Real Rape [Paperback]

Susan Estrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1988

Many men believe that they can force women to have sex against there will and that it isn't rape--at least, not if the man knows the women and doesn't beat her up or wield a wepon. The law's casual treatment of such rape cases is the subject of this pioneering book, which is both a powerful expose of the often shocking facts and a trenchantly written call for reform.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The title refers to acquaintance rape, which the author, a Harvard Law School professor, maintains has frequently been characterized by the courts and the general public as not "real rape." Estrich traces the legal history of rape by a non-stranger. Her unremarkable findings, that acquaintance rape has been and continues to be reported less often than stranger rape, to be prosecuted less frequently, and to result in conviction less often, are stated and restated throughout this very short bookonly about 100 pages are devoted to the text, the balance consisting of indexes and notes. She makes an articulate plea for change in the law and its application so that it will no longer be the rape victim who has to prove her innocence. Recommended for larger law collections. Anne Twitchell, Sch. of Architecture Library, University of Maryland, College Park
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Real Rape is a vital book for judges, lawyers, law students, legislators, police officers, and those working in rape crisis centers...Estrich's writing is calm, logical, eloquent, and often scathingly ironic. On its own terms, her book is valuable for its untangling of the various threads of illogic that have formed the centuries-old web that has prevented justice from being served.
--Catherine Foster (Christian Science Monitor )

A powerful indictment of the sexism, double standards and institutionalized distrust of women that lie behind the legal system's refusal to treat 'simple' rape (the legal term for sexual assault in which the victim knows her assailant and no weapon or overt physical violence is used) as a real crime. This is an important book, well researched and tightly argued...Estrich addresses the issues directly, cogently and with the sense of urgency and outrage the seriousness of the crime deserves.
--K. Kaufmann (San Francisco Examiner )

No one will ever again be able to address the legal problems of rape without taking Susan Estrich's landmark work into account. It is a model of how to think about a perplexing legal issue without losing track either of logic or of human experience.
--Laurence Tribe

A persuasive argument for legal change.
--Carole Gould (New York Times Book Review )

Real Rape is a powerful book. It reveals and empowers women's experiences in law. If it succeeds in creating a drive for the revision of rape law, it may enable women to get out from under the 'unfair struggle with the forces of perception.'
--Kim Lane Scheppele (University of Chicago Law Review )

[A] brave, simply focused and powerfully reasoned book.
--Christina Robb (Boston Globe )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (October 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674749448
• ISBN-13: 978-0674749443
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #720,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the Legal System Victimizes Women Who Say No, August 12, 2000

By 

Tertiary Thought (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Real Rape (Paperback)

This is a great book. A very factual analysis of laws pertaining to rape in the United States. Estrich points out that the male dominated legal system is reluctant to classify rape as violence, because their idea of violence is based on the sort of things that happen to men. Getting beaten up is violence, rape is just sex.

Estrich talks about many cases of women who attempted to take a rape case to court and lost because, for example, they didn't physically fight back for fear of being hurt by a much larger assailant, or because they were too scared to scream. Yet the legal system is all too ready to say that these terrified and victimized women "consented" -- to sexual attacks by strangers!

This is a powerful book, pointing out the need for revision of rape law.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the best analysis of rape law available, January 9, 2003

By 

J. Crowley "mmcjprof" (NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Rape (Paperback)

Do not let the anti-feminist trolls put you off this book. It is not a polemic, and has no political agenda except to argue for long overdue changes in rape law. Estrich provides a detailed history of the development of rape law, showing the political and philosophical roots of a body of law that put the responsibility for controlling rape firmly on the shoulders of girls and women. As her review of the changes in rape laws shows, the changes instigated by women who knew the reality of rape were only partially successful in their goal of eliminating the underlying biases of the old laws.

This book should be read by anyone, male or female, who intends to go into a career in criminal justice or social services. I would also hope that legislators, who are charged with writing and revising laws, use this book to inform themselves about the toll that the old laws created for victims, the families of victims, and ultimately for society as a whole.

I have used this book in my graduate classes in criminal justice, and students respond to it enthusiastically.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acquaintance rape is more real than stranger rape!, September 27, 2005

By 

Chela (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Real Rape (Paperback)

Excellent, important work. Far too many people still believe that most perpetrators of rape are strangers. Incest, date rape and acquaintance rape have not yet been recognized by the public as the daily reality of all women and men. This work inspired me to read Andrea Dworkin's INTERCOURSE. Thank you to all those who are brave enough to read, talk and educate others about REAL RAPE. My eternal gratitude goes out to Susan Estrich for her courage to tell it like it is!