Slifkin discusses efforts to reform "rape laws" during the mid-1970s. At the time, the death penalty was applied to rape cases, not because of its violent nature, but because of its lingering legal connection to the idea that women were property. She also notes the racial implications of rape laws by pointing out that, historically, black men were charged and convicted of rape far more frequently than white men. Because of these implications, NOW was against the death penalty for rape.