Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

“A very old concept of rape prevails. According to this mind-set, there can only be two precursors to rape: (1) A stranger jumps out from the bushes; (2) There is no rape unless the woman puts up a fight, to the death if necessary.”

really hard to put down, also really hard to read. maybe the most infuriating reading experience i've had

Between this and Guilty Until Proven Innocent, you can get a pretty good perspective of the issues.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the topic of rape is extremely important and should be discussed. On the other hand, I think the emphasis here is wrong. Krakauer bashes lawyers in general for their tactics in both prosecutorial choices and defense tactics, but I think that comes from a common misunderstanding of the our legal system. In fact, Krakauer's logic suggests that he is opposed to our “innocent until proven guilty” standard, at least when it comes to rape. Because he insists that the allegations of rape must be believed until disproven, the result is the opposite: the alleged rapist is guilty until proven innocent. And I'm very uncomfortable with that.

Instead, it seems to me, we should focus our attention on rape prevention. How do we ensure that rape doesn't happen? That's the real challenge of our time, not reforming the legal system.

This is a powerful book and one that is–and should be–hard to read. There are a lot of graphic, detailed descriptions of rape in this. Which isn't surprising, given the subject matter, but just, you know, heads up. I had to stop reading it before bedtime and move it to daylight hours only reading.

Anyway. Jon Krakauer is fantastic at spinning nonfiction narrative out of exhaustive research, and this is no exception. He's done a great job at connecting all the disparate threads of rape in Missoula (campus police, academic deans, local police, DOJ, victims, rapists, etc etc etc) into both a big-picture story for Missoula and also a microcosm for rape culture on college campuses and towns across the US.

Krakauer admits up front that he was shocked to hear a friend had been raped and has been embarrassed to realize how much he didn't know about rape culture. So, some of the things that are shocking to Krakauer are things that I (and let's be real, most women with internet connections) were already aware of? But his research and narrative arc here are still compelling, and honestly, I think it's great that an Important White Man has written a book like this. I hope men will read it.

Be prepared to throw things in anger as you read this book. It is a very necessary book, but frustrating and depressing to realize the prevailing attitudes toward acquaintance rape in our country. Be patient with the many names and graphic details because this is an important read.

Jon Krakauer pored through stacks of court transcripts, recordings, police reports and otherwise dry documentation and manages to pull together a compelling, readable story. It's just the facts and the facts are hair pullingly frustrating. The legal system is stacked against sexual assault victims, and in college towns where sports teams can take on an almost mythic import, it's hard not feel a hopeless sense of injustice at how these things play out on an all too frequent basis.