Nasty Little Man

From sex to rape to prison

Time this week features an article on "A Time Limit on Rape," which focuses on a woman's right to change her mind about sex in the midst of intercourse. I'm all for a woman's right to say, "No," at any time.

But the case that has brought this issue to the fore is, in a word, outrageous.

The murkiness surrounding what's reasonable has deepened further with the Maryland case, which was tried in 2004. The accuser and the defendant agree that after he began to penetrate her and she wanted him to stop, he did so within a matter of seconds and did not climax. Even so, during deliberations, the jury sent a note to the judge asking 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. They convicted the defendant of first-degree rape, among other sex offenses.

The defendant is serving a five-year prison term.

This is yet another example of the victims' rights movement and the criminal justice system run amok. This man's life is ruined. He will lose five years. He will be forever collared with a felony charge, which will impact employment and housing. And depending upon Maryland's Megan's Law, he might have to register as a sex offender.

Yet he did what we would expect a man to do in that situation. He stopped "within a matter of seconds." I could understand a rape charge if she said no and asked him to stop and he kept going at it for minutes. But this ended within seconds.

In general, I'm with my feminist friends on a lot of issues, but this goes too far. My distrust of the criminal justice system trumps my sympathies on gender issues.

Labels: criminal justice, feminism, rape

posted by Kinder Gentler Little Man @ 1:32 PM