Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

Dear colleagues;

I agree with the suggestion that the phrase "rape trauma syndrome" be avoided 
-- for the reasons stated as well as the following:

As with battered women's syndrome, the idea is too narrowly defined and lacks 
sufficient scientific heft -- sounds recently contrived and political.

The ability to use an established diagnosis like PTSD -- and then explain how 
it manifests in the aftermath of different types of traumas, is far more 
effective because most jurors will have a connection to some traumatized 
individual -- 

Also -- in a few states, California in particular, I've noticed that defense 
attorneys have been arguing on appeal that these "syndromes" (battered women, 
rape trauma and child abuse accommodation) are affirmative action-like 
evidentiary rules whose time has come and gone because, unlike twenty years 
ago, the public (and thus jurors) are now fully aware that the behaviors of 
women and children in the face of terroristic violence in the home are not 
completely inexplicable to the lay person.

The point is -- the perception exists that syndromes are concocted to serve 
the needs of litigation and are only useful if the jurors aren't sufficiently 
aware of the behavior patterns of people in certain situations.? PTSD is a 
preferable umbrella term within which all sorts of behaviors can be 
"explained" by an expert as consistent with a response to trauma.? 

Wendy Murphy
 
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