Can Feminist Perspective Help Sexual Assault Survivors?

The case of Madison Smith, a former student at Bethany College in Kansas who reported being raped by a classmate called Jared Stolzenburg during what began as consensual sex, highlights the obtuseness of the United States legal system when it comes to understanding the fact that consent isn’t simply a matter of a one-off “yes” or “no,” writes Arwa Mahdawi in an op-ed for The Guardian. In 2018, Smith engaged in consensual sex with Stolzenburg, but alleges that during the encounter Stolzenburg began choking her to the point of near-unconsciousness and ignored her attempts to pull his hands from her throat. Unable to breathe, she couldn’t immediately revoke consent.

When she reported the encounter as rape, the county prosecutor, Gregory Benefiel, decided that, actually, it was an “immature” sexual encounter. Benefiel told Smith’s mother in a recorded conversation that the case was complex because Smith didn’t verbally withdraw consent; Smith pointed out that she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. Benefiel did not file a sex charge against Stolzenburg but charged him with aggravated battery. In 2020 Stolzenburg was sentenced to two years’ probation and required to pay $793 to a victims’ compensation board. In response, Smith turned to a 134-year-old Kansas law that allows citizens to petition for grand juries when they think prosecutors are neglecting to bring charges. The case could set a precedent for others to convene grand juries as a way of bringing rape charges. In the U.S., some 19 percent of reported rapes and sexual assaults lead to arrests; only around 6.5 percent end in a conviction.