Advocates say Jackson County judge's 'Fifty Shades' comment trivializes rape

A Jackson County judge’s comments likening testimony in an ongoing serial rape case to the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” could have a chilling effect on sexual assault and rape victims’ willingness to report abuse in the future, advocates said.

Meanwhile, a Washburn University School of Law professor specializing in ethics called the comment “innocuous” but questioned its appropriateness.

Following testimony Wednesday from a woman who said Jacob C. Ewing forced her to have sex though she didn’t believe she had been raped, Judge Norbert Marek Jr. pondered aloud whether the situation were more like the popular erotic novel than a crime.

“Is this ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ or 50 shades of illegal?” he asked before sending the charges to trial.

Ewing, 21, faces sex crime charges that include five counts of rape, eight counts of criminal sodomy, one count of attempted rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14, two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. The alleged crimes occurred between 2014 and 2016. He was first arrested in May.

Marek’s comment was disappointing and unprofessional, said Michelle McCormick, director of the YWCA of Northeast Kansas’ Center for Safety and Empowerment. The comment was the topic of discussion at the center following news reports of the hearing, she said.

Pop culture references of any kind made about rape normalize and trivialize the serious crime, she said.

“This has such a huge impact on those who have experienced sexual violence,” she said. “It makes it seem like it’s part of our normal, everyday culture.”

Rape is one of the most unreported crimes, McCormick said. In the U.S., one in five women will be raped, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with nearly 40 percent of those occurring among women ages 18 to 24. More than half of those will go unreported, McCormick said.

The specific reference to “Fifty Shades of Grey” was troubling because the book’s sadomasochistic themes have damaged the organization’s efforts to educate the public about sexual violence and rape, she said. The YWCA, which has a Holton office at 125 W. 4th Street, has been advocating for changes in the criminal justice system to make it easier for victims of sex crimes to come forward.

“We have a much higher expectation for our court,” McCormick said.

Jackson County District Attorney Shawna Miller has told The Topeka Capital-Journal she suspects more women may have been abused but are unwilling to come forward. Following the last hearing, Miller said many victims blame themselves.

“It’s common to say ‘I went there, so I’m to blame,’ or ‘I drank too much, so I’m to blame,’?” she said. “Why should it be different for rape? It shouldn’t.”

As a rule, judges shouldn’t embarrass or belittle attorneys or witnesses either in written orders or from the bench, said Joe Mastrosimone, a Washburn law professor researching judicial ethics, but such behavior isn’t uncommon.

Mastrosimone is writing a law journal article about “bench slaps,” the practice of judges writing superficially humorous, but often insulting, bench orders.

Mastrosimone said he wasn’t sure Marek’s comment would rise to the level of an ethics violation, which would require a formal complaint filed with the Kansas Supreme Court.

“Perhaps on further reflection the judge would rethink giving a comment like that, given the nature of the case,” he said.

Marek’s comment went largely unnoticed in the courtroom last Wednesday.

Sonja Willms, president of the Topeka chapter of the National Organization for Women and a Jackson County resident, attended the hearing to show support for the victims.

She didn’t hear the judge’s comment, she said, and the comparison surprised her when she heard about it after the hearing. Willms called the comment “dangerous” and said it downplayed the “heinous” accusations against Ewing.

“Rape is not about sex, it’s about aggression,” she said. “To compare it to a book about sexual deviance is just inappropriate.”