A Feminist Repudiation of the Rape Shield Laws

Abstract

The federal government and most states currently enforce some version of a so-called rape shield law. Rape shield laws generally bar defense attorneys from inquiring into a rape complainant’s sexual history. Michigan adopted the nation’s first rape shield law in 1974, after an unlikely coalition of feminists and “law and order” politicians organized a national consciousness-raising about the frequency of rape and the rarity of prosecution and conviction. This Article examples the original justification for the rape shield laws and unearths flaws that have only deepened in light of legal and social developments. It concludes that feminists guaranteed the failure of a stated long-term goal – changing perceptions about female sexuality – by advancing empirically unsound and legally outdated arguments in order to win the short-term victory of passing the rape shield laws.

Keywords: rape, rape shield laws, jury, gender