Case in Point by June Jordan

Case in Point

by June Jordan

A friend of mine who raised six daughters and

who never wrote what she regards as serious

until she

was fifty-three

tells me there is no silence peculiar

to the female

I have decided I have something to say

about female silence: so to speak

these are my 2¢ on the subject:

2 weeks ago I was raped for the second

time in my life the first occasion

being a whiteman and the most recent

situation being a blackman actually

head of the local NAACP

Today is 2 weeks after the fact

of that man straddling

his knees either side of my chest

his hairy arm and powerful left hand

forcing my arms and my hands over my head

flat to the pillow while he rammed

what he described as his quote big dick

unquote into my mouth

and shouted out: “D’ya want to swallow

my big dick; well, do ya?”

He was being rhetorical.

My silence was peculiar

to the female.

This poem was first published in 1989 in June Jordan's book, Naming Our Destiny from Thunder's Mouth Press. I have it in my copy of the revised edition of No More Masks! An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women Poets, edited by Florence Howe. (1993, Harper Collins)

Let's first look at this poem as a poem. Four stanzas, and Jordan bookends her horrific scene with, in the first stanza, a short introduction that could go anywhere. She returns to it in the last stanza, with the added gut punch of that fourth stanza's first line: "He was being rhetorical."

He, of course, here is the rapist. He is the second rapist of the speaker; he just happens to be the most recent. In the second stanza, we get three 2's: cents, weeks, and times (4 if you count that this is the 2nd stanza). That repetition emphasizes that this is the second time the speaker has been raped. Revictimization is not uncommon with rape, and Jordan, like many other female poets in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, wrote about their rape experiences.

That second stanza is a seondary introduction (another 2). We are introduced to this speaker's rape history in general, after being told that this connects to the female silence introduced in the first stanza. Does it matter that she tells us one rapist was white and one was black? Yes. In a racist society, especially one with its history of rape (actual and the accusation being used as a racist tool) it very much matters.

Stanza three is the rape. There are some 2's here as well: knees, arms, and hands. His are powerful; hers are constrained. The rhetoric of the rapist is absurd, thus horrifying, and is not uncommon--many rape survivors report being talked to/at during their attack, as well as before and after.

The theme of female silence is made literal here. The absurdity arises from the rapist forcing silence on the speaker and then asking her a question. The absurdity arises from the fact that her answer would be "no." The absurdity arises because he is already forcing her to do what he is asking of her.

The poem ends with a short stanza, just three lines. "He was being rhetorical" is so powerful for many reasons: the speaker's sudden academic tone, the speaker's sardonic tone, the speaker reducing this act of violence to one of communication, and the speaker's summing up of this horrific experience in light of her friend's pronouncment. (This same friend who was silent for decades . . . because she was raising 5 kids. Female silence.)

There are all kinds of female silence--many reasons, many causes, many ways of making it happen. Jordan demands in this poem that we see rape as another way men/patriarchy force women to be silent.

June Jordan wrote about many topics in many poems, including gender and race, violence and misogyny. In one of her most famous poems, "Poem about My Rights," she tackles all of these topics, as well as personal and American history. You can read that poem here.

Rape is one of the least reported crimes in the United States and around the world. To learn more, read Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape by Susan Brownmiller (who died recently). The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has statistics on rape in the US. The World Health Organization, WHO, has statistics on rape worldwide. RAINN has resources to help those who have been victimized by rape, including a counseling hotline.

June Joirdan died in 2002 from breast cancer; she was only 65 years old. Besides poetry, she wrote essays, children's poetry, fiction, YA novels, and also edited anthologies. She won many, many accolades and awards, ranging from being named on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor (Jordan was bisexual) to a PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award.

The Mayo Clinic is a great source of information on breast cancer.