As most people know, Kobe Bryant will soon stand trial in a
Colorado court for allegedly raping a young woman. The trial of
public opinion, however, is well underway.
Much about the case has already been said by almost everyone.
Still, what strikes me the most about this whole fiasco is not the
fact that its importance is overblown (and it is very much
overblown), but that I have heard many people, on TV interviews and
in person, defending Bryant in a particular way. They seem to say
something like, “Kobe just isn’t that kind of
guy.” Or, “But he seems like too nice of a person to do
something like that.” A friend of mine said, “He
didn’t do it because he doesn’t need to rape girls;
he’s loaded and famous.”
And this is where I get confused. A statement like, “He
isn’t that kind of guy” implies you know what kind of
guy he is. But you don’t. No one does, aside from people who
actually associate with him, like his friends, his family and maybe
Phil Jackson. But most likely, you do not know him. You’ve
seen him on KCAL during Laker games, or in Sprite commercials, or
in news reports, or if you’re lucky enough, maybe
you’ve seen him in person at the Staples Center. These
experiences do not equate to knowing the character of a person. You
don’t know Bryant any more than I know David Letterman or
Bart Simpson. And I’d be willing to bet that those who
don’t think rape is in his character didn’t think
adultery was in his character, either, and he has admitted to
adultery.
I have no idea if he did rape the woman. But if he is found
guilty, I hope they throw the book at him. Should it come to light
that he did rape her, then he should go to prison for as long as
the law will allow. Rape is the worst crime. It is so horrible
because it is so unlike any other crime. It is not like robbing
someone, or regular assault, or even murder. It is a sexual crime
that assaults and essentially robs the victim of personal
dignity.
This entire incident and the enormous media attention lavished
upon it expose our culture’s views on rape. Perhaps people
don’t want to believe Bryant raped a woman (regardless of
whether it actually happened). Some people will say things like,
“Well, what did she expect? She went into a hotel room with
Kobe Bryant. She can’t go in and then all of a sudden say
no.” Bryant claims he and the woman had consensual sex.
Others may say, “She was asking for it by choosing to go into
the room with him.”
Statements like the preceding ones reflect a larger problem
within the American society. Nobody “asks” to be raped.
Rape is always a crime, regardless of whether two people are drunk
and “things get out of hand,” or if there is
misunderstanding, or if someone jumps out of the bushes and drags a
woman screaming into his car (although only 10 percent of rapes
happen in this manner). No matter how dumb of a situation people
may put themselves in, they are never asking to be victims of a
crime.
Attitudes in this country regarding rape have a long way to go.
Statistics are depressing; some studies say that as many as one in
six American women will be the victim or rape or attempted rape in
their lifetime, and the U.S. Department of Justice says a woman is
raped every two minutes in America. An even more appalling
statistic: 66 percent of rape is committed by someone the victim
knows, called acquaintance rape. Maybe the worst statistic is that
only about 6 percent of rapists, or one in 16, will spend even one
day in jail for their crime. And despite these grim numbers, the
United States is still one of the few places in which rape is
aggressively prosecuted, albeit not perfectly.
What is it that causes rape? How can it continue to occur so
frequently? Simply put, rapists were raised poorly. Excluding (but
not excusing) those rapists who are mentally ill, rape is often the
product of bad parenting. Mothers and fathers must raise their boys
to be men. If a boy sees that his father loves and respects his
mother, and knows his mother loves him, it seems less likely to me
that he will one day become a rapist.
But, what, if anything, went wrong with Bryant and this girl? Is
it that his father never taught him to respect women, or that he
had a hateful relationship with his mother? Is this girl simply
lying to make a quick buck? Was she contributing to her own
(alleged) victimization by going into a hotel room with Bryant? I
doubt we’ll ever know the exact answers to these questions.
One thing, however, is certain: The way this society handles rape
has a lot of room for improvement.
Raimundo is an economics and history student.