TV1’s documentary Six Angry Women screened last night on International Women’s Day. It traces the story of one of New Zealand’s most singular crimes, the abducting in 1984 of University of Auckland drama lecturer Mervyn Thompson.
Thompson’s abductors left him tied to a tree, the clue to the six women’s motive evident in the word ‘Rapist’ spray-painted on his car. Their identities were a mystery then and remain a mystery today, prompting the cold-case investigative approach adopted by filmmaker Megan Jones in this documentary.
Jones has her own links to this case – her mother was one of Thompson’s students and was interviewed by police following the incident. In making this film, she successfully located and interviewed key women in Auckland’s feminist community at the time, many of them lesbians. Interspersing their memories and observations alongside extensive archival footage provides a window into the social mores characterising 1980s rape culture.
Most men not only believed they should have sexual access to women’s bodies but typically occupied clear positions of power over women in their workplaces, as well as in their homes. Marriage effectively gave men what was termed ‘a licence to rape’, since the law protected husbands should any wife dare to accuse them of sexual violence. In this environment, sexual harassment was normative, advertisers routinely used women’s bodies to sell everything from beer to vacuum cleaners, and girls were encouraged to enter beauty contests when they grew up. There was a lot for women to be angry about.
Six Angry Women depicts the desperation and frustration felt by women in a world ruled by men and for men. We can watch it feeling relieved women can now speak out about rape and expect to be heard in this #MeToo age. Reassuring also is that marital rape is now a crime, and organisations and institutions mostly have sexual harassment policies and guidelines. The ‘vigilante’ actions of the six women are no longer needed – or are they?
The recent movie Promising Young Woman provides a useful comparison. Called a ‘revenge movie’, it depicts one very angry woman’s attempts to resist and challenge contemporary rape culture. In this modern world, men continue to objectify women and regard drunk women as easy conquests. Women who are raped are blamed by friends and institutions for ‘getting themselves raped’, and justice seems as elusive now as it was in the 1980s.
Watching these two compelling productions provokes the question – has anything changed? Fortunately, there has been progress, achieved in large part by the efforts and campaigns of women like the six angry women and their sisters. These include increased support, better trained police officers, and generally increased awareness of rape’s prevalence, particularly within relationships.
So why does a woman raped today have no greater chance of seeing the rapist convicted than a woman in 1984? Why are the first questions asked about a rape incident still those that query what the woman was doing, wearing, drinking …? And why do so many men continue to view drunk and unconscious women as rapeable?
And we wonder why women are still angry.
