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If we've learned anything from the Kobe Bryant case — dismissed last week when his accuser decided to drop criminal charges — it is: "Ladies, if you've been raped, don't report it!" In 2001, only 39% of sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement — and that was an improvement of 0.3% from the previous year. But I'll bet you my signed Magic Johnson jersey that this year the numbers will sink again. If they tracked this sort of thing, I'd bet you could trace the drop to the day the Globe printed the name of Kobe's accuser and her prom photo, along with the coverline "Did She Really Say No?" Maybe there was a bonus dip on the day she got her first death threat.
"We have been concerned all along that this case would have a negative impact on women coming forward, but these were also extraordinary circumstances played out in the national spotlight," said Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, in the Los Angeles Times. "We hear anecdotally that people look to what happened to her and are more fearful of coming forward. But we don't have any reliable measure to know what kind of effect this will have."
I don't think you need a Fear-o-Meter to take an educated guess. I know it's not a "normal" case; Bryant does not make a "normal" salary, nor is he of "normal" height. But this case will have a chilling effect precisely because these extraordinary circumstances were played out in the national spotlight.
Then again, if you think about it, they're not that extraordinary. He's the basketball captain, she's the kind-of-slutty girl who gets called even worse when she dares to speak up. It's not that much of a stretch for women to see themselves — or their town, or campus — in what happened.
Apparently, the accuser stopped cooperating with prosecutors because she believed she could no longer get a fair trial and that taking the stand would only make her life more hellish. Couldn't that happen in Everyone-Knows-Everyone, USA? (The civil suit she filed last month requires a less substantial burden of proof, but it may not permit anonymity. Hey, it's a lot to go through for a wad of post-legal-fee cash.)
I'm not saying Bryant is guilty. I don't know what happened in that hotel room any more than he and she do, and even they don't seem to be sure. I do know that her name was an open secret before the Globe went to press. I hope one day the world will be ready to see rape accusers' names printed like any other's; clearly we're not there yet. But right now I'm worried about women who'll think, "So if I pipe up, there's no guarantee that I won't get death threats or the whole world — at least my world — will hear about that time with Jimmy Whatshisname behind the barn?"
I also worry about the defense's allegation that the accuser had a subsequent sexual encounter — though I realize it sounds like a crazy thing to do if you're raped — because it implies that either (a) if you experience that kind of mind-addling trauma, you'd better "act like a rape victim," or (b) crazy people can't get raped. (And speaking of the people making death threats, who's crazy here?)
I see, at least, that all this hasn't stopped another woman from accusing William Kennedy Smith of date rape. She, like Bryant's accuser, has filed a civil suit. How long before we find out what she wore to prom? n°
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