Proving Rape: Were the Legal Reforms Successful in Uprooting the Rape ‎Myths?‎

Orna Alyagon Darr, Proving Rape: Were the Reforms Successful in Uprooting ‎the Rape Myths?, 50 MISHPATIM (HU Law Review, 2020).‎

57 Pages Posted: 18 Feb 2021

See all articles by Orna Alyagon Darr

Orna Alyagon Darr

Sapir Academic College - School of Law

Date Written: December 31, 2020

Abstract

The feminist revolution inspired comprehensive legal reforms, including new ‎evidentiary arrangements whose goal was to demythicize the proof of rape. This ‎article inquires to what extent the reformed evidentiary arrangements were ‎successful in moving away from rape myths. Central examples include the notion of ‎‎“the pathological woman,” according to which an unstable mind or an immodest ‎temperament drive women to make false complaints, and the myth of “real rape,” ‎which rejects the possibility or rape unless the case fits the pattern of a violent ‎stranger who attacks a naïve and sexually inexperienced woman. These stereotypes ‎shaped the legal proof of rape in Israeli courts and made it difficult to believe the ‎complainant. ‎
The article examines the evidentiary reforms and finds that they did not manage to ‎completely uproot the rape myths but were not a complete failure either. Recent ‎court decisions explicitly express an understanding that proof of rape was previously ‎influenced by these myths. Thus, judges make explicit attempts to refute these ‎myths, and are now more inclined to find complainants credible. Nevertheless, the ‎old myths still linger. Women who claim they have been raped are still sometimes ‎labeled as pathological. However, now this image supports their credibility, being ‎perceived as a result of the sexual assault. The article also reports the growing ‎recognition of date rape cases, and an increase in the view of rape within the family ‎as ubiquitous and common. Nonetheless, the new focus on rape within the family still ‎follows the pattern of a pathological perpetrator who attacks an innocent and ‎sexually inexperienced victim.‎‏ ‏

Suggested Citation

Alyagon Darr, Orna, Proving Rape: Were the Legal Reforms Successful in Uprooting the Rape ‎Myths?‎ (December 31, 2020). Orna Alyagon Darr, Proving Rape: Were the Reforms Successful in Uprooting ‎the Rape Myths?, 50 MISHPATIM (HU Law Review, 2020).‎, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3758134

Orna Alyagon Darr (Contact Author)

Sapir Academic College - School of Law ( email )

Israel

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