One last book

This post is on the final book that was shared as part of our lead up to writing an academic book review on our respective books. 

Perfectly Broken by Amber Mauldin, published in 2014

• Book focuses on dealing with rape, not the rape itself
• The rape act was in the background
• Rape was a stranger rape
• She asked for directions
• Perpetrator told her he would give her a ride
• He got her into the car
• He put her in a headlock, said he had a gun
• He raped her and then left her stranded
• She described rape as thing that led up to a trial, coping, aftermath
• She falls back on faith as a recovery method
• Her writing is general, sterilized
• Seemed isolated from own experience
• An exchange student in Spain helped give her space to begin realizations
• Rapist was arrested, 101 year sentence (He raped multiple women)
• He was sentenced to 66 years just with her case (26 years for abduction, 40 years for rape)
• Strong religious focus
• Didn't want to be seen as damaged, but referred to self that way
• Focus on telling younger brother - disperses narrator
• October 8, 1998 - day of the rape
• Seeks help from house where she was stranded
• Officers make her tell her story 4 times
• Described rapist as "vicious Black man"
• Described officer as "kind Black man"
• Long process of giving evidence
• Had boyfriend at the time, they broke up
• ID's rapist from photo
• Lacked people she could talk to, until Spain

There are multiple ways that this book connects with Lucky by Alice Sebold.  This was a stronger rape that involved some sort of threat of violence with an object.  In addition, her rapist was convicted.  She also sought out speaking about her rape with a family member--much in the same way that Alice tried to discuss her rape with her parents and sister. 

Reflecting on the books that we've discussed in class, there are noticeable gaps between the events and the publication of the books.  This could be related to inability to focus solely on writing a book, but this could also be because the targets needed this time in order to process what had happened to them.  We had a discussion on what other experiences that take a similar time line to process.  Some of those experiences brought up were death of a loved one, war, and any type of abuse. 

We also spoke about the difference between an acquaintance vs. stranger rape.  With an acquaintance rape, the target put more guilt on themselves.  Perhaps because they feel responsibility that since they knew their rapist they should have seen the rape occurring to them.  In contrast, with a stranger rape, the target labels themselves as broken or damaged goods.  There is also a sense of general social betrayal.  There was trust with Alice walking through the park at night (what could happen to her?).  There was trust with Amber (a stranger wouldn't hurt her by giving her a ride to a destination). 

This led to questions such as "How do we characterize targets of rape?" "How can they be re-characterized?" Do we change the assumptions about the target such as, "what did she do to elicit the rape?"  What are our social stigmas, including our social stigmas with sex?  Like Jackson said, if we can't talk about sex, we can't talk about sexual assault.  These questions may not be answerable, but require that we consider this perspectives.