Session 3: Rape and Sexual Narratives

1st Global Conference

Monday 4th May 2009 – Thursday 7th May 2009
Budapest, Hungary

Narrative Immunity: Australian Footballers’ Defence in a Sexual Assault ‘Trial by Media’
Deb Waterhouse-Watson
Monash University, Australia

In Australia in 2004, several sexual assault allegations were made against footballers from Australian Rules and rugby league, sparking an intense media debate around the culture of the leagues and the nature of relations between elite footballers and women.  None of the cases was tried in court and no Australian footballer has yet been made to stand trial for sexual assault.  This paper will unpack the media record of claim and counter-claim that stood in place of any legal adjudication.  I will demonstrate that narrative and grammatical techniques were repetitively employed to deflect blame away from footballers and onto the women involved, providing footballers with a “narrative immunity” against allegations of sexual assault.

Individual narratives do not function independently, but intersect with culturally embedded narrative patterns and stories − what I call “cultural stories” − which inform them and give them meaning.  I will consider the narratives and speech acts produced in the media, tracing the way cultural stories can be evoked through narrative and the way this connects with the grammatical distribution of blame and responsibility.  The stories I will identify are familiar from criminal rape trials: those of the “Predatory Woman”, the “Gold Digger”, the “Woman Scorned” and the “Party Girl”, sexually available women who are always consenting to sex and lie about being raped.

As the defendant’s intention to commit a crime is a key factor in determining a criminal case, grammatically assigning blame and responsibility to the complainants automatically casts doubt on an accused footballer’s intention.  I contend that the media representations constituted a de facto adjudication of the cases, and that there is a clear congruence between the outcome of the media debate and the subsequent lack of criminal charges.

Statutory Rape In Malaysia: Considering The Consent As A Defence
Mohd Esranizam bin Rapie
Faculty of Law, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

The cases of statutory rape in Malaysia have rapidly growth these few years. Among the contributory factors that lead to these cases are due to the pornographic materials which can be obtained easily in the market. These materials may include in the form of movie or film, magazines or books, and also to the extend of sex’s accessories.  Therefore the teenagers especially those underage are seriously exposed to these illicit materials. The offence of statutory rape in Malaysia is dealt under Section 375 of the Malaysian Penal Code whereas according to this section a man is said to commit rape who has sexual intercourse with a woman under the circumstances with or without her consent when she is under sixteen years of age. The accused in the case of statutory rape may include either adult or the teenage himself who is also underage. Furthermore the courts in Malaysia have strictly followed the abovesaid provision of the Penal Code regardless the defence by the accused that the victim who is underage was consented with that sexual intercourse. Therefore this paper will try to look and examine whether the consent by the victim herself should be highly considered by the court as a contributory factor towards the offence eventhough it is a statutory offence. This is because the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If the consent of the victim towards the sexual intercourse being taken into consideration by the court and can be established by the accused thus the victim also may be held jointly liable for having sexual intercourse underage. This can only be done through the amendment of such provision which to insert that having sexual intercourse during underage is strictly an offence. Finally it will help the authority to reduce the cases of teenagers having sexual intercourse during their underage and it is also to be fair with the accused to defend himself against the charge for statutory rape.