In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Category: Rape Culture

Well, Gosh, Officer, Doesn’t Being “Just Passed-Out Drunk” Mean That You Can’t Give Meaningful Consent To Sex?

Motherfuckin’ OY!

DURHAM, N.C. – A woman who claims she was raped by members of Duke University’s lacrosse team was described as “just passed-out drunk” by one of the first police officers to see her, according to a recording of radio traffic obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The conversation between the officer and a police dispatcher took place about 1:30 a.m. March 14, about five minutes after a grocery store security guard called 911 to report a woman in the parking lot who would not get out of someone else’s car.

The officer gave the dispatcher the police code for an intoxicated person and said the woman was unconscious. When asked whether she needed medical help, the officer said: “She’s breathing and appears to be fine. She’s not in distress. She’s just passed-out drunk.”

And of course the claim is that she showed up drunk. So….that means what? Because if she were obviously drunk from the moment she showed up, that means she couldn’t give meaningful consent to any sexual acts she participated in with people who knew she was drunk.

Unless this is some kind of defense to robbery. Hey! She was drunk, and she just forgot her nails, cell phone and $400!

What was that about “exoneration”?

Defense lawyers for several players on Duke University’s lacrosse team said Wednesday that they expected at least one player to be indicted, perhaps as early as Monday, in the investigation of a woman’s charges that she was raped by three players at a party last month.

Based on statements made by Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, the lawyers are bracing for him to bring a case to a grand jury that meets on Monday. That move, they said, would inevitably produce an indictment of a player on sexual-assault charges, and perhaps indictments of other players on charges of aiding and abetting the assault.

An arrest warrant would be issued for any players who are indicted. After Monday, the grand jury here is not scheduled to meet again for two weeks.

“We know this case is going to a trial, a jury trial,” said Bill Thomas II, who represents one of the lacrosse team’s captains.

Not saying that these men are absolutely, unequivocally and without-a-doubt guilty. But the cries of, “See, they’ve been proven innocent!” were a little premature, no?

How Do We Stop Rape?

Apparently, rape would totally end if only those irresponsible women would quit binge drinking.

I think that my problem with it is this : In Britain right now we have a massive explosion of female binge drinking (aka Minge Drinking) featuring large numbers of women drinking until the lose conciousness. A night isn’t considered a good night unless you puke, fight, lose your memory or all three.

By putting more of the responsibility for sex on the male I think the government is risking greenlighting this behaviour – so that women mistakenly feel that it is now safer to behave in this way.

This change in the law isn’t going to stop the alley rapists or the rohypnol rapists – it’s going to be targetting the drunk guys who go home with a drunk girl. Rather than driving this campaign, they need to target the cause – women getting so drunk that they stumble home with someone they have no interest in.

Ah yes. Women stumbling home drunk causes rape. Sort of how people driving cars causes auto theft.

And if we tell people not to rape, then suddently we give women the green light to feel safe. And Lord knows we can’t have that.

Thanks to Julia for the link.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, let’s just wait and see if… OMG SHE’S A LIAR JUST LIKE TAWANA BRAWLEY LET’S PROSECUTE HER RIGHT NOW”

Remember all those people who used the “wait and see” line with the Duke rape case? How they argued that us man-hatin’ feminists should wait for conclusive evidence? Well, now that the defense lawyer for the lacrosse players is doing his job and advocating for his clients by telling the press that the first round of DNA tests “conclusively” proves that the players are innocent, those same folks are jumping in with their conclusions: The “boys” are innocent. The woman is a liar. This is just like the Tawana Brawley case. Etc etc.

Except, you know, there’s that whole “conclusiveness” issue.

But District Attorney Mike Nifong, who has said he is “convinced” a rape occurred, immediately downplayed the significance of the test results and held open the possibility of charges being filed.

“There are no new developments and when there are new developments, we’ll schedule a press conference,” Nifong said in one interview.

Asked again later, he added: “The investigation is proceeding and I expect to have all the information I need within a week.”

A Durham police spokeswoman, in response to a series of questions about how the test results could affect the investigation, said only, “The Police Department is still actively investigating this case.”

Meanwhile, a lawyer close to the case, who declined to be identified, said the DNA tests returned Monday afternoon from the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab were not all-inclusive. Another lab also is analyzing the DNA samples and those results are not available yet, the lawyer said.

But he’s the prosecutor, right? Not exactly a neutral source. Let’s ask someone else:

But UNC law professor Rich Rosen said the test results don’t entirely clarify the situation.

“There’s certainly no way this helps the prosecution,” Rosen said. “It’s clear that if I’m a defense attorney, this is a good result. Whether it’s a definitive result or not, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Funny words, those.

There’s obviously a lot we don’t know. This obviously is not good for the prosecution, and I’m not posting this to make the point that there’s no way that these men are innocent. A more comprehensive follow-up post about all the issues this raises will be coming in the next day or so (taxes call, I’m in class, and my little brain can only do so much at once).

More UK Rapists Going Free

The number of rapists being cautioned rather than jailed has more than doubled over the past decade, it emerged today.

Home Office figures revealed 40 rapists had been cautioned in 2004 while there were 19 cautions in 1994, the Times reported. The figures come at a time when the conviction rate for rape allegations has fallen sharply.

I’m not all that familiar with the legal system in the UK, but from what I gather a “caution” basically means that the accused admits to their crime, it goes on record, and they’re released without jail time. So here we have more admitted rapists going free, and a simultaneous decrease in the conviction rate. Fewer than 6% of reported rapes result in a conviction. Go read the article, feel sick.

Thanks to Roger for the link.

(Even) More On The Duke Rape Case

There is so much good commentary going on about the Duke rape case that I would be remiss to not point it out. Bloggers have gone at this case from all angles, and it’s been really interesting to read what they’re saying. Head over to their blogs and check out the posts in their entirety.

Read More…Read More…