Let’s Talk About Rape
God help me from taking a break in tumbling to post on this. So last week the world trotted out the Roman Polanski case again so we could all talk about rape and Hollywood and artists and blah blah blah blah blah again.
I’m not going to talk about that because frankly, we’re all sick of hearing about it and what we think doesn’t really matter one way or the other. It’ll be decided and some people will feel good about it and some won’t.
However:
About two weeks ago, a story broke about a college student at Hofstra who said she was raped by five men in a dorm bathroom. Pretty awful. The police, based on her accusation, arrested and jailed four out of the five for two days. Good, right? WE GOT ‘EM and all. Well, not really, because the girl was apparently lying and trying to cover her regretful (I assume) dalliance in multi-partner relations. How’d they prove she was lying? Well, one of the men taped part of the encounter on his cellphone because well, pics or it didn’t happen and all.
Now, being fair, everyone here drives me up the wall. One of the guys who took part in the consensual act said “I would never disrespect women” upon being released from prison (after he and four of his friends had it away with a girl in a bathroom). However, the County DA announced then that no criminal charges would be filed against the false-accuser, opting instead for therapy and community service. Later, she stated that “her main goal was to get an admission of guilt”. So, no real consequence for the liar who, if she had her way, would have put five men behind bars for an unknown amount of time, just because she had regrets about a decision SHE had made.
Lesson here? Men: VIDEOTAPE EVERY SEXUAL ACT. It is your only insurance that you will not later be accused of rape, since apparently, there are no real consequences for lying to the police about it. Women: IF YOU REGRET SLEEPING WITH THAT GUY, CRYING RAPE IS NO BIG DEAL. You can hold your head a little higher going down that walk of shame, knowing that even if it comes out that you DID intend to sleep with him, it’s only going to cut into your weekends for a short while.
Here’s hoping she gets slapped with a major civil suit.
Also, if an instance of rape is so important and horrifying that we should devote money and resources to a crime that’s 30 years old, in which everyone directly involved with the act has moved on and wants to forget about it, then no one ever, EVER should be allowed to lie about it and get away with it. An example should be made. That is the real purpose of punishment after all, not revenge or an abstract subjective idea of ‘justice’, but dissuading both the guilty party and others from committing the same crime in the future. Let’s think with our heads, people. [Obviously there are a great many nuances in both cases that make them very different, but I’m primarily sick of everyone getting on their high horse about Polanski when things like this get no attention.]
Happy to revise if presented with calm, logical counter-argument.
