Monday, March 10, 2008

More from the WTF files

From a BBC News story about a rape case in Italy:

[The defendant] had argued that the young woman - identified as Rosa - had consented to sex, a version of events which the woman strongly denied.

The Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to remove a pair of jeans "without the collaboration of the person wearing them", and that the young woman must therefore have consented to sex.

If denim was all it took to stop a rapist, then there would not have been 272,350 sexual assaults in the United States in 2006. If denim was all it took to stop a rapist, no one would ever have to undergo the horrors of sexual assault again. If denim was all it took, we wouldn't all have a friend or family (or both) who has been raped.

But denim doesn't stop rape, contrary to what the Italian Supreme Court seems to think.

In fact, there are lots of other things that also don't stop rape, like dressing modestly and staying sober and never going out at night.

But you know what does stop rape?

Prosecuting the shit out of rapists. Blaming the god damn rapists for rape, instead of the victim. Raising our children to understand that it's never okay.. not if she's drunk, not if she's said yes before, not if she's your wife. As a society, treating rape like what it is: a gross violation of human bodily autonomy.

Not. Fucking. Denim.

4 comments:

Adam said...

Yeah, I saw this one. Fucking insane.

m.wise said...

i agree, e. prosecution and punishment are what's needed.

Demirep said...

/applause

Is it Serbia where a rapist's genitals are super glued to a board; a somewhat sharp (although not surgically fit) implement is given to them and the other end of the board is set ablaze...maybe I just fantasized that...

I think that rape would occur less often if this was the case.

Monticore said...

e-this is why women shouldn't wear dresses, skirts or elastic band pants! They could be raped. I feel so much safer in denim. It's like a modern day chastity belt!