GENDER INEQUALITY AND RAPE 2
The Institutionalisation of Gender Inequality during Rape Cases
In the 2015 book Missoula, Jon Krakauer attempts to understand rape cases from a
victim’s perspective. Throughout the narrative, the author focuses on cases where victims
know the perpetrators and unravels and details why most of the victims do not seek legal
redress. He pens the testimonies of rape survivors from the University of Montana, Missoula,
in cases that occurred over a two-year period. The books details interviews with the victims,
court transcripts and quotes such as one by Jessica Valenti (2009), ‘‘Women don’t get raped
because they were drinking or took drugs. Women are not raped because they were not
careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them.” He finds that gender
inequality remains a barrier victims face when attempting to get justice through the
university’s judicial process and the criminal system.
Krakauer outlines gender bias within the police force that works against female
victims and in favour of their male attackers. In one example, a detective reassures a
suspected male student that she was certain he could not have committed the crime because
many girls report cases that did not amount to rape. This detective’s position was supported
by the town police chief who sites research articles claiming 45% of reported rape cases are
false. Krakauer, however, counters this argument by siting accurate research that puts the
figure of false rape reports between 2 to 8%. In one case involving victims Kerry Barret, the
detectives tell the alleged rapist that he appeared to be a good person with a bright future.
Another survivor, Kelsey Belnap, says that the detective’s response and twisted narrative in
favour of the male rapist made her feel like the perpetrator.
Throughout the book, Krakauer demonstrates how the football players’ reputations
shift the blame to their victims. Football players are idolized in Missoula and when they are
accused of rape, fans abuse the victim rather than hold the player accountable for his actions.
The author attempts to show that the idolization of male football players in the community
