Sociological Theories Do Laws Serve to Help Term Paper

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Sociological Theories

Do laws serve to help the masses or do they serve the "propertied and privileged few?" (Heywood 152) This question is thrown into stark relief, given the recent Kobe Bryant Scandal regarding the accuser's allegations that the NBA superstar raped her. (CNN.com, 2003)

Theorists and Sociological concepts

On one hand, it could be argued that the privileges of the wealth and fame offered by Bryant's status gave him added media protection. However, it could also be alleged that in a rape trial, given the seriousness of the offense, one cannot presume a defendant's guilt. Although societal prejudices may condemn the women's sexual behavior or mental instability, in the past American history of justice, Black African-American males have frequently and falsely been accused of violating white women as means of "keeping them in their place." Thus, the "bifurcated consciousness," or a polarized identity kept in place by the absolutism and order of the justice system is applicable not only to female sexuality, whereby enforcement of a particular feminized norm of behavior -- to not go to a basketball player's hotel room unless one is going to engage in intercourse with him -- is paired against the bifurcated consciousness of the African-American male, whom is forced to present himself in an asexual fashion or face the consequences.

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Bryant's fame may mitigate this consciousness, but still, the image is present. (Ritzer 160) Added to the problem is the idea of female subjectivity (Heywood 173) that may delineate a different perceptual mode of perceiving sexual advances, and thus require within the justice system a different mode of adjudicating a rape case.

Conclusion

Despite his wife, Vanessa Bryant's "Statement" to the contrary, regardless of her husband's innocence, the nature of the rape case has implications outside of its legal or personal framework. (2003) Rape is a crime of perceptions, which are impacted by one's social as well as one's personal, sexual consciousness. The roles of race and gender do not exist outside of the minds of jurors, and thus, they must be discussed in the courtroom, if only as a means of encouraging judges and jurors to be conscious enough of them to put them aside.

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