New rape and sexual offences laws

[Anon]

(Posted on old forum on Tuesday, April 27, 2004)

I have just read in an archived Guardian article which stated that as of May 2004, a woman is deemed to be unable to give her consent to sex if she is under the influence of alcohol. Additionally that a man will not be able to claim the woman consented to sexual contact if he was also drunk. Is this true? If having sex while drunk is reasonable grounds to claim that the sex was non-consensual, surely most women have been subjected to non-consensual sex? Lets face it, most of us have had a bit of a romp whilst inebriated at some point in our lives.

Can anyone tell me when in May 04 these changes become effective?

It might just be me, but even after a few beers, I am confident that I can differentiate between someone I do want to sleep with and someone I don't.

In no way do I wish to undermine the suffering of rape survivors. However, women are not powerless, helpless creatures incapable of making a decision after a few glasses of wine. This new law means that I could accuse most of my sexual partners of rape! Fortunately for them, I am a confident, stable woman with no grudges against any of them. However, if I was an unstable woman with a vindictive, malicious nature, I would be able to put those men through the trauma of a rape allegation! Surely this is madness?

[diana_holbourn]

(Posted on old forum on Saturday, May 01, 2004)

It's not that clear-cut. Changes were discussed that would counter the tendency of barristers to claim in court that since accusers were drunk, they couldn't have known what they were doing and so the likelihood is that they actually consented and then regretted it afterwards. But the act merely states that defendants have to demonstrate that they made "reasonable" efforts to ensure the person they wanted to have sex with was willing. It also states that juries will from now on be instructed that a woman was most unlikely to have consented if she was unconscious or subject to threats or violence. For more information, see this news article:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_940219.html

The new law comes into force today.

[Snoopyseed]

If a women has had a few drinks you are right she is not powerless, but however if the drink has been spiked then that would mean she is powerless to stop any advances being made upon her, also persuading someone to have sex with you can be perceived as pushing someone to do something they wouldn?t normally do, and drink can also be used as a drug to sway people to do something that they wouldn?t normally do, I think the laws need to be reviewed carefully as a few drinks would not interrupt a persons judgement , but say for example the women is a non drinker and it is later found out that her orange juice has been spiked with vodka then that is a different story. I think the real lesson here is to be careful about getting very drunk around strangers both for men and women, I say this because as you said there are women who can be very nasty and claim rape so men need to be careful about getting plastered with a stranger and women need to be careful about getting plastered with a stranger, also as neither person is fully in control of his or her own actions.

[Snoopyseed]

Now I have read the full story I think that it is indeed a sensible law, if a women is so drunk she is unconscious then it is very unlikely she can stand up let alone have sex, so it begs the question why does a women wake up sore down below?
I know that this happens as I run a site for survivors and this story is often repeated, but the sad thing is women are so drunk that they don?t report it because of the amount they have drunk, all the women say is that they know in there heart that they didn?t consent to the sex, and this is often backed by the need for medical attention the next day for stitches, severe bruising, and sometimes broken bones and concussion, followed by emergency contraception.
And at the end of the day that doesn?t sound like a loving sexual act that was consented to does it?

[Angel]

(Posted on old forum on Friday, May 07, 2004)

Hi,

Read your paragraph below - can't seem to find the article on ananova.

[diana_holbourn]

I can't find it any more either for some reason. The nearest one I could find to it was here:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_74487...rdworld.sexlife