The waste land of the law, the wordless song of the rape victim

Abstract

In this article, the author uses the content of rape trial transcripts, her observations of rape trials, and discussions with legal personnel who have participated in rape trials, to describe and analyse the ways in which women are figured in the law of rape. Three techniques of figuration are discussed: firstly, a portrayal of women as both sexual and indifferent; secondly, a production of a narrative of responsibility and agency; and finally a process of exclusion through which a woman's words are excised. The result is that...