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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!geoff
From: geoff@burl.UUCP (geoff)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: charges of rape, and good points
Message-ID: <732@burl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Jun-85 17:25:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: burl.732
Posted: Thu Jun  6 17:25:34 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Jun-85 02:36:08 EDT
References: <446@ttidcc.UUCP> <603@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <2515@randvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: geoff@burl.UUCP (geoff)
Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC
Lines: 37
Summary: 

In article <2515@randvax.UUCP> edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall) writes:
>
>A short while back there was a comparison of robbery with rape.  The
>comment was made that rape is much harder to prove than robbery.  I
>think this belief is a perfect illustration of this myth-based attitude.
>
>
>I've had to deal with sales people who certainly are what I'd call
>aggressive concerning getting my money, but I doubt I'd have nearly as
>much of a problem proving robbery if one of them decided just to
>*grab* the money and leave, as a woman would have proving a charge of
>date rape, for example.  There is no myth regarding the acts of
>sales people like there is regarding the acts of the ``male animal''...
>
>		-Ed Hall
>		decvax!randvax!edhall

(yeah, bunches of stuff was deleted, but I trust I kept enough to
avoid taking Ed's comments out of context)

One major (maybe THE major) problem with proving rape is that there are
very often NO WITNESSES.  If I go to the police and say that you robbed
me and had no bruises to show and no witnesses that you robbed me, they
would say 'sorry 'bout that, bub'.  If a woman was just threatened but
not beaten (i.e., no bruises) and raped, she would also have a very hard time
proving rape.  In spite of this I do NOT believe in taking her word for
it.  If you don't have some good evidence, you don't have a case.  If
you were pissed at me for some reason, I wouldn't want you to be able to
go to the police and say I robbed you, and have that be sufficient
evidence to send me away for a few years.  I am sorry if it seems I am
siding with the rapist rather than the victim;  I certainly don't feel
that way.  The potential for abuse of one person's word against another
is just too great.

	'Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely'

			geoff sherwood