Court Case Of Mike Tyson And Desiree Washington

The case with Mike Tyson and Desiree Washington is a famous case that serves as an example of the intersectionality of race and sexism that conflicts with the experience of the Black rape survivor. On July of 1991, Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant traveled to Indianapolis to compete in the Miss Black America Pageant. There she met Mike Tyson, a worldwide boxing champion, while he was recording a commercial with many of the beauty contestants. Tyson invited Washington out with him and made a stop at his hotel room. Tyson asked Washington to go up to his hotel room with him, where he then raped her. Washington accused Tyson of rape and testified that she was forced to have sex. While Tyson testified that the sex was consensual, Washington

was labelled as a Jezebel by the African-American community. Although Washington was eighteen at the time, the African-American community failed to see her as a young girl who was brutalized and sexually violated. Instead they created a foul image of her, labelling her as promiscuous and playing naïve. After an extensive trial, Tyson was convicted with rape and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving three years Tyson was released for good behaviour. “When Tyson was convicted of rape, metaphorically speaking, Washington won the battle in the courtroom but Black women everywhere lost the war because the jezebel and sapphire archetypes were insidiously dispensed to dehumanize Black femininity” (Griffin, 84).
After Tysons ruling, many remarks surfaced that indicated Washington had “wanted it/asked for it/deserved what she got” (Gillium, 79).

A newspaper came out that was titled “After the Verdict, the Doubts; Black Women Show Little Sympathy for Tyson’s Accuser”. In the article, there was a Black female close to Washington’s that also blamed the raping on her. She said “Eighteen-year-olds are not naive in this day and age, I know what guys want at 2 o’clock in the morning. Where has she been, living in a closet? … Even if he did do it, I feel no sympathy for her” (Gillium, 79). She was also accused of breaking a pageant rule that was put in her place for protection, Kevin Brown stated that if she had followed the rules, this whole thing would have not happened. Washington then categorized as a gold digger. She was also categorized as a sellout by the community, and if she in fact had been raped she should have been quiet about it in order to protect Tyson. During the trial, Washington was subjected to racist and sexist maltreatment. Washington was isolated by the public and dehumanizing comments made by Tyson were ignored. Washington was left to suffer alone and in silence while Tyson was defended by the public despite his history of objection and abuse of women

(Griffin,74).