The End of Rape

In my classes recently, we have been talking about rape a lot. In my Literature and Human Rights course, for example, we're reading Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden, which is about a woman confronting her rapist and torturer after fifteen years of silence. Just tonight, for my American Realism and Modernism class, I was reading from Frank Norris' McTeague, and in the scene a dentist is overcome with a desire to rape his female patient once she is sedated. 

One of the most important discussions of rape happened in my feminist philosophy class. Rape is a real issue that women everywhere continue to face. In a before class assignment, my professor had us write responses to questions about rape. One of those questions was: How would your life be different if rape were suddenly to end? Would your answer be any different if you were of the opposite gender?

I thought about this question a lot. The obvious answer seemed to be that as a man I have almost nothing to gain from the end of rape; only as a woman would my life be radically altered. But this answer felt uncomfortable. This couldn't be the end of the story. 

So here's what I believe instead: I refuse to accept that the end of rape is only good for some people. I hate the thought that, as a man, my life won't improve by the end of rape. I have a few friends who are rape survivors, and they mean the world to me. I love them for the friends they are to me and for the beautiful people they are on the whole. When I watch them suffer with the memories of their trauma, when I watch their families be torn apart, it hurts me so much. As much as I hate how I feel, I hate even more how they must feel. I hate that these people go through something that nobody deserves to go through. So for me, the end of rape would mean I get to watch my friends not hurt anymore. It would mean I wouldn't have to worry as much about my female friends when they are out alone at night or in a place far from home. The end of rape would give my friends a better life, and that would make me a happier person in return.

The statistics for rape are startlingly high; the chances that you know a survivor already are high in return. As such, couldn't we all benefit from the end of rape?