From: Alina B. Klein <alinabk>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 17:15:51 -0500

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I was going to save my comments until INEXCUSABLE is released. But that won't happen until late October and I don't want Carolyn's question to hover in the shadows until then!

Carolyn asked: "how difficult a read is this for people who have been attacked? Perhaps this is too general a question, but I still think it needs to be addressed
-- what about those readers who have been raped and haven't told anyone yet?"

*(Please stop reading now if you are uncomfortable with the topic of rape.)*

As a rape survivor myself (it happened more than ten years ago) I actually did not find this book very emotionally difficult. I thought that it was interesting, and readable and perhaps true on some levels. But I don't think that the book should be required reading for rape survivors, or even rapists themselves whom you might think would benefit from seeing how this boy makes himself believe that he did not commit rape, and I'll tell you why

INEXCUSABLE, to me, is the story of a mentally disturbed and universally dissociated young man. He seems pretty normal at the beginning of the book (very much like your average rapist is) but in the end you find out that he is in severe denial about every aspect of his life in a chillingly looney-tunes type of way. You end up thinking that he's just plain crazy and not that he's a normal kid who has somehow justified the rape in his own mind.



The book portrayed an interesting psychological perspective, but I think that it would have been more interesting if Chris Lynch had explored the societal?liefs and behaviors that might lead boys to think that it's "okay" and even macho to try to cajole, pressure or force sex upon girls.



The statistics, after all, are staggering: "1 in every 12 men admits to committing acts that meet legal definitions of rape"--(from "I Never Called it Rape--The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting and Surviving Date and Acquaintance rape".)



In the same book quoted above, one man who was interviewed said this:



"I identified myself as an acquaintance rapist. I didn't knock anybody down, I didn't say: 'If you don't do this I'll twist your arm,'...but I can remember perfectly overpowering people in that persuasive way that we [men] do: We lay on top of you (the woman) and you can't move. I can remember lying and creating all kinds of scenarios and never asking for consensual sex. You know, not caring what happens the next day or having that person feel uncomfortable or unsettled about what had happened."



The man quoted here went on to speak to many colleges and men's groups about this. He recognized and understood the "mythology and everything else that we [men] are all about." and began working to dispel it.



I wish that Chris Lynch had gone into more of this "mythology". He did bring in peer pressure and machismo and other things teens experience and can relate to. But I think that the fact that the main character, instead of trying to come up with ways to justify what he'd done or make excuses about his actions or the girl's
(which behavior boys might recognize in their own lives), he changed his negative memories completely to fit the "reality" he'd created in his own mind.



Therefore, I don't think that many boys will end up relating to the main character and comparing his choices and actions to their own: because they're not crazy like he was. I think it's too bad. It was a missed opportunity.



I don't know if that answered your question, Carolyn. I definitely went off on a tangent. Even though I didn't find it emotionally difficult, I'm sure that it might be for a girl who's recently been raped. And some of the plot points might be triggers to someone who was attacked in a similar location or under similar circumstances of being lured away because they felt sorry for someone.



I'll be interested to hear if people agree or disagree with my interpretation.



Best,



Alina Klein





  





  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Carolyn Gabb
  To: Subscribers of ccbc-net
  Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 3:23 PM
  Subject: [ccbc-net] inexcusable


  I have been reading with interest the comments about the Lynch book. I was raped in the late 70's and have learned
  to accomodate my feelings to my life. Three men picked me up off the street...
  and the doctor on campus didn't come in because he was too busy. I spoke soon after at the health
  service and policies there have changed drastically, thank heavens.

  But the scars are permanent. I can remember all too well several people
  asking in recent years -- "Aren't you over it yet?"

  I have been very proactive in talking to others, including to speaking to college students on their "Take Back the Night"
  programs. Only by being open about this part of my life can I cope with this horror.
  Now, my question is: how difficult a read is this for people who have been attacked? Perhaps this is too
  general a question, but I still think it needs to be addressed -- what about those readers who have been
  raped and haven't told anyone yet?

  Carolyn G.
Received on Mon 25 Jul 2005 05:15:51 PM CDT