Brunch + Book

Look who I saw today!

It's been approximately a million years since I have gotten together with the Russkie. I was buried under homework and grading. Then she was in Russia. Then I was sick. Then she was still in Russia. Then she was sick. Then I was hyperventilating over finals. Then she didn't feel good. GAW! Finally!

Nothing like a brunch at Snooze to help us catch up! There were 1,000 people there yet the wait was only about half an hour so, you know, that's doable.

Why does champagne mixed with orange juice just automatically make everything better??

 

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In other news entirely, here's my latest book review.

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

First of all, let me just say that if you've never read anything by Krakauer, you need to! He writes true accounts of compelling events and the man (1) does his research, (2) manages to arrange lots of facts and details into a compelling and intriguing narrative, and (3) writes about controversial topics while getting his point across in a non-sensationalistic way, which I really appreciate.

If you're new to Krakauer, start with Into Thin Air (about a disaster on Mt. Everest in the 1990's), move on to Into the Wild (about a young man who disappeared into the Alaska wild and died mysteriously) and then read Under the Banner of Heaven (about all kinds of historical and modern funkiness that has happened with Mormons in Utah).

Missoula is the compilation of all kinds of rapes and sexual assaults that have happened to college-aged girls on the UM campus. Sounds uplifting, right? :) The thing is, rape is the only crime in which people question the victim. If someone ran into a police department, yelling that they had been burglarized, the police would not start questioning them about why their door may have been unlocked, or are they absolutely sure the assailant hit them? Yes, even though there are bruises? Etc.

I was drawn to this book because of the Feminist Thought class and all the theories we have discussed about woman as a social construct and the absolute importance of a woman's body belonging only to her and that she is able to maintain control of it and set boundaries. Krakauer includes a lot of research about the psychological effects of sexual assault that may cause the victim to act in ways that people don't understand and therefore scrutinize. What do you mean she didn't scream? Why did she wait 2 months to go to the police? Why didn't she tell her parents? Why does she say "I think I was raped" instead of "I know for sure that I was raped"? Etc.

The book includes references to women crying wolf as well, but did you know that false rape cases make up under 2% of all rape cases reported in the U.S.? And that most women - a crazy percentage of assault cases, like 80-90 ish percent - never report them? Which means that of the thousands of cases that are reported each year, there are literally thousands upon thousands that are not reported at all?

The statistics and the psychology blew my mind.

Caveat: The book may be disturbing to read. In my opinion, it's worth it. I think women need to know this information, men need to know it, and moms (of girls and boys) need to read it.

Krakauer rocks.