To think it’s hardly surprising that women don’t report sexual crimes when this is the potential outcome?

[AlternativePerspective]

I haven’t seen a thread about this so if I’ve missed one then sorry.

So, Paul Gascoigne was cleared of sexual assault yesterday after kissing a woman on a train.

I will say as little about him as possible, however, his trial has brought a lot of issues to the fore IMO which still shouldn’t be happening.

Firstly, he has previous convictions for assault and battery which were dismissed. Ok, so perhaps a history does not a criminal make, but....

Secondly, and IMO the worst bit, he claimed that he kissed this woman because someone made a comment about her being overweight and he did it as a confidence boost.

What the actual fuck? I haven’t seen the transcripts, but I wonder,was she crying to him? Was she opening up to him about how I confident she felt after that remark? Somehow I doubt that, and yet, it is considered acceptable to kiss a random person in public because you feel that they deserve a confidence boost because of their size?

And this is why A, women don’t report, and B, the conviction rate when they do is so very low, because attitudes like the above are still deemed to be acceptable. .

It’s a bit odd to start a thread when, by your own admission, you know nothing about the case or trial.

That being said the chances of getting a rape trial to court, let alone getting a guilty verdict, are minuscule. I’m not sure I’d put myself through it when I’d be unlikely to get the outcome I’d want. Something does need to change.

Where did I say I knew nothing about the case? I said I hadn’t seen the particular transcripts to see whether she’d confided in him, but other than that all I said was that I wasn’t going to say anything about him for reasons that he has it seems been found not guilty now.

However, the fact remains that A, a woman’s size was allowed to be brought into the equation and previous convictions were not. That is surely wrong whoever is on trial.

Paul Gascoigne cleared of sex assault on train passenger www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50068077

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3720591-AIBU-to-be-angry-that-its-now-ok-to-sexually-assault-overweight-women

You wouldn’t need to have read the transcripts to know that it’s nothing at all to do with her confiding in him. He was drunk and alleges other passengers called her fat. This is disputed by witnesses.

I don’t disagree with the point you’re making but if you are going to use a specific example to illustrate your point it would probably be helpful to read about it first.