Australia: Law 'turns boys into rapists'

Not to excuse how they are going about it. Obviously this is a ridiculous proposal for a law and I hope that the Australian legislature will have the good sense to reject it for what it is. Aside from using males as the scapegoat, it strikes me Australia and perhaps other western countries are trying to use this kind of legislation to reduce the alcohol consumption rate. Australia and Britain for example have very high consumption rates and it is widely acknowledged by people over a certain age there as a huge but seemingly intractable problem. Legislation like this only underscores the helplessness politicians must feel in the face of very high consumption and alcoholism rates.

However trying to pass laws like these is NOT the answer, not even close. Firstly it will have little or none of the intended effects, if indeed reducing consumption is the real intended effect. Secondly, it demonizes males and as pointed out in the article, turns ordinary men into rapists once a woman has had a drink and sleeps with a man-- only if she decides it was so. Talk about dehumanizing and disempowering. As for what it says about women: it says they can't control themselves after a few drinks and shouldn't be responsible for their own decisions, but any man who does whatever under the influence of alcohol can be held entirely responsible for anything that happens between them. Gee, are men that much more competent than women? It would seems so by implication, but such is utterly contrary to every page of feminist "teachings". So what is this? Nanny-state/fem-bot- inspired legislation. Mix up religious fundies with feminists and gov't seeking more and more power over their people and you get this kind of thing as the result; strange bedfellows indeed mixing up more toxic brews for the people, esp. men.

I don't know what the answer is to Australia's (or any other country's) alcohol consumption issues, but this sort of thing ain't it.

Slowly turning into the US.

"As for what it says about women: it says they can't control themselves after a few drinks and shouldn't be responsible for their own decisions, but any man who does whatever under the influence of alcohol can be held entirely responsible for anything that happens between them."

You hit on the weak link in this argument perfectly. It's more rape-because-I-say-it-is crap when you strip away all the visceral reactions and blather.

The issue isn't whether being drunk gives consent. No one is claiming it does. The issue is, if a girl has been drinking, and then attempts to initiate something with YOU, well that should be considered consent. No one made her get drunk, she knew the risks, she has no right to claim rape if she later regrets something she chose to do while drunk.

Now the courts want to play 'monday quarterback' to decide if it was reasonable to believe consent was given, despite none of them actually being there.

College girls get drunk and screw anything that moves all the time. How are they supposed to claim that they were raped when they probably can't even remember what they did? No problem! Feminism to the rescue. Instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, we'll just assume that because she was drunk, she was raped.

Can anyone with some minimal legal expertise recommend what steps a man might take to protect himself against a false rape charge?

A video helmet-camera that records everything?

A certified witness to coitus? (Oh, that would be porn, right?)

A signed pre-penetration consent statement from the willing sperm recepticle - errr... soulmate?

A pre-screw blood-test report for alcohol levels and other date-drug chemicals?

A copy of her last psychiatric report, where she was diagnosed as passive-aggressive?

The moral of the story?

A vagina has become the most dangerous territory a man can explore... at his peril!

Marriage Strike anybody?

Voluntary celibacy?

roy.. you are correct!!

..A man has full citizenship and equal protection of the law only when there are no women around!!

..Upon the presense of the women, either a girlfriend, or a wife, or even a women in a supermarket checkout line..you are now a subject to second class citizenship, and will not receive equal protection under the law!!

There is no protection, Roy. You don't even have to have sex with a woman to be accused of raping her. And you had better hope you can get some dirt on her, because otherwise they will take her word over yours.

You have some great ideas here! I'm writing some of these down.

I think that I'm going to put that "pre-penetration consent statement" in to contractual form and use it from now on. I think I'll add a fingerprint verification box next to the signature line, just for a little added protection.

Guys, do you think the ladies might get the hint if we made them sign one of these every single time?

...Australia needs to learn from Americas dark past with rape hysteria...The lynchings of the black man!!

Now let's get this straight. Being so blind drunk that you cannot remember what you did or why you did it, cannot be taken to indicate consent to doing whatever it is you did. And men and women are completely equal in the eyes of the law.

Great. That has to mean that as long as the man was also drunk, he too is completely exonerated because he was also incapable of consenting to have sex, or knowing what the woman wanted.

More than that, if these Australian arseholes get their way, I can now go to NSW, get pissed out of my skull, drive a car onto the pavement and mow down a crowd of innocent pedestrians, and get away with a plea that it was not my fault because I sure as hell don't remember consenting to do anything like that...

Civilisation: man's greatest, and most unappreciated, gift to women

She'll just say that you made her sign it, and you'll look even worse.