Shibboleth

As I was riding my bike home from the gym tonight, standing up on the pedals, once again the conquering heroine of the lifecycle, and listening to one of my favorite sigur ros songs, attempting, rather poorly, to sing along (it was 11 pm. i'd never sing in public, but at that hour, i'm sure the neighbor's just thought it was some dog crying), I got out my phone to call Bryce.  This is my nightly routine when Bryce is away. I leave the gym, call Bryce (who lives/works 3 days a week in Nebraska) and then, while on the phone, I proceed to check the entire house for intruders.  He listens patiently as I stoop to look under the bed and the table, open closet doors, and pull back shower curtains, waiting for some lunatic to pop out.  I guess I think when this happens, I'll say, "sorry, no rape/burglary/murder for you tonight because I'm on the phone with my husband", and the thwarted ax murderer will turn tail and run.  

Why the hell do i do this?  I would not describe myself as a fearful individual.  I mean, in other circumstances, I don't conjur images of death and disaster all day.  I typically picture myself impervious to such harms, a privaldge that is jusitified by the fact that I am one half Amazon, and at least a quarter Wolverine (the healing powers, you know...).  Nevertheless, I find that my typically bear-like sleep cycles can be invaded by the sound of a squirrel outside or the faintest gust of wind against the window.  

In my criminal law class, we've just begun a chapter on rape.  Let me summarize what I've learned so far: In our society, which has condoned, and even encouraged, male aggressive behavior, a woman who has been victimized has traditionally had to prove that she used every means available to fight off said attacker, and if there was a telephone in the room and she somehow didn't contrive to excuse herself from the rape-in-progress and call the cops, she is probably lying, or even more likely, invited this action.  In addition, apparently men cannot interpret signs of reticence, and more often find statements like, "no thank you, no, no, no" to be coy demurrers from clever seductress (see Mr. Collins proposal to Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice).  Oh, and the condescending title "date-rape" is really used to indicate legal suspicion that the woman should have had a few less tequilas.  

Studies indicate that the number of victimized women on college campuses could be as many as 1/2.  (studies vary widely on these numbers because the nature of rape is such that it is much more painful to confess than victimization by any other crime). Maybe this is why my fear has increased over the years.  Now that I've been in college for half my life, it seems that my chances are getting worse.  I don't mean to make light of this, but I do need to be able to sleep tonight.  

Is it possible that men need some kind of Shibboleth, a test that indicates when a woman is telling the truth? Do we really need to start saying, "oh yes, please, I wholeheartedly commit to this excellent prospect" in order to begin creating helpful legal distictions? Is it even feasible that our legal system supports this kind of thinking, making women out to be some kind of sphynx, speaking in riddles that baffle the minds of would-be attackers?  Can we really not hold rapists accountable for speaking a 3 year old's level of english? 

My main question is, how will being a lawyer allow me to allocate justice for the things I most want to change, when the current legal bar has been set so low, i can't even look at it (Leo).