St. John's Law Review

All-American Rape

By: Michelle J. Anderson

What is rape? What is the harm in it, and how should the law conceptualize the crime? In this Article, Professor Michelle Anderson contrasts the classic rape narrative with a typical, "all-American" rape, describes how the law and legal scholars have conceptualized the harm of rape, and contrasts those conceptions with the experience of rape for its victims and offenders. She then argues that current legal conceptions are inadequate to the lived experience of rape and begins to explore a new set of requirements for the crime.