home

Putting Time Limits on Rape

Time Magazine has an article about the differing laws in various states on whether a man can be convicted of rape if the female consents, and then during intercourse, she changes her mind.

The answer depends on where you live. The highest courts of seven states, including Connecticut and Kansas, have ruled that a woman may withdraw her consent at any time, and if the man doesn't stop, he is committing rape. Illinois has become the first state to pass legislation giving a woman that right to change her mind. But in Maryland--as well as in North Carolina--when a woman says yes, she can't take it back once sex has begun--or, at least, she can't call the act rape.

The Maryland case is under appeal.

If the law doesn't recognize a woman's right to say no during sex, [victims' rights advocates] say, there is no recourse for a woman who begins to feel pain or who learns her partner isn't wearing a condom or has HIV. Those who are wary of these measures say they're not arguing against having a man stop immediately when a woman no longer wants to have sex, but with how to define immediately.

That is totally illogical to me. If it starts to hurt, or there's no protection, and he doesn't pull out, it may be unwanted sex at that point but it's not rape. Let's not trivialize real rape to accomodate definitions of consensual sex gone awry. Make up a new crime for that if it's going to be illegal. But to brand someone as a sex offender for life, require sex offender registration, submit them to possible life sentences? Come on.

More...

I also don't agree that the problem is with the word "immediately." It's with the communication of the initially consenting person's demand for cessation. Only if the demand for withdrawal was clearly and unequivocally communicated to the partner, who then forcibly continued, should it be construed to be forced or unwanted sex. I wrote more about that here.

< Obama to Quit Smoking as He Enters Race | Libby Trial Last Batter Up: Tim Russert >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    actually, this is the consequence of lazy (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by cpinva on Tue Feb 06, 2007 at 04:05:52 PM EST
    legislators. they want to appear tough, law & order kinda guys, but are too f*ing lazy to do the heavy lifting required. it's far easier to just throw together some half-assed law, and then let those "activist" judges have at.

    really, they win both ways: they can claim that isn't what they meant, when what they meant is nowhere to be found in the legislation they actually passed. and, they can lay the blame for "misinterpretation" of the law on "activist" liberal judges, who should, by god, be replaced with good, god-fearing, conservative "activist" judges!

    when the dust settles, the average constituent just hasn't a clue what their elected representative is really up to, but they know it's good, because their boy/girl tells them so.

    writing a law that said exactly what it means is damn hard work, and not nearly as much fun as a 30 second sound bite. don't expect one anytime soon, from any state legislative body, or congress.

    out of curiousity, what's it called if, just as the guy is orgasming, the woman says to stop? further, if the guy isn't wearing a condom, wouldn't that be sort of obvious, before penetration? as well, is "btw, i'm HIV positive" a sweet nothing normally whispered into a partner's ear, while in deep coitus?

    dammit, people want to know!

    conviction seems unjust to me (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by zaitztheunconvicted on Tue Feb 06, 2007 at 10:30:46 PM EST
    Have you folks seen the article in Time or at time.com about the rape case and the appeal and the withdrawal of consent?
    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1584786,00.html?cnn=yes
    a guy and a gal are making out and he begins the process of intercourse and he has inserted his penis into her vagina.  Now, at this point, she asks him to stop, and he does so within seconds and withdraws.

    He is convicted of rape, but the case is on appeal and the appeals court has ruled in his favor, but the state is still fighting.

    The article says that during deliberations, the jury asks the judge "if it was rape if a female changed her mind during the sex to which she consented and the man continued until climax. The judge said it was for them to decide."

    However, I believe the answer should have been, "Usually, no."  The reason is that most men ejaculate within 90 seconds of insertion and they are not in control of ejaculation and no one responds immediately to any instruction.

    I was in a car accident once in which a fellow had made a left turn directly in front of oncoming traffic and it turned out t