Gazza sexual assault trial

This really brought home for my husband the fact that men can do pretty much anything to women and get away with it. For him, this was not a good realisation, but how many other men have taken a different message from this result?

I can't believe this verdict, talk about victim blaming/shaming 😡 apparently we should all be fine with getting unwanted kisses from Gazza 🤢

The report I heard claimed she had been verbally abused, he was then trying to boost her confidence by kissing her.....err so she was verbally abused then sexually assaulted but just has to accept that! Madness

Presumably if some drunken 'fat lass' should feel it necessary to cheer him up by slobbering over his mouth when he is on the train, no charges would be brought?

My understanding, prior to this, is that sexual assault does not depend on the intention of the perpetrator. A man who grabbed my breasts would still have committed a sexual assault even if he was remembering the comfort he had from his mother as a breastfed infant. So why is this different? It makes me angry.

Almost as angry as the case where some bloke tripped, and his penis fell, unbidden, into a woman's vagina.

@ScreamingValenta Absolutely.

It really annoyed me that the woman being fat was used as an excuse.

As if it couldn't possibly have been sexually motivated, because she was fat and unattractive, and kissing her was an act of kindness to 'boost her confidence'.

His motives don't stop this being unwanted contact of an intimate nature.

Not equal, sexual!

Have just heard this on the news and am shocked and disgusted by the verdict. Of course it was equal and of course it was forceful!

Ffs!

Gazza really is beyond the pale. An astonishingly gifted footballer, his addiction to alcohol has almost destroyed him.

Of course it was a sexual assault. And using the notion that she was "fat" so he 'didn't really fancy her (a) is a bit rich coming from someone in the state he's in, (b) ignores the simple fact that 'sexual attraction' is not really the issue in sexual assault cases.

This is why the reporting/conviction rates for sexual assault are so low. Absolutely disgusting.

So women have to accept that any strange old creep can kiss them on the lips and there's nothing they can do about it? She must accept his wish to kiss a stranger matters more than her right to object?

What a world.

Wrong charge. D&D and common assault and he's bang to rights.

Stuck his food-encrusted mouth over hers because she was a 'fat lass' and therefore should be grateful and encouraged by it.

I can't say any more. It would count as a personal attack on PG.

Doesn't (sigh)

It seems to amount to it not being regarded as sexual assault because she was fat. Does bode too well for the rest of us fat ladies [anger]

And a history of repeatedly ignoring women's boundaries shouldn't give him a free pass by law.

Wtf is wrong with the law these days, it's been widely established rape and sexual assault are a lot more about power, specifically male power, and not so much about sexual desire.

She didn't want to be kissed by him, yet she's just been told that her wishes are irrelevant.

Grand.