Blog Post 20: Memory and Consent

Today the class talked about how memory affects people’s decision in rape. The class focused on a case that’s between a 35-year-old couple; the state cannot prove there is a intercourse or sexual assault between the couple because the wife is unable to remember whether she gave consent. The wife couldn’t even remember her own daughter’s name. The instructor suggests that if the elder woman has no memory of her daughter, she couldn’t possibly give consent. The class also said if the couple has had sex life before, it’s possible that the husband has forced the wife into sexual intercourse, but the state has found no trace of coercion or physical injury on the wife. In my opinion, it’s difficult to determine whether the consent is given because both the husband and the wife are old people, their inability to remember has blurred the matter whether consent is given.

The class has also talked about institutional memory and how institutional memory is always the same. This creates problem in the jury. When court decides whether the perpetrator is guilty, they always rely on the same set of policies or the same legal system, but not all cases can be estimated by the same judgment or legal standards. There are some cases that legal system cannot address or provide with fair judgments. The class also said the court system is problematic because of its rigidity. Court usually gets less information about people and take a long time to investigate because people are afraid to be recorded; they don’t want to be proven a liar so they don’t accept records. In order to change this problematic situation, the class suggests to reverse the system of the law, and to prove people innocent instead of guilty. The court should not only prove one defendant guilty but it should also prove that the other defendant innocent before making its final decision.

Lastly, the class talked about cultural memories and how cultural memory is as rigid as the institutional one. People tend to retrieve information based on their culture. The way culture is imprinted in their mind could be bias. For instance, people learned from culture that sexual assault is usually done by stranger. This conception is biased but is culturally constructed and passed through generation. Movie has repeatedly show a woman walking in the dark and gets stranger attack. Media has reinforced the way people normally think about sexual assault, but it does not always tell the truth. Nowadays people don’t think about acquaintance when they think about rape because their cultural memory tells them rape is done by a stranger. This idea could lead to victimization because women tend to avoid strangers but not their acquaintance, and perpetrators usually are acquaintance.

The instructor said technology replaced memory, now it’s very hard for people to remember anything today. To me this make it harder for people to solve cases of sexual assault because if victims can’t remember whether they are consensual, it’s hard for the justice system to decide whether the perpetrator is guilty, and police has to put into more investigation. Not just technology, sometimes the situation involves alcohol and drug using, these factors decrease people’s memory about the truth and make it difficult for people to remember what happened.

I think that if memory is such a big deal to determine rape, especially for cases between elderly people. It’s even more important for bystanders or family members to pay attention to what happened. If neighbors heard about anything, they should help remember what actually happened and if it really is not consensual then they should help report the case. Because if the sexual assault happened with victims of memory disability, it’s impossible for the victim to report the case or provide reliable testimony because they don’t have the ability to remember what happened.