Why does the myth that a woman can consent to sex while asleep still persist? Why should it matter that the man rapist may not have been aware she was asleep. If she has pushed you away twice when she was awake, and she hasn’t clearly said “Yes, I want to have sex with you”, or any of a number of variations on that theme which would make it quite clear whether she was willing to have sex with you, do you claim that you “weren’t sure?” What’s more why do Judges accept that? The only good thing about this is that Justice Lex Lasry disagreed that it would have made any difference to the outcome.* May we have more judges like him.
*the appeal in this case was based on the fact that that the jury was not told that the defendant might have believed that the woman had consented because she didn’t say no, and he thought that she was not asleep at the time.
Categories: gender & feminism, law & order, social justice, violence
Friday Hoyden: Gillian Triggs 
DUFC #69 
Advising women to prevent their own rapes is not brave or edgy or helpful 
An article about domestic violence in the Guardian in which it’s OK to read the comments 
Hoyden About Town 
Gah! That we still have to have this discussion. Again. And again.
Yea for the Judge having a brain, but the fact that this even made it to appeal? Yuck.
Urk. When “he thought she might have consented” is a defense, no rapist will ever be prosecuted.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think “thinking the victim might have consented” should be a defense. It paints consent as being some sort of mythical magical thing at the end of the rainbow which may or may not exist. In reality consent is very clear and straightforward, you either agree to have sex or you don’t.
Can you imagine a burglar using the defense that he “thought the victim consented to donating her possessions”?
I have created a mnemonic for any men having difficulty determining if consent has been given. “If in doubt, pull your d*k out”.
Yeah I am tired of hearing this so-called defence too. I guess it is so “believable” (to some people I mean), because women are in a perpetual state of “yes” – hey, we’re the sex class, we’re here for men’s pleasure, therefore we have to explicitly say no (which doesn’t always work, as we know), otherwise we’re just doing what we are meant to do.
@Helen2 May I suggest a revised version? “If in doubt, dick stays out.” 🙂