Was Bristol Palin raped?

[darleneoconnor]

according to this bristol palin was so drunk when she conceived her son that she doesn't remember having sex.

Sounds like rape to me.

Then she was basically 'forced' to marry her rapist? WTF! Sometimes America sounds more like the middle east!

Quite a few forums are discussing this, with some

disgusting rape myths on this forum

Or rather 48% of young men thinking it's not rape if the woman is too drunk to know what is going on

Do you think more than 48% of men think it's ok to 'shag' (rape) a woman if she is too drunk to consent?

Nearly half of the male population of this country think it's ok to shag (rape) a woman who is too drunk to consent?

So every other man i come in contact with is a rapist...'potential' rapist.

God help us all.

I am 51 and have never been raped.

You've obviously never been drunk enough

Hully....i have never been drunk enough to be raped?

I hope i have got that wrong...

Dittany,that is nonsense....
What male culture teaches men that they can take sex from women.?

Certainly not mine.

Angry,abused, disenfranchised males take their anger out on society and women and children are often the easiest targets.

The article says:

“A recent study out of the United Kingdom involving 18 to 25-year-old males revealed that 48 per cent of the males didn’t consider it rape if a woman is too drunk to know what was going on," she said.

I'd like to know the phrasing of the question and the nature of the study and sample, because I simply don't believe it. It sounds to me like she's rephrased the original question, putting it in more shocking language and changing the meaning in the process. I just don't believe half of men think it's ok to have sex with a woman who 'doesn't know what's going on' and wouldn't understand it as rape.

Anyone got a link to the study which alleges this statistic?

The 48% stat was from a survey. I'd hope that 48% of the men I know don't think it's ok. But 48% of the men surveyed think it is.

For the record, it's not just angry, abused and disenfranchised men that target women and children. The man that assaulted me when I was 15 and drunk, was a privately educated A level student with a university place and a career ahead of him. He just thought that if he wanted sex from a women he was entitled to have it, regardless of her feelings about the matter.

The way the question was phrased matters. As does the size, background and age of the sample. We don't know what 48% of these men actually answered. It's not enough to say 'it's a survey'. Anyone with any experience of research and data would immediately question that figure the way the woman quoted used it.

The point is that not all men are rapists, not all men who have sex with drunk women are rapists. There is no grey area at all. Men who have sex without the consent of a woman are rapists. I don't get all this muddying of the waters that alcohol supposedly causes. No matter how drunk I or my DH were, he wouldn't rape me because he's not a rapist.

It's not about the situation, it's about the man. And half of all men in the UK said what exactly? I can't make a shocked face at the figure because it's meaningless without the question.

I agree the wording of the question is important.

And wholeheartedly agree that intent comes into it as well.
Like I said if every later regretted drunken sexual encounter is classed as rape it does a disservice to victims of rape. Rape is about power, not sex.

But of course the point dittany is making is historically correct: men all over the world and in widely differing cultures have had the 'right' to sex from their wives, whether they wanted it or not . When was the law changed in Britain? I cannot remember but it was shockingly recent anyway .

Of course, I get it, I see the pattern now. The researcher lied now. That'll be it.

And I've never seen anything in popular culture about getting her drunk and getting your leg over. Nothing. No siree. That never gets suggested.

Don't be a conspiracy theorist Alice, neither me nor anyone posting on here is a rape apologist just because I refuse to label Levi as a rapist on the basis that his partner was drunk.

Quoting that 48% of men answered yes to something without explaining what they were answering is bad journalism, I don't know anything about the research because I can't find it anywhere.

Macaroona, if it helps Sky news reported the same statistic here.

Throughout this thread people have insinuated that women lie about rape. Now you're saying that not only victims lie about rape, but anti rape campaigners and researchers are careless with the truth. FFS, even David Cameron is at it with his dodgy stats about men thinking it's ok to rape. Why are people so relunctant to believe them? Why are they so keen not to question the men that do these sorts of things and have the most to gain from lying?

HRH, read it properly. The first sentence says:

"New statistics have revealed nearly half of young men still think sex with women too drunk to know what is going on is not rape."

48% = nearly half.

But yes, it then goes on to talk about changing your mind during intercourse.

Yes, women who lie are in the minority. Most women have no reason to lie. If they do lie, it is more likely to protect a rapist rather than to accuse one.

There are a lot more men who lie. They have more to gain. And no one questions them because that wouldn't be fair, would it?

The quality of the article isn't really the point is it? The stat is that 48% of young men don't think it's rape if she's too drunk to know what is going on. Why is that so hard to believe?

Regarding this 46/48% statistic:

I did a bit of Googling, and it seems to come from The Havens Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Wake Up to Rape (2010). However, I can only find the Report Summary, and I can't see anything which could be used for that 46% statistic.

They have also done another report (again, could only find the summary) called Where Is The Line, which gives the far more realistic-sounding figures of:

• "6% of men would try to have sex if the other person was drunk."
• "One in fifty men (2%), compared to one in a hundred women (1%), assume their partner wants to have sex if they are drunk or not conscious."