Throughout the novel Kindred, there are many instances of male dominance. Some of these occurrences of male dominance are rape. Although much time has passed since the days of slavery, there are still instances where rape goes unreported. In the past year, many victims of sexual assault have been coming forward, telling their stories through the Me Too movement. Some of the victims sexual assaults’ have occurred recently while others are still dealing with the effects from many years ago.
When Dana time traveled back to the 1800s, she saw these cases of male dominance firsthand. She would be able to compare that to 2018 because although it has been over 200 years, there are still many occasions where men are able to use their power to avoid consequences. One time this happened in the novel was when Dana confronted Rufus about raping Alice. He acted like there was nothing wrong with what he did and even said, “I wouldn’t have hurt her if she hadn’t just kept saying no”(Butler, 123). When Dana heard this she was disgusted and said Alice had a right to say no to him.
Rufus said that Alice had no rights and that she was going to get sold for resisting him. Nobody would care what Alice’s story was and this is one thing that has changed from those times is that back then slave owners would not have to worry about their women slaves coming forward with allegations of rape because they controlled all aspects of their lives and could punish them however they wanted. In 2018, many of the victims are able to tell their stories to millions of people within seconds over platforms such as social media and television.
127 our experts are availableright now
This allows many cases that would have otherwise gone unreported to be taken seriously by the general population. Even the famous Hollywood stars as well as the wealthy professional athletes are being named in cases of sexual assault. This would not have happened as recently as 15 years ago, but with the amount of people using social media every day, victims of sexual assault are able to bring awareness to their stories relatively quickly and easily.
An example that shows how much progress has been made in the reporting of sexual assault due to the Me Too movement is the Harvey Weinstein case. In less than a year, over 70 women have come forward and alleged that they were sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. This has helped other people to share their stories of sexual abuse using #metoo on social media which in turn, has driven out many men in positions of power that likely would not have been punished for their sexual misconduct.
Even though there has been quite a bit of progress since Dana traveled back in time to the era of slavery, there are still many occurrences of rape that either go unreported or are swept under the rug due to male dominance. One example of this involved former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner who was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault in 2016. Although the prosecutors recommended six years in prison, the judge merely slapped him on the wrist and gave him six months in jail, of which he only served half, as well as three years of probation.
This caused much backlash because many people believed that Turner was given a lesser sentence because he is a white male who came from a background of privilege. Even though he was given a light sentence, the backlash that has come from the decision of this case shows that there has been much progress in how sexual assault is viewed in society. This case also shows that there is still quite a way to go to even out the division of power between men and women.
Had the novel Kindred been taking place during 2018, many of the sexual assaults that Dana experienced, witnessed, or heard about may have been handled differently. Instead of not having to fear retribution for their actions, the slave owners that committed rape and other forms of sexual abuse would have to answer for their crimes if victims were able to come forward and share their experiences with others in such a quick manner. If a movement like #metoo had happened in the times of slavery, maybe crimes like rape and various other sexual misconducts would be almost nonexistent in today’s society. Hopefully with the help of the Me Too movement, cases of sexual assault will no longer go unreported.
