Rape

2 Pages 377 Words

What is rape? Rape is defined as according to Dictionary.com as the crime of forcing another person to submit sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. In all of the selected readings, one specific rape case was discussed as well as the significant changes that occurred with marriage.
Harry Bedlow was a man from New York City who was brought up on rape charges by a woman named Lannah Sawyer in October of 1793. Bedlow met Sawyer on her father’s stoop one summer night and invited her for walk and in those days if you hung with an older man it usually meant you were to have sexual relations with him. As they continued to walk around New York they came across an alley where Bedlow brought Sawyer down to. He invited her into the home of a Mrs. Cary where he allegedly raped her in one of Mrs. Cary’s bedrooms. However, the defense argued against that allegation and said that Sawyer was seduced by Bedlow and that the sex they had was consensual. As a result of the defense’s argument, the jury’s verdict was not guilty in favor of Mr. Bedlow.
Marriage had always been very traditional where a man and a woman were set up by each other’s parents and they were to wed when the time was right. However, there was a change in the 1730s when “selection of your mate was based on personal taste and emotions rather than practical and familiar concerns,” (D’Emilo and Freedman, pg 43). D’Emilo and Freedman then say “Sons and Daughters not only chose mates with less attention to property and family considerations, but some young people even disregarded parental opinion all together,” (pg 43). Many of these couples also had premarital pregnancy so they would have no other choice but to marry each other without the disapproval of their parents. Even today this still occurs where men and women are choosing who they want to spend the rest of their life with. However, the premarital pregnancy is not common today with couple be...