The Feminist Majority reports, 11/1/2006 - A three-judge panel of the Maryland Special Court of Appeals reinforced the provision of Maryland's rape law that says a woman who gives consent prior to intercourse cannot withdraw her legal consent during the act. The decision came on Monday when the Court overturned a rape conviction. During deliberation in the original trial, the jury had asked, "If a female consents to sex initially and, during the course of the sex act to which she consented, for whatever reason, she changes her mind and the... man continues until climax, does the result constitute rape?" The trial judge said that Maryland’s law was unclear and would not provide a definite answer. The Special Court of Appeals, however, disagreed with the trial judge's interpretation of the law. Current Maryland rape law is "not ambiguous," said the ruling; if a woman consents prior to sex, she may not withdraw her consent during the act and accuse her partner of rape if he continues the act.
Women's rights groups are outraged by the ruling. "You should have the right to say no at anytime and that should mean no and if sexual acts continue after you've withdrawn your consent, they should be considered a crime," said Jennifer Pollitt Hill, a member of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, to WJZ, a local television station. According to WJZ, several decision-makers have already said they wish to address the issue in the upcoming legislative session, though legislation that would have given women the right to withdraw consent at anytime has failed in both 2004 and 2005.
Maryland is one of two states that have ruled that women do not have the right to withdraw consent. Seven other states have ruled that women may withdraw consent at anytime.
Reading this immediately brought to mind a scene from Alan Duff's book, "In Jake's Long Shadow" where a particularly vulnerable young Maori woman spends the evening with a young Pacific Islander who she brings home. She wants to have sex with him but he isn't interested and goes to sleep on the couch. Later in the night he violently, brutally rapes her, the only way, it seems, he can get his kicks. He punishes her for having made a play for him. Girls shouldn't initiate sex. Sure, this is fiction but one can imagine the scenario being real. The guy has committed a horrible crime even if she gave him consent initially.
Does anybody know where New Zealand courts stand on this issue?
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9 comments:
Don't know where New Zealand stands on this, but here is an interesing piece of information from good old Germany. Until a few years ago it was not a crime for a guy to rape a woman - if he was married to her. There was the argument that as they were married, sexual intercourse between them, forced or not, could never constitute rape. Fortunately enough people in the right positions realized that this was crap and changed it.
All anonymous comments are merely entertainment...
Oops! wrong post!
These feminists believe that a man engaged in intercourse approaching climax can suddenly stop if a woman says no. Yeah right. There is no power on earth that can stop a man at that point.
Actually all sex is rape according to fundamentalist feminist scripture
"Intercourse as an act often expresses the power men have over women."
"Romantic love, in pornography as in life, is the mythic celebration of female negation. For a woman, love is defined as her willingness to submit to her own annihilation. The proof of love is that she is willing to be destroyed by the one whom she loves, for his sake. For the woman, love is always self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of identity, will, and bodily integrity, in order to fulfill and redeem the masculinity of her lover."
"Until a few years ago it was not a crime for a guy to rape a woman - if he was married to her." until recently this was true in many countries. It still is true in some but not in Europe AFAIK.
Some countries have a similar law where its not possible to rape a prostitute.
SB
How often do we really say, "Pardon me, but would you like to engage in sexual intercourse with me?" or some such? That's not usually how it works...so how do you interpret when "yes" was determined, and by whom?
If a guy is hurting you - and the girl was only 16 I believe- she is entitled to ask him to stop. I would suggest that most men would be happy to stop when their partners so request -- and maybe need a second or two to absorb the information and stop momentum --because ,they're complying with their partners' requests.
This guy agreed to stop when requested but then didn't. Apologists for this sort of behaviour show why femininsm is still necessary.
Ruth, Who is "this guy"? I provided a hypothetical case based on fiction but he never "agreed" to anything.
Oh Brian, I was trying to eat my lunch. Now it's all over the keyboard.
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