我们如何为性侵受害者伸张正义?我们能改变法律体系使其更有效吗?或者我们应该转向社交媒体?This week, we're thinking about "#MeToo: Retribution, Accountability, and Justice."

Rape and sexual abuse are long-standing problems in our society that are slow to change, but are slowly beginning to get the attention they deserve. ActivistTarana Burkecoined the #MeToo hashtagin 2006, but it gained greater mainstream recognition in the USin 2017, as Hollywood came forward about famous men who had sexually abused them.

Estimating the exact number of victims is difficult, but sexual violence is a problem that impacts people of all genders, and especially impacts women. The National Sexual Violence Resource Centerreportsthat 81% of women and 43% of men in the US say that they’ve experienced some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime.

那么我们应该怎么做呢?一种选择是诉诸法律，采取更严厉、更一贯的刑事惩罚，或者两者兼而有之。但这种方法也面临着问题。

Coming forward can be harrowing for victims, who often find themselvesre-victimizedby the very legal and social services that are supposed to help them. They may be denied medical services, have their testimonydismissed, or even beblamedfor their own rapes.

Some of these problems can be addressed by reforming the legal system—for example, by passingrape shield lawsthat prevent victims from being discredited by appeal to their sexual histories. But even if the legal system can be improved, that’s little comfort for victims who are deciding what to do now.

Criminal law is also morally questionable because of how it treats those convicted of rape.Criticsofcarceral feminism他们认为，匆忙地将人监禁起来——即使是那些应该被严肃对待的罪行，比如性骚扰和强奸——会导致一个穷人、黑人、棕色人种和精神疾病患者经常被残酷对待的社会，并将重点放在惩罚作恶者而不是服务受害者的需求上。False accusations are sometimes used as a pretext forracial violence. And if we are concerned about rape, we must also be concerned about prison conditions, sincerape of prisonersremains a serious social problem.

有什么替代刑法的办法?One opportunity is to usecivil law为攻击者寻求惩罚，为受害者寻求赔偿。Another is to use social networks and social media to warn other potential victims, though this has the danger of social punishment without due process, or ofbacklashagainst those who speak out.

Long-term change has to be about more than just punishing wrongdoers, or speaking out against specific assaults. We must change our culture to prevent rape and sexual assault from happening in the first place. This meansmoving away from a model of sex where men push and women acquiesce, and toward one where sex is about mutual enjoyment. It means challengingrape mythswherever they appear, and it means giving would-be victims theeconomic and social powerto escape abusive situations.

I’m excited to talk to this week’s guest, director of the University of British Columbia Centre for Feminist Legal Studies, Janine Benedet, about how we can transform the law and society to prevent rape and better serve the needs of victims. I hope that someday we can make sexual assault a thing of the past.