In a court of law, someone has to determine whether consent was either explicitly given or withdrawn or implicitly given or withdrawn. There is a huge grey area here. Remember, you're essentially asking a third-party to determine the thoughts, intentions and actions of two people. In this sense, rape is one of the few crimes where the victim is treated in the same way as the perpetrator. Invasive physical inspections, detailed and probing questioning of not just circumstances but character, having to defend oneself in court, etc etc.
If a man was drunk and thought consent was given and a woman was drunk and thought consent wasn't given, how do you determine if it was rape or not? If that's not a huge grey area I don't know what is. There are men that take advantage grey areas such as this and women that abuse it also. I would like to think that most genuine misunderstandings stop at what could be considered inappropriate touching, but it's not inconceivable that things could go further. In Zazzy's (?) example a few pages back, I would guess it felt much like rape, but it's difficult to say it was. It could be argued that if she didn't feel that consent could be withdrawn, then rape it was. The man probably wouldn't agree. If Zazzy decided to report it, there's a rape case full of grey areas and confusion. Much like many rape cases I guess.
Aside from a long term cultural shift that sees people valuing all others as worthy of life and as equals, all the solutions surely come down to preventative ones.
If a man was drunk and thought consent was given and a woman was drunk and thought consent wasn't given, how do you determine if it was rape or not? If that's not a huge grey area I don't know what is. There are men that take advantage grey areas such as this and women that abuse it also. I would like to think that most genuine misunderstandings stop at what could be considered inappropriate touching, but it's not inconceivable that things could go further. In Zazzy's (?) example a few pages back, I would guess it felt much like rape, but it's difficult to say it was. It could be argued that if she didn't feel that consent could be withdrawn, then rape it was. The man probably wouldn't agree. If Zazzy decided to report it, there's a rape case full of grey areas and confusion. Much like many rape cases I guess.
Aside from a long term cultural shift that sees people valuing all others as worthy of life and as equals, all the solutions surely come down to preventative ones.
