Jack & Jill Politics

And, HELL, NO!, if one’s ears are full of earwax to the point he can’t hear a woman refusing his advances.

We are going into 2009, and there really shouldn’t be any blurring of the lines when a woman says she doesn’t want to have sex with you – it is known as RAPE.

Yet, according to Marianne Mollmann, Director of Women’s Rights at Human Rights Watch, some countries don’t GET IT.  Some of the defenses the perps are being allowed to use will make you throw up your eggnog (Hat Tip to TeacherKen at DailyKos):

It’s not rape if she is my wife.

GTHOH with that one.  Must have forgotten the Greta Rideout case in Oregon over thirty years ago, which set legal precedent that ruled a man cannot rape his own wife. Period.

It’s not rape if she is my daughter.

W-T-F?  The jackass with this defense might not consider it rape, but if he actually got sent to the joint, he’d get a lesson in being one’s “Prison Bitch”, and not on the voluntary tip, either.

It’s not rape if she was drunk.

Will someone tell me what pleasure does one get out of having sex with someone who’s UNCONSCIOUS and can’t GIVE CONSENT?  Andrew Luster thought he could get away with that defense, but the State of California gave him 124 years in the joint in response to that defense.  Not to mention he wouldn’t be locked up if Dog the Saltine-POC Bounty Hunter hadn’t gone after his ass in Mexico.

It’s not rape if my culture mandates intercourse.

While your culture might mandate intercourse, if you and your partner are from the same culture, shouldn’t you be IN AGREEMENT on this issue, rather than a husband demanding his marital rights?  I think about that HBO documentary “The Greatest Silence: Rape in the CONGO”, and get pissed all over again; some of those brothas actually bragged on camera about how they raped those sistas in the Congo and considered it their right to do so.  Rat Bastards.

Now, the United States can take the lead on and develop influence with countries that want to deal with us, but has piss-poor policies and laws in prosecuting rapists, and I’m glad that our incoming VP has taken the lead on this while he was still in the Senate.  It’s also something that the incoming SoS can get behind in making her State Department more powerful as well:

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton can change this. During his time in the Senate, Biden has championed draft legislation that would make violence against women a foreign relations priority for the United States, through, for example, supporting legislative reform abroad and a victim-centered approach to violence. As a senator, Clinton supported this legislation. As vice president and secretary of state, Biden and Clinton could make central to U.S. foreign policy the fight against perpetrators’ getting away with rape and other forms of violence against women. They should start by creating a coordinating office at the State Department to build on this work. Rape is bad no matter what country it takes place in, whatever the age or marital status of the victim. There is no other way to look at it.

“NO” means “NO”.  Period.

And if you’re unsure whether or not your partner means “yes”, why not do the common sense thing: ASK THE QUESTION.  One might save themselves some grief, while helping to create a culture that respects women and not facilitating events guaranteeing one might catch themselves A CASE.