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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

What do you think of this...(possible rape)

370 replies

differentnameforthis · 06/05/2015 10:20

Now I think this is rape. I appear to be a lone voice however, as most are calling those who fell for this stupid.

Opinions?

Rape?

OP posts:
BuffyNeverBreaks · 07/05/2015 20:19

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BuffyNeverBreaks · 07/05/2015 20:21

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YonicScrewdriver · 07/05/2015 20:27

Tbh, outraged, it was more the repeated "can somebody answer this?" as if there was one factual answer that it was OK to demand.

The other hypotheticals came in more tentatively, the posters seemed to acknowledge more that they were posting horrible scenarios. Perhaps it's a style thing.

DadWasHere · 07/05/2015 21:16

To my mind its clearly a crime, which I guess is the point because even rape can be classified into different situations of severity and type by law. Could be rape under UK law, could be something else under German law or something else again under French law. The question then becomes not about what the crime is called but about how evil the crime was, which I think is more relevant.

What surprises me are people coming up with 'analogous situations' that seem quite loony. He used a photograph, not a replacement for a husband or a partner stuffed in a cupboard, no collusion with a mate who was a stand in before he replaced him for sex, not pointing out a random male in a bar, no physical interaction with a blind woman. A photograph is not the thing itself, its a depiction of the thing, are some people who are acutely aware of objectification not capable of seeing the reverse of it?

Would people think differently if it was actually a photo of HIM when he was much younger?

Hmmm, no, I would still see it as sex obtained via gross deception, though it takes identity theft out of it.

If the reverse situation were the news story, where a young man realises, after the act, that his dominatrix partner was a different older woman from her photo and online interactions, I imagine a fair few women would laugh their arses off and even think 'good on her.' But I dont see why a guy should feel any less violated than a woman in the gender-reversed scenario. Seems a much more plausible analogous hypothetical than stuffing husbands in cupboards.

shaska · 07/05/2015 21:28

I'm sorry, I'm doing something I always promise myself not to do and haven't read the whole thread just the last few pages so if this is well trodden ground somebody shout at me and send me back.

But I was talking about this with someone today and we came to a place that gave me actually a clearer picture of rape generally and the whole 'consent argument'.

It's a bit like what dervel said. What seems to be the focus is, yet again, the women. They were naive and did something few people would do, therefore 'it's not rape'. They 'chose'. Or whatever.

But surely it makes more sense to say ok well what is the explanation for his actions. Is it reasonable to say that he thought he had consent?

In this case, surely, the very thing he did says that no, he was absolutely not expecting consent and moreover that's why he did it. Is there any other explanation?

And so if rape is forcing or coercing another into sexual activity, then yes, it's rape. I mean it's a fairly unusual sort of situation, but did it cause harm or upset? Yes. Did he think it might? Yes he obviously did.

Thinking about it made me think more about rape and about how if you frame it just in those terms - would a reasonable person see consent here? Are these actions taken in good faith? Then it all gets really simple and you never even have to look at 'was she naive' or 'was she drunk' at all.

BuffyNeverBreaks · 07/05/2015 21:31

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WhirlpoolGalaxyM51 · 07/05/2015 21:39

shaska yes that makes sense to me too. A lot of sense (as did Dervel's that you reference and DadWasHere and others).

Should what he did be considered a criminal offence of some kind? I would think so, yes. Is he a danger to women? Again, I would say yes. He targeted hundreds and managed to carry out his plan with more than 1, this wasn't some kind of one-off spur of the moment thing, it was a planned deliberate deception over a period of time and a large number of intended victims.

shaska · 07/05/2015 21:47

"Is he a danger to women? Again, I would say yes."

Exactly! I mean of course you can make all sorts of arguments about the women and what they should or shouldn't have done, but I really can't see any argument that makes him a decent or harmless person. And that's what it should be about.

DadWasHere · 07/05/2015 22:22

Objectification is not what I meant buffy, I meant reverse objectification, where an image is extrapolated to be almost as real as a person, not where a person is extrapolated to be little more than an image. There could be big differences in how women Vs men see an image of a person of the opposite gender, how 'real' for them that representation is. Something like that might account for the manifestly different gendered bell curve results in statistical research into rated attractiveness data from the dating site OK Cupid, which is very puzzling, but that's a different topic.

DadWasHere · 07/05/2015 22:33

And so if rape is forcing or coercing another into sexual activity, then yes, it's rape.

I see no force or coercion in this case, I can only see deception.

scallopsrgreat · 07/05/2015 22:38

I would say he was doing the objectification. 350 much younger women targeted.

"he was absolutely not expecting consent and moreover that's why he did it." Yes. He did not want consent. He did not care about consent. He is a rapist.

shaska · 07/05/2015 23:26

DadWasHere you don't think deception counts as coercion? I should dictionary check I suppose- but I'd have thought deceiving someone with an intended result is a form of coercion. It's making someone do something they don't want to do. This is just a particularly odd method.

YonicScrewdriver · 07/05/2015 23:52

"Thinking about it made me think more about rape and about how if you frame it just in those terms - would a reasonable person see consent here? Are these actions taken in good faith? Then it all gets really simple and you never even have to look at 'was she naive' or 'was she drunk' at all."

Good point.

DadWasHere · 07/05/2015 23:55

I cant see it as coercion shaska, for that to be the case the person would have to be unwilling during the event and that clearly was not the case here. But you seem to see the term coercion as something inherently worse than deception and I do not feel that way. A hypothetical example of coercion (ie, forcing consent) would be, for me, a college professor saying 'Well Mz XYZ, you are failing your exams, but if you agree to sleep with me I think you may well pass."

shaska · 08/05/2015 00:37

I hadn't really thought in better/worse terms, it was more that I do see deception but I see it as deception with the purpose of having sex with women who for whatever reason this main appeared to think wouldn't be willing. So, deception with an intent to coerce.

I don't know- I guess I'm not seeing it as semantics, I'm seeing it as someone doing something that a reasonable person would recognise as cruel/harmful/unpleasant and that person not caring about that, just wanting to have sex- no matter what the other thought about it.

OutragedFromLeeds · 08/05/2015 00:45

Coercion; the action or practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.

force, compulsion, constraint, duress, oppression, enforcement, harassment, intimidation, threats, insistence, demand, arm-twisting, pressure, pressurization, influence.

I don't think deception would be coercion under that definition?

ItalianLemons · 08/05/2015 00:51

I haven't read the thread but have read the opening post/link. I'm sure others have commented and been far more eloquent than me, but suprise rape? Really? Suprise?

OutragedFromLeeds · 08/05/2015 00:51

'as someone doing something that a reasonable person would recognise as cruel/harmful/unpleasant and that person not caring about that, just wanting to have sex- no matter what the other thought about it.'

I totally agree with this, but is that rape? And if it is, doesn't it cover all manner of situations that we (or maybe just I) don't currently consider rape? I don't want to get back on the hypotheticals again, but that would surely cover adultery, lying about long term intentions etc.

scallopsrgreat · 08/05/2015 00:58

Of course having sex with someone no matter how the other person feels about it is rape Confused. That is the very definition of rape.

DadWasHere · 08/05/2015 01:25

I totally agree with this, but is that rape?

Does it matter what its named? Is a turd magically going to smell fragrant if I call it a rose? Would you give him a stint in prison as a judge? I would. Mind you I would not have him shot by firing squad either and you could probably gauge how severe his transgression was in the eyes of people in the thread simply by getting them to front how long they think he should go to prison for, not arguing semantic definitions till their just angels dancing on the head of a pin.

OutragedFromLeeds · 08/05/2015 01:26

So adultery would count as rape then? I'm pretty sure it doesn't at the moment Confused

I'm almost certain the current definition of rape deals with consent, not whether someone is cruel/harmful/unpleasant.

OutragedFromLeeds · 08/05/2015 01:34

'Does it matter what its named?'

When the OP is about 'is this rape?' then, yes, of course it does.

There is no-one on this thread discussing whether what he did was ok or decent or fair-play. We ALL agree that it wasn't, it was disgusting. That's not being discussed. The issue of discussion is 'was this rape'. Quite obviously then it matters absolutely what it is 'named'.

DadWasHere · 08/05/2015 04:52

Quite obviously then it matters absolutely what it is 'named'

Then if the definition is what’s at stake I would call it rape, specifically rape by deception, because the nature of his deception crossed a critical line where he severely misrepresented his physical self, an order of morality lower than had he tricked her into sex by saying he was a multi-millionaire.

scallopsrgreat · 08/05/2015 07:29

Not sure what adultery has got to do with it? It's only you claiming it has.

differentnameforthis · 08/05/2015 09:52

Sorry I haven't been back....RL got in the way!

Rape by deception

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