Author: dohertyk9

Safer Saws-Dohertyk9

3. Power Tool Product Reviewers

https://www.protoolreviews.com/news/bosch-tools-sawstop-lawsuit/3806/

3A. “However, the manufacturing costs, coupled with licensing fees, make this an almost ridiculous prospect.”

3B. The author of this article, Clint DeBoer, claims that it is ridiculous to expect a company to employ safer technology that would significantly increase the price of their merchandise.

3C. This quote makes an evaluative claim. The author considered the additional expenses added to the overall price of the saw because of the safety adjustments to the saw. He then made the evaluation that it would not be worthwhile for the companies to make those adjustments.

3D. This claim is hard to refute. Undoubtedly, the safety adjustment would significantly increase the cost of the saw, which may harm the company’s profit.

 

6. Personal Injury Lawyers

https://www.schmidtlaw.com/table-saw-amputation-lawyer/

6A. “Recently, a man who filed a table saw amputation lawsuit was awarded $1.5 million after the court found that table saw manufacturers were liable for not including the safety feature.”

6B. “Recently, a man who filed a table saw amputation lawsuit was awarded $1.5 million after the court found that table saw manufacturers were liable for not including the safety feature.”

6C. This quote makes a factual/quantitative claim.

6D. This quote cannot be disputed because it was an actual occurrence.

 

8. News Reporters

https://fcir.org/2013/05/16/power-tool-industry-circles-the-wagons-as-disabling-saw-injuries-mount/

8A. “Before SawStop, this fact alone would have made a successful lawsuit unthinkable.”

8B. The author claims that before the invention of SawStop, if saw guards were not used and there was a resulting injury, a lawsuit would be unsuccessful.

8C. This is an evaluative claim. After considering previously successful and unsuccessful lawsuits, the author noted that the company would be able to deflect any injury-related charges if the person filing the lawsuit had failed to use the safety guards.

8D. This claim is hard to refute. Major companies have many resources at their disposal to fight lawsuits. Also, probably even the most dim-witted lawyer would be able to think of the argument that if a person does not utilize safety guards, the injury is their fault. Only the invention of SawStop presents the new argument that better safety measures could have been taken, yet weren’t.

11. Amputees

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/table-saw-sawstop-safety-finger-cut/

11A. “He testified that after the blade sliced into his hand, he began running around in circles in the yard, screaming in pain and terror.”

11B. This claim is referring to Brandon Stollings, who cut off two of his fingers while he was in the process of installing flooring.

11C. This is a factual/evaluation claim. It paraphrases Stollings’s testimony.

11D. This claim is hard to refute because I was not present when Stollings’s injury took place nor when the trial took place, and cannot say for certain whether or not that was his testimony.

9. Steve Gass himself

https://fcir.org/2013/05/16/power-tool-industry-circles-the-wagons-as-disabling-saw-injuries-mount/

9A. “‘If the manufacturers had to pay the cost of those injuries,’ Gass said, ‘they would have adopted technology like this within months of the time they heard about it instead of looking for excuse after excuse to delay for year after year.'”

9B. “‘If the manufacturers had to pay the cost of those injuries,’ Gass said, ‘they would have adopted technology like this within months of the time they heard about it instead of looking for excuse after excuse to delay for year after year.'”

9C. This is a causal claim. If A. the manufacturers had to pay the costs, then B. They would have adopted new technology.

9D. This claim cannot be proven unless manufacturers are forced to pay the costs of the injuries, and it results exactly as Gass claimed it would. Until then, this claim can be dismissed as one man’s opinion.

 

Causal Claims-Dohertyk9

Single cause with a multitude of effects (X causes Y and Z):

Laws have changed to state that anyone can give or retract consent, and that it must be constantly expressed in order for consensual sex to occur.

Effects- it should be easier to bring up charges for rape, easier to convict for rape, men can now bring up charges for rape, status of virginity does not matter, how sexually active the victim is no longer matters (or should no longer matter), sexual orientation should no longer matter, race should no longer matter.

It is easier to bring up charges for rape. This is a causation fallacy. If it is easier to bring up charges for rape, then there is no explanation for why there has been a decline in police-reported rape offenses.

It is easier to convict for rape. There seems to be no data to prove whether or not it is easier to get a conviction for rape…

Men can now bring up charges for rape. The change of definition for consent is an immediate cause in this situation. Because laws were changed to become more inclusive, men are now taken into consideration and are able to bring up charges as a victim in rape cases too.

Whether or not the victim is a virgin does not matter. In this case, the change of definition for consent is an immediate cause. In the past, the victim needed to be a virgin to have been legally raped.

How sexually active the victim is no longer matters. In this case as well, the change in definition for consent is an immediate cause. Because the legal definition of consent has changed over time, even very “promiscuous” individuals can bring up charges for rape.

Sexual orientation of the victim does not matter. This is also a situation in which the cause is an immediate cause. The sexual orientation of the victim likely would have played into whether or not the person was legally raped in the past, but now holds no importance in court.

Race does not matter. This is another situation in which the cause is an immediate cause. Regardless of race or ethnicity, a person can be raped, and now, the person is able to press charges and obtain a conviction even if he/she is a minority.

Works Cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics

Visual Rhetoric-Dohertyk9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyDerULSqqQ

0:01: The scene instantly transforms from a black screen to an aerial view (possibly taken by a drone?) of what could be considered the ideal countryside; to a view of very lush green fields, trees, a broad river cutting through, and a hazy gray sky. The land appears to have been altered slightly for human use, possibly for farms, possibly for a pasture for animals.  Large swaths of land have been cut out for use.

This cuts out and is overlapped by an image of a rabbit. The rabbit looks animated, not realistic, and wears a blue collared shirt. It is running from side to side up what appears to be a steep hill. As in the previous picture, perhaps even more so, the grass is a very bright, lush green. No word better describes the scene than “verdant”.

The author’s purpose is very difficult to decipher from this first frame. The potential purpose could be:

  • to protest animal cruelty
  • to promote a wildlife reserve
  • to protest for nature conservation
  • to outline the beauty of nature and promote respect for nature
  • to promote recycling
  • to promote a particular area for travel
  • to promote an airline or helicopter ride
  • to promote a brand of gardening equipment or seeds
  • to promote gardening/home grown food
  • to promote a certain pesticide OR to protest the use of pesticides
  • to promote a brand of lawnmower or earth-moving tool
  • to protest animal captivity
  • to promote an area to live in/housing in a particular area
  • to promote nationalism for a particular country-or peace in wartime(?)/anti-war
  • to promote hunting OR to humanize animals by dressing them like humans to paint how horrific it is to hunt them (protest hunting animals)
  • to promote a brand of laundry detergent by showing that even after running through the hills and horribly staining the shirt, the rabbit will still be able to get out the tough stains
  • a perfume commercial for the “smell of the mountains”
  • to promote the theory of evolution because even rabbits will one day become sophisticated enough to wear shirts
  • to promote camping
  • to promote hiking
  • Et cetera.

0:02: It becomes clear that the rabbit is running over hills to get to his destination.

0:03: The scene changes yet again, to display a garden. A rabbit is running along a path through the garden. It is clear that it was meant to be a garden because of the rows of crops and sunflowers. Also, the fence surrounding the area and the sticks with the shirt over them (likely an attempt at a scarecrow) gives it the appearance of warding off predators and protecting the plants. Also, the rabbit in this scene is not wearing a shirt.

0:04: The view zooms in again on the rabbit, this time very close so that you can see his feet making an impact on the ground as he runs. This is perhaps to show that he is running very quickly.

0:05: The viewpoint shifts yet again to show the rabbit with the blue shirt. It appears as though he is waiting for the other rabbit. He is smiling, gesturing for the other rabbit to follow by waving his arm forward.

0:06: The viewpoint changes to show two elks(?) who are looking very purposefully in one direction. The grass is very tall there and reaches the elks’ waists. The area that the elks are looking at is quite the opposite; it appears to be well maintained and is bordered by buildings, possibly houses. The elks share a look that seems to imply a mutual curiosity.

0:07: The gates of (likely) the same garden as earlier are opened and a hoard of different types of animals are pouring through. Most notably, almost all of these animals are wearing some sort of clothes on the top half of their bodies. The pig even appears to be wearing a purple suit jacket. All of the animals seem to be very pleased.

0:08: There is a close-up of a furry hand (likely a rabbit’s) pulling a carrot from the ground.

0:09: Another hand pulls a different crop out of the ground.

0:10: A rabbit wearing a red top with a black collar is smiling as he throws cucumbers to a rabbit that is mostly out of view.

0:11: The same rabbit in the red top is sitting against a row of crops next to another rabbit with an unbuttoned blue/green collared button-down shirt. The rabbit in the red is smelling a carrot, presumably in the manner that a person would smell a delicious-looking meal. The other rabbit is already biting into another vegetable.

0:12: The rabbit in the red top bites down on the carrot enthusiastically. The two rabbits then share a glance, happily chewing their food.

0:13-0:14: The rabbit in the red is now lying next to a different rabbit, this one wearing a tied yellow shirt. Both of the rabbits have jovial expressions as they make snow angels in piles of some sort of vegetable.

0:15: All of the rabbits are lined up in a conga line, lifting their feet in sync as they happily dance.

0:16: Something is thrown at the rabbits as they move forward in the conga line.

0:17: The scene shifts to a white background, where three rabbits with no clothes are huddled around a pile of vegetables.

0:18: One of the rabbits jumps in the air, throwing the vegetables like confetti. Another of the rabbits follows suit, while the third rabbit watches. The words “Cook it” appear behind the rabbits.

0:19: The words “Store it” appear underneath the words “Cook it”. Finally, the words “Share it” appear beneath the “Store it”. The rabbits in the scene pick up more vegetables from the pile on the floor.

0:20: The words “Just don’t waste it.” replace the other words in the background. The rabbits continue celebrating the raining food in the air.

0:21: Three different rabbits, one in red, one in yellow, and one in green, are leaning in towards the viewer. The scene has changed again and the background is tall grass and plants surrounding a bridge. The rabbits are frowning, as in confusion.

0:22: The rabbits’ expressions change, suddenly lighting up.

0:23: The scene changes again to show a rabbit hole with light pouring in from the entrance. On the right of the scene is a table with presumably salt and pepper shakers on top, as well as a tea kettle. In the center of the scene is a rabbit with an armload of vegetables. Two rabbits are watching from the side with enthusiasm and perked ears. The rabbit carrying the vegetables throws them in the air. The camera reveals two more rabbits, four in total, that struggle to pick up the vegetables as they look at the rabbit that had been carrying them with confusion/disbelief.

0:24: The rabbit with the blue shirt is viewed from below as he jumps off of a stand containing a tall crop. Three rabbits from below look up with surprise. The words, “better ate than never” appear at the bottom of the screen.

0:25: The rabbit in the blue shirt is caught by the rabbits below. All of the rabbits look at the viewer directly and smile.

0:26-0:35: The screen changes to reveal “savethefood.com”, the AdCouncil logo, the NRDC logo, and stacked jars of food.

Definition Argument-Dohertyk9

The dictionary at dictionary.com defines consent as “permission, approval, or agreement; compliance; acquiescence”, “agreement in sentiment, opinion, a course of action, etc.”, and “accord; concord; harmony”. What the dictionary fails to state is the definition of consent as it relates to law, particularly laws regarding rape.

Rape itself is defined by the same website as “unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim.” However, if you consider how the law defines rape, it sheds a very different light; in fact, until recently, rape could only be a man against a woman, and the woman could not be the man’s wife. Certain factors also contributed to whether or not an offense was considered rape; as the Free Dictionary states, “women who were raped were expected to have physically resisted to the utmost of their powers or their assailant would not be convicted of rape.” In the modern era, society uses the more inclusive definition stated at the beginning of this paragraph. Even the up-to-date definition does not explicitly cover everything, though. Because consent has the ability to vary from court-to-court, so does the definition of rape.

Not only do societal views define rape, those same views formulate the laws that define rape. In approximately 1780 B.C., people believed that only virgins could be raped; this was reflected in their laws, which stated that rape of a virgin was property damage against her father. For most of history, it was also agreed that only women could be raped. Men were only recently included in the definition of rape. In 1290, the definition of rape changed; without a woman’s consent, she could not get pregnant. Basically, if you get pregnant from rape, it was never rape to begin with. The definition was altered again in the 1300s. The intensity of the punishment was affected by how promiscuous the woman was; a virgin was more legitimate in her charge of rape than a whore was. At the end of the 1300s, the definition of rape changed yet again. Virgins were no more credible than other women, and girls younger than 12 could not consent. In 1670, it was concluded that a man can legally rape his wife, because the marriage contract forfeited his wife’s right to consent. Sir Matthew Hale, an English judge and lawyer at the time, stated, “[T]he husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract.” Furthermore, race was a deciding factor; black women could not be raped, or at least if they were, the law did not care. It was decided in 1814 that rape could be determined by pregnancy; if a woman was raped, she could not become pregnant. Samuel Farr, an English physician at the time, decided that a woman could not become pregnant without an orgasm, and rape could not occur if there was an orgasm. In his Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, he says, “For without an excitation of lust, or the enjoyment of pleasure in the venereal act, no conception can probably take place. So that if an absolute rape were to be perpetrated, it is not likely she would become pregnant.” In the 19th century, it was agreed that if the woman did not actively resist her rapist, she was not raped. Throughout time and across different places, the definition of rape changes. Although the modern definition of rape is much more inclusive than, for example, the definition from 1780 B.C., it is likely that the definition will change yet again in the future.

If consent is an “agreement in sentiment”, then what exactly constitutes this “agreement”? That question can be extremely difficult to answer; it is the reason why many feel they have been wrongly convicted, as well as why many victims feel that they have not received adequate justice. The problem is that consent is not always explicitly voiced. For example, it is likely that not everyone outright asks their person of interest, “do you want to have sex?”, but rather goes through the motions, seeking nonverbal cues to express their intentions. Nonverbal cues are vague and easy to misinterpret, however. Discomfort may look like consent to a less socially observant person. The unobservant person can now be charged with rape simply because he could not pick up on the subtle nonverbal cues of his partner. At the same time, his partner could have believed that her discomfort was clear and obvious and did not need to be stated aloud.

Even when consent is clearly stated, it may not be consensual to the victim. The victim may feel as though the consent was forced from her and therefore not true consent. In this instance, a man may feel that he is justified in continuing with a sexual act, when in reality, his partner does not consent to it. Therefore, it can be concluded that consent can never actually be given.

Every sexual act is rape. A person could clearly and explicitly tell her partner “yes”, but if for even a moment she doubts her feelings or feels any amount of discomfort, the consent is void and she could consider the situation to be rape. No one is capable of stating “yes” in every single moment of a sexual act. The second a man’s partner stops saying “yes” to take a breath of air, his partner has relinquished her consent. And a sexual act without consent is rape. It is especially true that every sexual act is rape because the modern definition includes people of all races and all genders. In the past, it could be argued that almost nothing was rape. Unless you were white and a virgin, you could not be raped in the 1780s B.C. Slowly, more people were included into the definition of rape, until it included the wide range of cases it now encompasses.

 

Works Cited

Eichelberger, E. (2017, June 25). Men Defining Rape: A History. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/men-defining-rape-history/

Consent. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/consent

Rape. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/rape?s=t

Rape. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/rape.html

Rape. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/rape

 

 

 

PTSD Claims-Dohertyk9

A09

1. “At home after school, she makes Katie a pancake snack and then, while Katie shows me the website for a summer camp that teaches military spy skills, Brannan gets back to work.”

  • Pancake snack- This reminds the reader/listener that Katie seems to always eat some type of “pancake snack”.
  • Summer camp- This shows that Katie is influenced by her father’s service and deliberately searches for information on her own to find the summer camp.
  • “Brannan gets back to work”- A reminder to the reader/listener that Brannan is constantly working.

2. “Brannan founded the organization in 2007, after panicked Googling led her to the website of Vietnam Veteran Wives (VVW) when Caleb returned from his second tour.”

  • “Brannan founded the organization in 2007”- Factual Claim
  • Panicked- Emphasis on Brannan’s stress and fear at the problems she was experiencing with her husband.
  • Second Tour- Reminds the reader that Caleb only started experiencing the worse symptoms of PTSD after his second tour.

3. “Life after the first tour had been pretty normal.”

  • Life- Shows that Caleb’s PTSD affected his family’s entire life.
  • “After the first tour”- Implies that the second tour made the real difference.
  • “Pretty normal”- Shows that she considered Caleb’s behavior to be odd, but not enough to be considered very abnormal.

4. “‘Things were a little…off,’ Caleb was edgy, distant, but he did not forget entire conversations minutes later, did not have to wait for a stable mental-health day and good moment between medication doses to be intimate with his wife…”

  • Off- She admits that Caleb was not acting like his usual self, and that it was affecting “things”.
  • But- She states Caleb’s behavior in a negative way, but she is only concerned with comparing it with his symptoms after the second tour.
  • This sentence emphasizes how Caleb’s symptoms have taken a turn for the worse, comparing his behavior after his first tour with his now pervasive symptoms.
  • “wait for a stable mental-health day and good moment between medication doses”. This statement outlines how rare the stable day and good moment between doses are.

5. “…and then when he finally tried, pray to Christ for one of the times when it’s good sex, not one of the times when a car door slams outside and triggers him, or the emotion becomes so unbearable that he freezes, gets up, and walks wordlessly out the door.”

  • Finally- Shows how long it is before the stable day and good moment between doses.
  • “pray to Christ”- shows his desperation for a moment without getting triggered.
  • “when a car door slams outside and triggers him, or the emotion becomes so unbearable”- This shows just how easy it is for his environment to trigger him.
  • Wordlessly- Makes it clear that Caleb is incapable of even explaining or apologizing for his actions.

6. “All that didn’t happen until after the second tour.”

  • A reminder to the reader that Caleb’s symptoms severely worsened after the second tour.

7. “Brannan was in a terrible place, she says-until she talked to Danna Hughes, founder of VVW.”

  • “Danna Hughes, founder of VVW”- Factual Claim
  • Terrible- Explains that Brannan is severely affected by her husband’s trauma.
  • “until she talked to Danna Hughes”- shows how much Danna Hughes helped Brannan

8. “Danna had been through the exact same turmoil, decades ago, and had opened a center to help get Vietnam vets benefits and educate their spouses and communities about their condition.”

  • Turmoil- Shows how messy it is to try to handle a situation with an immediate family member or spouse with PTSD.

9. “‘What choice do I have?’ Brannan asks about running her own organization. ‘This is the only reason I am well.'”

  • “‘What choice do I have?'”- This shows just how hopeless and trapped Brannan feels. It implies that she feels that she has no other option.
  • “the only reason I am well”- This puts her situation into perspective, showing how the organization serves as an outlet for her in her tumultuous life.

10. “‘People care when you tell them. They just don’t know. They want to help and they want to understand, so I just have to keep going and educating.'”

  • “‘They just don’t know'”- She reminds the reader that for people who have never seen signs of PTSD, it is a mystery.
  • “‘so I just have to keep going and educating.'”- She admits her sense of duty toward the people with PTSD to inform those that don’t know about it.

 

-END OF ONE HOUR-

Stone Money-Dohertyk9

Upon first hearing of the concept of the Yap’s stone money, I had no idea what to think. How could money be paid to someone without the currency actually changing possession between the two people? After the idea had been explained to me in detail, the claim made by the Planet Money team at NPR that, “money is fiction”, suddenly made a lot of sense. The Yap’s money did not need to change possession, because the entire population recognized which person the money belonged to. Therefore, the insane notion that a rock at the bottom of the sea that only a select group of people had actually seen could be recognized as money was actually sensible. To the Yap, money was abstract, only in existence because they believed it existed. The moment that the Yap no longer believe in the value of their stone money, the moment it no longer has any value at all.

This same concept was used to fix the inflation crisis in Brazil; a group of economic experts solved the crisis by renewing Brazilians’ belief in their own money. Brazilians adopted many ways to handle the inflation crisis. Some people raced those that changed the daily price tags, trying to reach shops before the price officially rose for the day. Others removed the price tags and paid the original price. However, some people gave in to hopelessness and despair, so suicide was common. The irony of it all was the fact that it was the entire population’s lack of belief in their money that allowed the crisis to continue. To solve the crisis, the economic experts proposed that the entire country use a fake but standardized form of currency called URVs. Suddenly, the price of products did not change everyday; for example, one loaf of bread was valued at one URV every day. The economists made this work by changing the exchange value of cruzeros to URVs. One day, the loaf of bread worth one URV equaled fifteen cruzeros; the next it equaled twenty cruzeros, and so on. The end result was that Brazilians recognized URVs as currency for everything, and so it became the actual currency. Brazilians that experienced the change from cruzeros to URVs were astonished and considered it to be magical.

The United States Federal Reserve is fascinatingly similar to the Yap’s system. Instead of stones, we have banks. Money that seems to disappear from our banks in reality never existed in the first place as anything other than a number. The number has value because when a person checks his bank account, he considers that number to be representative of his wealth. The treasury of the U.S. does not treat its power with any manner of grandeur; instead, the people that work for the Federal Reserve downplay their powers to the extent of boredom. Pumping enormous sums of new money into the system is done with a few simple clicks on a computer. Click! A million dollars added to the economy.

The views of the French bank towards gold in 1932-33 actually mirror the Yap’s perception of their money. Because the Federal Reserve bank separated gold and labeled it as belonging to the French, the U.S. believed that it had lost that money. In reality, the money had never left the vault, yet both France and America recognized that there had been an exchange in currency. France considered itself to be financially superior, while the United States considered itself to be financially inferior. Many people feared for the economy over the loss of so much gold; so much gold that had never truly left the United States, but had left its economy.

Nothing clarifies the idea that “money is fiction” more than when the German government abruptly shut down the Yap’s monetary system with a few black X’s on their stones. Something about the marks on the stones caused the Yap to lose faith in their system, and because of that loss in faith, the stones became worthless. The Yaps readily complied with the German government’s wishes for better roads despite their previous hesitation. The roads were improved, and the X’s were erased. Just as suddenly as the Yaps’ system had frozen, it returned to its former state.

The Yaps believed that money could exist without physical or written proof. This differs only slightly from our own government’s idea of money; in the United States, our money is defined by a number. A statement displaying that number is proof of our monetary value. The Yaps’ concept of money was only more abstract because there was no document of their money, only a societal understanding of how much money belonged to who. In the United States, money is somewhat fluid; it does not usually vary much from day to day, but inflation can change its value significantly over time.

The article, “The Bubble Bursts on E-Currency Bitcoin” by Anne Renaut reaffirms the same concept that has been echoed in history across different monetary systems. Bitcoin, a type of electronic money, is similar both to the Yap’s money and to the currency of the United States. It is similar in that there is no visible, concrete substance to represent Bitcoin. Bitcoin is entirely electronic and thus can be electronically created, exchanged, and stored. None of the owners of Bitcoin will ever see their money, yet their belief in the system allows Bitcoin to exist as a legitimate form of currency, just like the Yap’s monetary system.

Although this concept that money is fake initially shocked me, it no longer surprises me. Time and again, it has been proven that money only has the value that we attach to it. For example, if an alien race seized Earth and imposed its rule on us, they may deem our money to be worthless. This would have the same effect as the X’s on the Yap’s money had; the entire global economy would freeze. If the rest of the solar system does not use U.S. dollars, than those dollars could suddenly become useless.

 

Works Cited

Friedman, Milton. “The Island of Stone Money.” Diss. Hoover Institution, Stanford University , 1991.

“The Invention of Stone Money.” 423: The Invention of Stone Money. This Is American Life, WBEZ. Chicago . 7 Jan. 2011.

Renaut, A. (2013, April 13). The bubble bursts on e-currency Bitcoin. Retrieved February 07, 2018, from https://phys.org/news/2013-04-e-currency-bitcoin.html

 

 

White Paper-Dohertyk9

Dohertyk9’s Proposal:

I set out to attempt to prove that consent is a social and legal construct rather than simply “common knowledge”. Consent has never been clear, but as it is defined today, consent is the constant expression of agreement. The constant expression of agreement is actually impossible, and therefore, every sexual act is rape.

However, after reviewing my sources and attempting to make causal claims about it, it became clear to me that data was extremely scarce and lacked uniformity. As Prof. found in his own research of the topic, the FBI recorded 85,593 rapes in 2010, yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nearly 1.3 million incidents. Both had differing definitions of rape that made an enormous difference in how many rape cases are believed to have occurred. Based on prof.’s suggestion and my own speculation, I have decided to adjust my argument.

…You could identify the disagreement about rape’s definition as the cause of the wide disparity in rape statistics (DEFINITION, CAUSATION), leading to the inevitable problem that nobody’s numbers can be used to draw any general conclusions (REFUTATION). Then you use the test case of the BJS numbers to prove your point: THERE ARE WAY MORE RAPES than can be counted by the “forcible penetration” definition, so we shouldn’t be impressed by the BJS chart that forces the narrative of a radical reduction in rape over time.

-Prof. Hodges

This is precisely what I plan to argue: No one’s number’s can be used to draw accurate conclusions about how many rape cases actually occur within a given year. This is due to the incredible disparity in rape statistics. In particular, the numbers used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which report that there has been an overall decrease in rape cases  since 1973, should not be given any weight because it is likely that there are way more cases of rape than the Bureau reports. If you use a broader definition than the “forcible penetration” one, the number of rape cases in a given year skyrockets from the number reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This is evident when reviewing the sheer difference in number between the cases reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and those reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

1. Negotiating Sex: The Legal Construct of Consent in Cases of Wife Rape in Ontario, Canada

Helpful quotes for my argument: “Based on my analysis, I argue that wife/partner rape is informed by societal and cultural beliefs about sexuality, intimate relationships and marriage, and rape myths. Although my study reveals that rape mythology and stereotypes are not as explicit as they have been historically, a little digging under the surface and some unpacking of the views and arguments presented by my interview group reveal the extent to which myths and sexism continue to inform the legal prosecution of wife/partner rape as well as the failure to prosecute it in many cases.”

-Ruthy Lazar (author)

The Essential Content of the Article: The author essentially argues that few studies have actually looked at how rape cases are processed in court. She notes that the arguments used in court for these cases are fueled by underlying themes of sexism and myths about sexuality and rape.

What it Proves: This article contributes to my argument by proposing that societal views affect the legal interpretation of rape. This will be useful to prove that the definition of rape is actually constructed by society and is not universal.

2. The Discursive Reconstruction of Sexual Consent

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957926598009002002

The Essential Content of the Paper: This paper argues that in legal settings, although the complainant has the opportunity to tell their side of the story, the complainant often feels as though he/she has not truly had the opportunity to explain the situation in his/her terms. The paper argues that this is because the case is always framed by the people asking the questions in the debate. The paper further argues that the case is framed in a favorable way for the defendant because of societal views that a misinterpretation of verbal and nonverbal cues between women and men is not intentional rape on the man’s part, and therefore, the defendant is innocent.

What it Proves: This proves that the legal definition of consent varies depending on the courtroom. Even if an agreement has been reached on what the legal definition of consent actually is, it is very difficult to decide whether or not that definition has been met in the case (whether or not that legally defined consent was actually given.)

3. Re-examining the issue of nonconsent in acquaintance rape

(By Donat, Patricia L. N and White, Jacquelyn W)

The Essential Content of the Book: This book examines consent as a social construct. It explains in detail the effect of cultural attitudes, cultural metaphors, societal myths, sexual scripts, and the legal system on the definition of consent and rape.

What it Proves: The book proves that relationships are defined by those same cultural attitudes, cultural metaphors, societal myths, sexual scripts, and legal systems and therefore they define consent and rape.

4. Understanding the Unacknowledged Rape Victim

(by Kahn, Arnold S and Mathie, Virginia Andreoli)

The Essential Content of the Book: This book seeks to explain how some victims of rape do not consider themselves to be rape victims even though they experienced what would legally be considered rape. It argues that personalities, sexual attitudes and experience, affective reactions, reactions of peers, use of alcohol or drugs, and counterfactual thinking affect whether or not a victim will consider him or her self to be a victim.

What it Proves: This book proves that certain circumstances of rape are not considered rape even by the victim himself/herself. The person’s personality and experiences can alter what he/she considers to be rape. A person’s interpretation of the definition of rape can be altered by the legal or social definition and therefore even when a person has been victimized, he/she may not even consider it to be a victimization. This helps to prove that rape’s definition is relative and not universal.

5. Rape culture is normalized across college campuses

http://www.statepress.com/article/2017/02/spopinion-rape-culture-is-normalized-on-campuses

The Essential Content of the Article: This article argues that college students are desensitized to rape and therefore perpetuate rape culture. It states that “rape is about power, control and dominance.”

What it Proves: This article proves only that the author feels very strongly about rape and defines it much differently than others do. The author blatantly makes the statement that all rape cases are caused by “power, control and dominance”, but offers no factual proof of this statement. This article aides my argument solely because it proves that the definition of rape varies greatly from person to person.

Additional 5 sources:

1. Intimacy Without Consent: Lynching as Sexual Violence

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1034589333?pq-origsite=summon

The Essential Content of the Book: This book seeks to show that lynching has a tendency to involve not only violence, but also sexual violation of the victim, regardless of the victim’s gender. In addition, the race of the victim plays a large role; if the victim is black and male, the case is treated very differently than if the victim is white and male.

What it Proves: This proves that because cases of sexual assault are taken more seriously if they involve the violation of a female, especially a white female, legitimacy of rape is defined by a person’s gender and race. This will help prove my point that consent is socially constructed because factors such as race and gender should not matter if every person is equally capable of giving consent.

2. Party Rape, Nonconsensual sex, and Affirmative Consent Policies

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1807962270?pq-origsite=summon

The Essential Content of the article: This article shows that many college age men do not consider forcing a woman to have sex to be rape. 32% of college age men said that they would force a woman to have sex, while only 13% said that they would rape a woman. It also shows that the law tends to favor these often otherwise successful young men over their victims.

What it Proves: This proves that rape is defined differently depending on how you ask. Men view forcing a woman to have sex to be different from rape, when in reality, they are the same thing.

3. Concubinage and Consent

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1860064133?pq-origsite=summon

The Essential Content of the text: The text explains that wives and slaves in Islamic history had very different rights, even though slaves could be married off without their consent. Slaves could be treated far worse than wives and it would be perfectly permissible. However, their husbands needed to treat them better than their owners did.

What it Proves: This shows that what was considered acceptable in some situations was completely unacceptable in others. The law allowed for owners to rape their slaves, yet their husbands could not perform the same act under the same circumstances, or it would be considered illegal.

4. ‘Talk, Listen, Think’: Discourses of Agency and Unintentional Violence in Consent Guidance For Gay, Bisexual and Trans Men

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957926516634549

Helpful quotes: “You don’t have to say no in words. Many people who are threatened, frightened, tricked or stopped from escaping feel so scared that they choose not to say anything and not to ‘fight back’. This is a way people survive sexual attack. The law says that your consent has to be given /freely/.” (Galop, Help & Advice, Your Rights & the Law, Consenting To Sex, Some Questions About What Consent Means)

The Essential Content of the article: This article explains the focus on men in the explanations of sexual assault and consent made by Galop. It helps to put into words the traumatic experiences people in the LGBT community have.

What it Proves: This article proves that there is always a neglected race, gender or sexual orientation when it comes to defining rape and consent. Because one type of person is always left out, the definition of consent always falls short of its intended meaning. In this way, the definition of consent is not universal. This helps my argument because it proves that for certain types of people, legal consent cannot be given.

5. R.v.A. (J.) And the Risks of Advance Consent to Unconscious Sex

https://search.proquest.com/docview/747126169/abstract/762991F7B5BE41C4PQ/1?accountid=13605

The Essential Content of the Article: This article describes the risk of agreeing to sex before one of the partners becomes unconscious. It explains that any misunderstandings in the advance consent or mistreatment of the partner during the unconscious sex could result in rape and therefore unconscious sex should be automatically considered rape.

What it Proves: This proves that consent is impossible to define in exact terms. The partner could agree to the unconscious sex before the act and yet it could still be defined as rape.

Summaries—dohertyk9

1. Men Defining Rape: A History

It seems counterintuitive that throughout the course of history, men have defined rape and established laws and punishments based on their definitions. However, in reality, it is primarily women who were being affected by those laws and punishments. The Code of Hammurabi, which was written in about 1780 B.C., defines rape in a way that favors the rapist over the victim. The current Republican party today still attempts to define rape in a way that favors the rapist.

2. Cute, Sexy, Sweet, Funny

It seems counterintuitive that we are wired to perceive things a certain way; they are not intrinsically that way. We only find a food to be sweet because our brains have been wired to find the food to be sweet. The food is not inherently sweet.

3. How Mom’s Death Changed My Thinking About End-of-Life Care

It seems counterintuitive that most of the costs of healthcare are spent at the end of a person’s life on often futile efforts to keep a person alive. In actuality, many people would prefer that their loved ones were allowed to die peacefully rather than be told that another likely ineffective method could be tried.

My Hypothesis-dohertyk9

1. OCD

2. People’s perception of OCD

3. Perception of OCD versus the reality of living with it

4. People’s perception of OCD is much more mild than the reality of living with it

5. The public’s perception of the concept of OCD is extremely mild compared to the reality of the disorder

6. The general public’s concept of OCD immensely understates the severe degree to which the disorder negatively impacts the afflicted person’s everyday life.