITZ, blatant

rape.

The fifth woman trusts that the man is who he says he is. This again is the BLITZ rape with CONFIDENCE rape overtones.

The sixth and seventh women, just as the third woman, know the assailants. The CRCC is working

CENTER

CRISIS

prizes skits

more and more with the woman and sometimes the man involved in this type cf case. They, too, are CONFIDENCE rapes. The reason it won't stand in court, according to Education Coordinator, Jeanne Van Atta, is because the woman is hesitant to report this to the police at first, thus lowering her credibility later in court.

But more women are starting to report the crime now. Center Coordinator Lynn Hammond says that police are more sensitive to the problem than they were in the past. In fact, the Cleveland Police Department recently increased its sex crime unit from three members to seven. Hammond officially instructs at the Cleveland Police Academy on crisis intervention, and the management of rape cases. So, although rape is on the increase, more so than any other crime in Cleveland, according to Schalamon, it is also being reported more often and handled better than before. Of the 361 cases reported to CRCC last year, 75% of the victims received hospital care, 65% reported the incident to the police, 34% arrests were made, and 5% of the reported cases resulted in a conviction for rape, with a 4% conviction handed down to assailants on a lesser charge.

Reporting a rape directly following the incident, CRCC staff believes, improves the possibility of the assailant s conviction on the charge of rape. says Schalamon, most people don't even know what rape is.

Now

you

know.

Yet.

Beryl Khabeer

Recommended Related Reading: Against Rope, by Andra Medea and Kathleen Thompson

The Politics of Rape, by Diana Russell Against Our Will: Men, Women & Rape, by Susan Brownmiller

Woman Hating, by Adrea Dworkin

Volunteer Training

Starts

Sunday, January 22nd

What She Wants/January, 1978/page13