				INTERLUDES (Chapter 90)

Warren found himself talking about his assault again, in an unlikely place.

Sophia and Warren, this semester, were actually taking a course together. It was a requirement for their degree, a Women's Studies course called "Women in Contemporary Society." The professor bordered on being one of those misandrist gender feminists, but Warren and Sophia actually had fun with that. Having a committed couple taking her course together threw Dr. Abrams for a bit of a loop. One day, when she was prattling on about how heterosexual sex "established male dominance," Sophia threw out a quip along the lines of "I wish my particular male was more dominant," leading to laughter from most of the rest of the class, and sputters of indignation from Dr. Abrams and a couple of ultra-feminist classmates.

Warren and Sophia tried to keep it light, letting everyone in the class know the humor they found in some of Dr. Abrams' more ridiculous pronouncements. Until, one day right after Warren had testified in the trial, the topic of discussion in the class turned to rape.

"This is something you men in this class will never understand--what it's like to be raped, what it's like to walk in fear of being raped," Dr. Abrams was saying.

"You're wrong," Warren interrupted.

"Excuse me?"

"There's a criminal trial going on right here in Madison, it's been in all the papers," Warren said sarcastically. "The defendants are on trial for assault, attempted murder, and rape--and the victim is male. He was anally raped. Right here on campus, he's a student."

"I don't usually agree with him," Meg, one of the ultra-feminists in the class, said, "but I think he's right. I remember hearing something about that."

"Hmmm. I haven't heard a thing," Dr. Abrams said, "and I think I would have. Did the victim come to the rape center for counseling? He should have. I would like to meet this victim. I'm not sure I believe he was truly raped."

Warren got a little angry. "And that's the reason he didn't go to the rape center, because it's full of people like you who don't believe this could ever happen to a guy. He had private counseling with a therapist he trusts. And if you want to meet him, he's talking to you right now. Let me assure you, I was raped. It wasn't pleasant, and I don't particularly like talking about it, but if I can get you off your damn gender horse by talking about it, then I suppose it's worth it."

Dr. Abrams looked at him in stunned disbelief. "You're a rape victim?"

"Yes, I am. Last January, behind Thompson Hall. Four guys beat the living daylights out of me, and then one of them raped me. I just testified in the trial last week."

"Do you know why this happened, I mean, what was the motive?" 

"Oh, it was a gay-bashing. I'm not gay, but they assumed I was, because I'm a figure skater."

Dr. Abrams realized something. "Oh, you and Sophia are those ice dancers!"

"Right."

"Did what happened to you make you more empathetic to women who have this happen to them?"

"I already was," Warren told her, "for a very personal reason."

"I was a survivor of both rape and boyfriend abuse when Warren met me. In fact, it was still going on, regularly. He's the one that pulled me out of that and convinced me to get help," Sophia told the class. "He didn't need to be raped himself to empathize, believe me. He even helped me in high school when I did peer counseling for other victims."

Dr. Abrams looked like someone who had had their entire worldview stood on its head. "You did rape and abuse counseling?" she asked Warren.

"No, Sophia did, but they asked me to talk to some of the girls about what friends and loved ones of abuse victims go through. Evidently, one of my speeches convinced one girl to confide in a friend, which lead to the friend convincing her to finally go to the police, which probably saved her life," Warren said, thinking of Meggan. "I'm going to wear that little feather in my cap proudly, thank you very much. I got to know this girl afterwards, because she started dating the guy she confided in, and that guy was part of Sophia's social circle, so I got to know her well. She's doing wonderfully, she's still with the guy, they go to college in Boston, and she's not a victim anymore."

"I'm stunned," said Dr. Abrams. "I never thought a guy could be this intimate with rape and abuse."

"That's because you don't want to believe it, because it shatters your little gender-oriented worldview," Warren told her. 

"Let me ask you a question--did being raped increase your fear level, like it does to women?"

"Of course it did! I'm scared to walk across campus by myself--and I enjoy walking by myself. Look, I'm not weak. I'm a competitive athlete. I lift weights, because I have to lift Sophie on the ice. I never thought of myself as weak. And the assault made me feel weak, less than two months before we were supposed to compete in the World Championships. Feeling weak made me scared."

"Women feel weak all the time, Warren."

"No, I don't," Sophia told her. "I can't. And we had to drum that out of Warren, post-haste, believe me. Between his therapist and myself, we devoted the better part of two months convincing him he wasn't weak. It took four guys to do this to him, don't forget that. And, even though I'm an abuse survivor, I don't feel weak, either. I might have then. I don't anymore. That's a trap. You can't fall into that trap--and you especially can't fall into that trap if you're a competitive athlete. Neither of us are weak people. We proved that at the World Championships."

"What do you mean?" Dr. Abrams asked her.

"After the rape, after the beating, after the therapy--we got our asses to San Jose and won the bronze medal. This in our second Worlds, this after finishing tenth in the previous year, and this does not happen in Ice Dance." Sophia smiled. "We got to conquer our demons and the Russians, all at once." The class chuckled at that.

--------------------------------------

Sophia and Warren stayed on campus for Thanksgiving. Paul went home to Cleveland, taking Cait with him, so Jessie and Crash decided to come up and spend the long weekend with them. They ended up eating Thanksgiving dinner in the dorm, along with Mike and Alexa.

"So, how's that fabulous free dance of yours coming?" Jessie asked them.

"It's coming," Warren told her.

"We going to see it at the Grand Prix final?"

"Nope. Nationals."

"I haven't even seen it yet," Alexa grinned. "They keep kicking me out of practice when they work on it."

"We want it to be a surprise," Warren said.

"Your biggest fan should get a preview," Alexa maintained.

"Maybe you will. When it's done," Sophia told her.

"Promises, promises."

"I got my tickets, by the way," Jessie told them. "Crash and I will be there, with bells on."

"Yeah, lots of people from here are coming, too, even though classes don't start for another week following," Alexa said. "Good thing the dorms stay open through Christmas break."

"Warren," Jessie asked him, "I forgot to ask you. What happened at the trial?"

"Oh, I just found out Tuesday. Guilty on all counts."

"Great."

"My only regret is that damn Reverend Watson couldn't accompany them."

"You should sue him," Mike said.

"What?" Warren asked.

"Sue him. Alexa's told me the whole story of what happened. You should talk to a lawyer about it, but you might have a case. You could probably shut his organization down."

"Hmmm. Something to think about, anyhow."







