23 Friday, May 10, 1991 - North Shore News - 7 Our sexual psyche needs examining especially but by no means ex- WHEN I was a young mzn, in the period immediately after the Second World War, the word ‘‘rape’’ had a very clear connotation: a man forced his attention on a woman by overpowering her physically, and then sexually assaulted her with an act involving vaginal penetration. I had no idea that there were any variations on this theme; that there was some way that women could be construed to have raped men; or that there were common enough situations in which a man could rape another man — or worse, a boy. Rape in those days was sirictly a crime of male against female. And it had to have the elements of physical violation I have noted above. This was quite enough to make it one of the most painful, horrifying, psyche-scarring experi- ences in human knowledge. But to anyone I knew — and in my recollection, my friends and I were a solidly raunchy bunch — the act of rape was held to be a human deviation so bizarre, so far away from anything in our expe- rience, that it had the same tex- ture of non-reality as crimes like drug abuse, treason, murder. In those gentle times, of course, drug abuse and treason were By Brian Swarbrick Contributing Writer unknown, and a murder in any- thing more than routine cir- cumstances titillated our senses so vividly that it could make and hold headlines all over Canada for days and weeks. Well, times have changed, of course. Madmen murder in bun- ches these days. As for drugs, at least one of our premiers and one of our prime ministerial couples are gen- erally accepted to have had more than a clinica! knowledge of nar- eotics. These disclosures shocked no one. As for treason, in these days of glasnost and perestroika a genuine case of active disloyalty is getting pretty hard to imagine. But not so with rape, and all the other, lesser degrees of sexual harassment. Sexual molestation seems to be not at all hard to find; it is on the rise; has ap- parently become epidemic. We are told that it happens all the time; that a startling body of people are involved either as vic- tim or perpetrator in some form or another of ii. We are told that many, many women — enough to be a mea- surable statistic — have kept locked away as their ghastly secret the fact that they were raped by their father or brother or uncle, teacher or minister, employer, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend’s boyfriend — even the boy-man next door. And of course, strang- ers. We are told that no male or female inmate of a prison is safe from the demands for gratifica- tion of his or her own sex. We are told that the whole union movement is in the act of initiating set procedures to deal with various forms of sexual in- timidation, male boss against fe- male employee. We are told that rape, or at least forms of pronounced sexual molestation, is a long way from being a startling event in native communities; that it’s the rare native girl who has not been the sexual victiin of some male, not uncommonly a member of her own family. We have been so thoroughly deluged by the reportage that one of our female writers caused hard- ly a ripple a year or two ago when she published a book that describ- ed in some detail the sexual acts foisted upon her by her father. She saved some of the more lurid bits for TV interviews, and even that barely raised a buzz. (It is my recollection that the lady’s interviewer at about the same time declared that he was sexually left-handed himself, to no one’s surprise or interest.) Are we a nation suddenly gone sexually mad? Or have we unani- mously decided to open closets that could hardly be kept closed, they were so jammed with sordid secrets? I cannot find much basis for the first possibility. If it were true, I suspect there would be a dramatic tise in other horrid/lurid crimes. Which leaves us with the second possibility: that more people, clusively females, are opening their closets. They are doing so, | suspect, for quite a range of reasons. But whatever their reason, maybe it’s time society had a look at itself, sex-wise. At minimum we could do with some new legal definitions, a review of punishments, and even new procedures for bringing sex- crime charges before the courts. Is it unfair or unrealistic, for instance, to require some sort of psychiatric evaluation of the ac- cuser, where physical evidence is no longer present? Sexual molestation is clearly a crime, but let’s see if we can find a means to establish that the crime has actually been committed. At present, as I understand it, a woman. need only accuse, bringing forth no evidence to support her accusation, to launch an enor- mous bias against the accused male. If we really have no hidden agendas, if we really are trying to protect victims of sexual abuse, and punish the abusers, then let us put together the fairest possible set of ground rules. Cyclists are liable for accidents in BC. Dear Editor: I read Mr. Duncan’s letter to the editor ‘‘Cyclists should have insurance’* and I suspect Mr. Hardie of ICBC will respond. However, I feel that we should very quickly clarify the obvious misconception that Mr. Duncan has concerning the legal position of a bicyclist. In the Province of British Col- umbia, ICBC provides certain No Fault Accident Benefits and they apply to persons who are injured in vehicle accidents, regardless of responsibility, and those benefits are limited to medical and rehabilitation payments. However, the comment that bicyclists are not at faulz, even if they break the law by going through a stop sign or red light, is totally erroneous. Bicyclists are governed by the same rules of negligence as we all are. There are probably dozens of cases in which the bicyclists have been found fully responsible for accidents with motor vehicles. For example, in the case of Couturier v. Rud, a Court of Ap- peal decision found that a {0- year-old riding his bicycle on the shoulder of the highway suddenly turned left into the path of a vehicle. The bicycle rider was in- jured and the court found that the bicycle rider was totally at fault. In John Maclsaac v. Perret the Supreme Court decision found that John Maclisaac drove his bicycle through a stop sign and was negligent. The court also found that the driver of the motor vehicle was blameless. PReaudoin v. Winder is another Supreme Court case in Vancouver in which the rider of a bicycle made a **U"" turn into the path of an approaching motorist. Again, the bicycle rider was found to be AMEE sul THINK totally at fault. I certainly would agree with Mr. Duncan that bicyclists should carry insurance, but it should be remembered that most of us have homeowners insurance which covers the liability whilst riding a bicycle. Nevertheless, since the risks are obviously substantial, a specific insurance policy for bicyclists would be very ap- propriate. M. Coleman Insurance Adjuster Morden & Helwig Limited Editor's Note: This topic was addressed in the Friday, May 3 issue of the News in the ICBC AutoTopics colunin, YOUR LEFT SIDE _'S TOOLEFT.. Maal Geolorrazs gooen os Dear Editor: Lip service is what the com- munity pays to the notion of the environmentally friendly bicycle. Lip service is what you receive from motorists, as I found while cycling home from work one recent evening. I had the audacity to slow a lane of traffic to 40 km/h in a residen- tial area. The single occupant of a full-size Chevy soon rec- tified the situation by racing up Saree NOUR Right Y SIDE ISN'T RIGHT EITHER... TRY , THE MIDDLE. Bikes only get lip service behind me and forcing me out of the lane. This was all done in an ef- fort to sit at a red light. While at the light § asked him if he was trying to hurt someone. He replied, ‘tyou deserve to die.’ Go figure. Try a bus, carpool, bike, or even simple courtesy, and make a pledge to the Heart and Lung Foundation. David Paul North Vancouver Thanks to Strangers for help Dear Editor: One reads in the papers every day about violent crime and the “don’t want to get involved’ at- titude of the average person. However, | would like to let you know of an incident which occurred on April 16. I was walking up Lonsdale be- tween Fifth and Sixth Streets and stumbled and fell to the pave- ment. Four young people stopped and helped me up. One young man put me in his car and drove me to Lions Gate Hospital Emergency and accompanied me to the desk. These people were total strang- ers and I have been unable to thank them. | hope they see this letter and know how much their help was appreciated. Phyllis Hurst North Vancouver Mailbox policy LETTERS TO the editor must in- clude your name, written legibly, your full address and telephone number. Due 10 space constraints the News cannot publish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, le- gality and taste.