BBC NEWS | Wales | Drunk consent rape case scrutiny: “Jennifer Temkin, a professor of law at Sussex University, said it would be a tricky area to clarify.
‘If you have sex and you consent to it when you are drunk then that isn’t rape,’ she told BBC Wales.
‘If someone has sex with you when you are unconscious then that is rape.
‘The really difficult area is in between, where the person is so drunk they are not unconscious and are so drunk that they are not really able to consent.
‘What happens in these cases is that the defence will try to argue that this person did consent and she can’t get out of it just because she was drunk.’ “
What a tricky and controversial topic this is… On the one hand, no woman who was drunk when she was raped wants to feel that her case is worthless due to this ruling. On the other hand, no man wants to worry about sleeping with a drunken woman in case she calls it rape when she sobers up.
And what exactly does ‘consent’ entail? Drunken sexual encounters are more likely to arise out of a series of drunken snogs and fumblings before turning fully sexual and much less likely to involve a detailed question and answer session regarding intent, consent and approval. And even if the conversation does take place, what if it is not remembered the next morning?
Dangerous ground all around.
One Response to “Drunk consent rape case scrutiny”
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Yes. Saw this in the paper this morning as well.
The student argued that if she has consented to the act then she wouldn’t done it in the hallway, but have taken the Security Guard to her bedroom a few steps away.
He, like you’ve already said, says it was consentual and probably would have started as the drunken fumblings and come-ons, before the lustful act kicked in.
She herself said that she couldn’t remember the act, so who knows if she protested when the pace picked up, or whether she went with the flow there in the corridor.
But it does make things awkward.
She, unfortunately, was honest enough to admit to not remembering- and so her case falls apart.
Many would lie.
And that is the problem of the HoneyTrap for men. If she did consent, but then declares she didn’t, all the scrutiny is on the man.
With cases like this, that specifically example the act whilst being intoxicated, it will set the standard for the law in cases to come.
Rape is bad. It’s wrong. And those that do it should have their knackers cut off.
But in circumstances where the right of consent becomes uncertain- man! what a minefield.
Just make sure your voice recorder on your phone is ready for use to capture the ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Yes’ Q&A whenever you are at a party.
=)