Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town - Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer's most recent book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, published in 2015, helped this reader (your humble book reviewer) to partially understand the rape culture that has gripped university and college campuses across North America. I first came across the term "rape culture" in 2014 when the University of Ottawa suspended its hockey team after a complaint of sexual assault involving some of its players. The accusation was commenced while the team was playing against Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. A week later, a student union rep got on the radio and started ranting against the "rape culture" in universities across Canada.

My first reaction was to laugh. "How could there be a rape culture at schools? That is absurd," I protested. On my Masters swim team -- which happens to practice at the U of O -- some of us who work out in the afternoons mocked the notion of a rape culture: "Oh, I am sooooo scared," I play acted, holding my curled fingers to my teeth, as my team mates laughed. "Please, please, don't rape me!"
    Then I was slapped in the face, metaphorically of course. Watching Dr. Phil one afternoon -- yes, I am a big fan --  I found myself eating crow as he interviewed a crying, remorseful Cory Batey, one of two 21-year-old Vanderbilt University football players convicted of raping an unconscious female student in the men's dorm. (The two players were granted a new trial due to jury bias and released from prison on bail in June this year.)
    It took very little internet research to learn that sexual assault just by football players in colleges and universities is up an astonishing 300% in only the last five years.
    Jessica Luther, an American freelance journalist, activist and feminist sports enthusiast, is writing a book on the college rape culture, specifically sexual assault and college football. She blogs on "Power Forward: At the Intersection of Sports and Culture," where she is putting together a wide-ranging list of all known and reported rapes on campuses in the U.S. that are related to college football. She explains: "I am trying to create as comprehensive a list as I can. A big part of the reason for this is that whenever you try to argue that there are patterns in behavior in our society, people demand that you give them every single last example before they will even begin to listen to your argument.... So I’m being pre-emptive on that count."
    According to her list so far, in all of the 1970s, there were about five college football-related sexual assaults. In the 1980s, there were nine such rapes. In the 1990s, there were 27. From 2000 to 2009, 25. Between 2010 and March of this year -- in less than half the time -- there were 43. And remember, these numbers are only related to college football. Statistically, college football players cannot represent, among entire student bodies, the only perpetrators involved in this exponential increase in crime.
    Krakauer's book jacket notes that the U.S. federal justice department investigated some 350 sexual assaults in Missoula, which the local police had dealt with, between January 2008 and May 2012. Unfortunately, the narrative continues, most of the assaults were mishandled by both local and university authorities, a typical scenario throughout the country. Moreover, the justice department released a report stating that about 110,000 women between 18 and 24 are raped in the U.S. each year.
   When the blinds are lifted, it is clear that rape can be a messy, complicated and controversial circumstance, that is, when it does not involve a child or a stranger. In such cases where rape is committed by someone well-known to the adult victim, chaos looms large, involving such factors as alcohol and drugs, misunderstood cues, aggressive flirting, instant changes of hearts and minds, reckless acts, and sometimes brazen lies.
    In the book, Krakauer is very much the victims' advocate. It is clear as day, though, that each woman he focuses on who was raped behaved in an unadvisable, even foolhardy, way. But sadly, their behaviour is perfectly acceptable among most young people today. Indeed, in each case, the young woman's reckless actions certainly lead to the dangerous situation. For instance, one victim agreed to sleep in the same bed as the alleged rapist, and both were highly intoxicated. She said she expected no intimacy, but her bed mate disagreed, insisting there was consent.
    Of course, irresponsible behaviour or not, it's totally wrong to sexually assault a person. I adopted the mindset that the girls were faultless, and thus I was able to happily devour Krakaur's marvellously written book just the way it was presented. As we know from his previous books -- especially Into Thin Air, his account of treks and deaths on Mount Everest in 1996 -- he has a way of totally captivating the reader. In Missoula, in his exceptional prose, he meticulously details the specific rapes by different young men that took place in and around the University of Montana, including one against a childhood friend by a Grizzly linebacker from the beloved U of M team, one against an acquaintance and one by the Grizzlies' star quarterback against an almost girlfriend. No stone is left unturned, both before and after the rape incidents. The trial at the end of the book will have you biting your nails while you teeter at the edge of your seat.

As with most books on Lynne Like's, you can get this on Amazon.ca.