Tuesday Teaser/Opening ~ Missoula


Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer has been on my TBR list for a while. It's a sobering look at what happens on college campuses across the nation, and it's an indictment of the way the system handles these crimes.


Blurb:

Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, home to a highly regarded state university whose beloved football team inspires a passionately loyal fan base. Between January 2008 and May 2012, hundreds of students reported sexual assaults to the local police. Few of the cases were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical.

In these pages, acclaimed journalist Jon Krakauer investigates a spate of campus rapes that occurred in Missoula over a four-year period. Taking the town as a case study for a crime that is sadly prevalent throughout the nation, Krakauer documents the experiences of five victims: their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the skepticism directed at them by police, prosecutors, and the public; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them. These stories cut through abstract ideological debate about acquaintance rape to demonstrate that it does not happen because women are sending mixed signals or seeking attention. They are victims of a terrible crime, deserving of fairness from our justice system. Rigorously researched, rendered in incisive prose, Missoula stands as an essential call to action.

Opening:
Now, should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course. But being responsible ha nothing to do with being raped. Women don't get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they weren't careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them.

Teaser:
But 76 of the 120—63 percent of the undetected student rapists, amounting to 4 percent of the overall sample—turned out to be repeat offenders who were collectively responsible for at least 439 rapes, an average of nearly 6 assaults per rapist. A very small number of men in the population, in other words, had raped a great many women with utter impunity.


Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! To see what others are sharing on the Teaser Tuesdays, check the comments at: http://adailyrhythm.com/





Share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you are reading. Here's the link: Bibliophile By The Sea

8 comments:

  1. I read this last winter. An excellent book, but sometimes difficult to read... it made me so angry!

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    1. Yes, me too. We need to stop the "boys will be boys" mentality.

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  2. I'll have to look for it. I do tend to find Krakauer not to my liking... might just be a personality thing more than as a writer, but the material is compelling.

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    1. Some of his stuff works for me, some of it doesn't. This did. But it may be the material that made the difference.

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  3. Fascinating! The study sounds interesting, and the setting of Missoula captured my interest, as I spent some summers visiting friends there.

    Thanks for sharing, and here's mine: “THE MELODY LINGERS ON”

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  4. Sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing. Have a great week and enjoy.

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  5. I enjoy Jon Krakauer's books, but I haven't yet read this one. I hope to. It's such a relevant topic for today. Thank you for sharing!

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  6. I have this book but haven't read it yet. I like the opening. Sounds like an important work.

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