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CONSEQUENCE: Beyond Resisting Rape
by Loolwa Khazzoom (Social Issues)
Book review by Alexandra Devin
CONSEQUENCE throws quite a punch - literally. It opens with a
typical day of street harassment which results in Khazzoom's atypical
response: a physical retaliation against the men who are visually and
verbally assaulting her.
Whether or not one agrees with her proposed methods is up to the
individual woman, and is almost irrelevant. The main drive of
Khazzoom's point, however, is one that most women (and hopefully men)
can agree with: There are no consequences for visual and verbal
assault. (Khazzoom is very careful to make the distinction that, for
the sake of this book and this particular argument, she is specifically
and only referring to male-to-female heterosexual interactions.)
Through various examples of her experiences, Khazzoom works through the
many issues and complexities that arise by experimenting with methods
of reacting and creating consequences for the men attempting to
objectify her body and usurp her right to be left alone.
Since CONSEQUENCE does raise so many complex issues,
it is bound to be controversial, both between men and women, and
amongst women themselves. But the fact that Khazzoom has been brave
enough to fiercely raise the question should prompt us to read this
book, and, at the very least, consider how we live our lives and how we
would like to live our lives. Are our actions (or non-actions) truly
choices or are they forced upon us as we grow up in a patriarchal
society and made to look like choices? If Khazzoom can convince them of
nothing else, readers will not walk away without a new sense of
awareness of their own choices, decisions, actions, and the reasons
behind them.
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