I've just seen this story and I am so fucking angry at it! How dare they!
Everyone's entitled to a defense. Everyone is entitled to that in a court of law. I'm not mad at the barrister - she has a job to do, though I'm not sure how she sleeps at night.
What needs to change is the way rape trials are treated.
No woman asks to be raped. No matter what she wears!! Or how she looks, if she has make up on, if she's wearing a short skirt, if she's wearing a low cut top, if she's topless on a beach... it doesn't fucking matter!
Do you know what I was wearing when I was assaulted? I was wearing a Blues Brothers costume which consisted of a black shirt, black pinstripe trousers and boots. Hardly fucking provocative.
I was also really attracted to the man before he assaulted me. We'd been flirting all week. I really liked the man he showed me.
As soon as I said 'No, stop' he should have fucking stopped! And that's the really key point for every single case of rape or sexual assault .
Nothing else fucking matters apart from these questions:
Was consent given verbally?
Was the victim capable of giving informed consent?
That is all they need to establish.