'Constant unconsiderate' sex with partner can be worse than stranger rape, says Germaine Greer

Constant "unconsiderate" sex with a partner can be worse than rape by a stranger, feminist writer Germaine Greer has suggested.

While rape by a stranger is “bloody bad luck”, Ms Greer likened it to the impact of being run over by a bus, but when rape happens with someone love, it can instead force a woman to reassess her whole life.

The Australian writer was speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as part of a round of publicity for her essay On Rape, which has sparked controversy around the world.

She told Today: “I think it’s important that we don’t diminish the effect of constant unconsiderate use of a woman’s body by the man who she loves.

“In some ways it is worse to be abused and treated without consideration by the people who are at the centre of your life, stranger rape is bloody bad luck, for sure.

“But it’s like being run down by a bus. You don’t have to internalise it and look at the structure of your whole life from that point of view. It is way out there in left field.”

The 79-year-old also voiced the need to see laws changed so that women are a formal party in any court case relating to their rape or sexual assault, unlike the current situation where she likened victims to being treated like children and seen as a piece of evidence rather than people.

“The problem appears to be that women don’t count as people in this vast landscape [of rape]”, she said.

“One of the things that I find really interesting here is the idea that the woman who complains of rape is herself not a party to the action, she is a piece of evidence and she will be examined to find if out if the claim she is making that the offence has occurred is true.”

Germaine Greer

She added that the laws needed to be changed, citing that the system implemented in Belgium was better placed, as in our current system when women make complaints, their assaults are treated as alleged offences against the state.

She added: “The better way [to think about rape in the criminal justice system] would be to begin again, and look at it from a woman’s point of view.

“If we’re in say Belgium you would be a party to the action as a victim and you would have a voice in court.

“As it is now you have no voice in court, you don’t have anyone representing you and you can’t be helped to deal with the cross-questioning because the important thing is that you are unprompted.

“You are being treated almost like a child.”  

Ms Greer, whose opinions have often been met with criticism, also sparked debate on Monday after appearing on ABC’s Q&A program.

During the debate on feminist issues she compared the trauma of rape victims to her fear of huntsman spiders.

When asked about her comments that most rapes do not involve injury, she said: “I’m not saying that it’s not damaging.

“Trauma is something that is dictated by the sufferer. I can’t bear huntsman spiders. It’s not their fault.

“It’s interesting to me that women are encouraged all the time to be terribly, terribly frightened, and nearly always of the wrong thing.”