Germaine Greer Suggests Rapists Get Community Service Over Prison Time

Speaking at the Hay Literary festival in the UK this week, writer and second-wave feminist Germaine Greer made several controversial comments about how rape is currently thought of and prosecuted. During an address, Greer argued for an overhaul of how rape cases are managed, suggesting that individuals found guilty of the assault face 200 hours of community service rather than prison time.

Her reasoning? If rape carried a lesser sentence, juries would be more inclined to convict offenders. “I reckon 200 hours of community service will do — would do me,” Greer said. "I suggested a long time ago that maybe a little tattoo would be a good thing. Maybe an ‘R’ on your hand. I’d prefer it on your cheek.”

Greer went on to question the way we define rape, calling most assaults “just lazy, just careless, just insensitive. Every time a man rolls over on his exhausted wife and insists on enjoying his conjugal right, he is raping her. It will never end up in a court of law.”

“Instead of thinking of rape as a spectacularly violent crime — and some rapes are — think about it as non-consensual; that is, bad sex,” Greer continued. “Sex where there is no communication, no tenderness, no mention of love. We used to talk about lovemaking.”

Much of her argument seemed hung up on the idea that many rape victims don’t suffer extensive physical injuries. Conflating visible injuries with ongoing emotional trauma, she reflected on reports that found 70 percent of rape victims suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, compared to just 20 percent of military veterans.

“At this point you think, what the hell are you saying? That something that leaves no sign, no injury, nothing, is more damaging to women than seeing your best friend blown up by an IED is to a veteran?”

During the talk, Greer also reminded the audience that she herself is a rape survivor. She detailed her own assault, which took place days before her 19th birthday, and noted that she didn’t report the man, who went on to rape another woman. Speaking of her feelings, she said she “wasn’t that angry … I still don’t feel angry enough.”

Ironically, the talk was positioned as a criticism of the way rape survivors are treated in the legal system. Reflecting on the process around reporting an assault and pursuing a conviction, Greer said: “This is a mess, it’s a big mess. And it’s getting us worse than nowhere.

“Because it’s one thing to be raped, but it’s another thing to try to get the person who outraged you brought to justice and then be totally discredited. That humiliation must be even worse than rape.”

She expressed frustration around the current discourse, commenting that “We are not getting anywhere approaching it down the tunnel of history.”

Her comments immediately drew wide reaching scorn, with many taking to Twitter to share their own experience/s of assault. Greer has been pushing to change the way we view and prosecute sex crimes for decades. In a 2006 Independent article she advised that “We should abolish the crime of rape and expand the assault law.”

She is also currently working on a book about rape, due for release in Australia in September.