Rape

117. Both parties being unmarried.—The unmarried Ifugaos, from earliest childhood, are accustomed to collect in certain houses, using them as dormitories. Usually both sexes sleep together in these dormitories. Naturally, too, there is a great deal of sexual intercourse each night, for sexual intercourse takes the same place among the Ifugaos that embraces and kisses do in the courtship of some other peoples. The nature of the female human being, says the Ifugao, is to resist the advances of the male. He naïvely points out that the hens, the cows, and, in fact, the females of any species resist the male in this respect, notwithstanding they may be quite as anxious for the sexual act as the male himself. It is so with women, he says. It is considered shocking in some sections of Ifugao for a girl to yield herself to her lover the first time without resistance. This idiosyncracy of feminine nature being a fact, it is sometimes difficult to be certain as to whether the resistance offered by a girl is bona fide or not—as to whether she is willing for the sexual act to occur, half willing, or entirely opposed to it. There may or may not be doubt in the mind of the male—usually there is none—but friends of the girl, by distorting or by putting a slightly different interpretation on what occurred, could make a case of rape in the white man’s courts out of almost any of these common events. Furthermore, a girl on the advice of her parents, were such a rape punishable by fine, might and frequently would, entice some youth into forcing her, in order that her family might benefit financially.

Consequently if a girl be “caught” in a sleeping house by a youth who habitually sleeps there, the Ifugaos do not look upon it as a case of rape, even though force be used. By following this principle a great many questions and “put-up-jobs” are avoided. If a girl be seized and raped by one who does not habitually sleep in or frequent the girl’s dormitory, and the evidence establishes a case of bona fide resistance on the part of the girl, a fine of “six” is assessed against the raptor as follows:

Kadangyang class

Death blanket ₱8.00
Cooking pot2.00
Natauwinan1.00
Natauwinan1.00
Natuku.50
Natuku.50
Total,₱13.00

Middle class

Cooking pot₱2.00
Natauwinan1.00
Natauwinan1.00
Nunbadi.40
Nunbadi.40
Na-oha.25
Total,₱5.05

Very poor

Cooking pot₱2.00
Na-oha.25
Na-oha.25
Na-oha.25
Na-oha.25
Na-oha.25
Total,₱3.25

It will be noted that the above are very light fines. In some parts of Ifugao they would be considerably higher—notably in the Silipan country.

The committing of the crime of rape in broad daylight, as, for example, the “catching” of a woman in a camote field, constitutes an aggravating circumstance. Such a rape as that punishable by a fine of “six” above would be punishable by a fine of “ten” of a value for the three classes respectively of about thirty-two pesos, sixteen pesos, and eight pesos, if committed in broad daylight. This is owing to the greater “shame” which the woman feels on account of the unwonted hour.

118. Rape of a married woman by an unmarried man.—This is a serious offense. It is punishable by a fine equivalent to twice the fine assessed for luktap, or unaggravated adultery. One-half of this fine goes to the husband of the outraged woman and his kin and one-half to the woman and her kin.

119. Rape of a married woman by a married man.—This is a case still more serious for the offender, since in addition to paying the afore-mentioned fine, he must pay to his own wife an additional fine as penalty for luktap.