Schrödinger’s Rapist

by Amanda Kloer

categories: Human Trafficking Awareness, Trafficking in Women

Published October 08, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT

If I were a single dude, I'm not sure I'd willingly read an article on dating advice entitled Schrödinger’s Rapist. But every single dude should. It is one of the most witty and intelligent explanations I've ever read of the fear of sexual violence that many women live under. Sometimes, it seems like every news story hides a new and lurking sexual threat for women: rape, domestic violence, sexual assault, sex slavery, sexual harassment, and the list goes on. So how do women live in a society with a seemingly infinite capacity for sexual violence against women?

For those, like me, who slept through Psychology 101, here's the 20 second, oversimplified explanation of who Schrödinger is and what he has to do with violence against women. Schrödinger was a (possibly crazy) quantum scientist (think Einstein) who did a famous thought experiment where he sealed a cat and some poison in a box. While the box was sealed, no one knew whether the cat was dead or not dead from drinking the poison, so Schrödinger claimed this meant it was both alive and dead until someone opened the box. Personally, I would have shaken the box to hear a meow and then taken Mr. Schrödinger to task for being so cruel to cats. But the point of the experiment, at least for our purposes, is that when the state of something or someone is unknown (rapist or not rapist) there are an infinite number of possible states that could be reality. And for many women, that infinity is frightening.

Phaedra Starling, the author of the dating advice article, frames this issue for women as one that exists between two singles on the town. And it absolutely does. But the Schrödinger's Rapist is found throughout society in many forms. He's the young girl's older boyfriend deciding whether or not to pimp her out. He's the boss who may or may not send his assistant a naked picture of himself to see how she reacts. He's a stranger, sure, but he's also a friend, a father, a brother, a co-worker, a religious leader, a famous basketball player, and the list goes on. Schrödinger's Rapist controls some women's live and changes others, but very few women are totally unaffected by this society with infinite opportunities for sexual violence. Whether it's walking with our keys out or calling friends in the middle of dates, the fear manifests itself somehow.

There are many ways men and women are unequal in society, and a big one revolves around sex, sexuality, and the fear of sexual violence. This is important because when we talk about big, overarching issues of sexual violence -- like sex trafficking, prostitution, domestic violence, etc. -- we need to understand that they exist in this context of inequality and uncertainty. Individual women experience sexual violence and the fear of sexual violence in the same way Schrödinger's audience experienced the cat -- without knowing its true state or what will happen next. Women as a group also experience uncertainty about what their sexual future holds -- their rights, their responsibilities, and their ability to protect themselves. And until we understand and then address that reality, we can't effectively address issues like sex trafficking that manifest as a result of it.

Photo credit: Mark Bellucci