Who Is Bernard Lefkowitz's Our Guys?

There has always been high stigma around criminal trials relating to rape and the word “rape” in general. That is a very explored topic in Bernard Lefkowitz’s Our Guys. The title of the book Our Guys gives a fine implication of the point made by its author: the disproportionate way in which the wrongdoings of beloved figures, typically men, are handled. Throughout the book, Lefkowitz mainly utilizes both pathos and logos through the methods of storytelling and comparisons to clearly present the idea that, particularly, white, athletic, popular men seem to hold protection from the repercussions of their misdeeds. In an attempt to emotionally sway readers, Our Guys presents the true story of intellectually disabled Leslie Faber and the gang rape

I was crying. The boys told her that this must be our secret. We’ll be mad at you if you talk about this, you’ll get kicked out of your school, we’ll tell your mother if you break our secret.”(Lefkowitz, 25). With this excerpt, an emotional connection can be made and the point of the argument also comes through with the anger generated from the clear power imbalance between Leslie and the boys. The reader’s sympathy for Leslie doesn’t stop at the wrongdoings committed by the jocks; it is reinstated with the absence of sympathy from the Judge’s ruling. “In the Glen Ridge case, at the moment of the decision, the judge decided that the damage done to this woman weighed less heavily than his concern for the futures of the rapists and his sympathy for their families. That judgment was not exceptional.”(Lefkowitz, 488). The misdirected commiseration for the jocks over Leslie very evidently supports Lefkowitz’s claim that they received heightened support from the community and those in power. In both of these quotes, the author is simply telling Leslie’s story, yet flinging his own argument in the same sentence- more effectively presenting his