[What is your take on this scenario from real life:
Someone is staying in a friend's home. They have no reason to believe the friend is sexually interested in them. The friend gets chemically incapacitated to the point of passing out on the couch. The houseguest then has sex with the unconscious person, who doesn't say no.
Is it rape? Who is to blame?]
You'd have to be a complete bastard to do it, but IMO it's not rape. No more than my carrying an incapacitated freind home is kidnap. I've done some pretty stupid things while Brahms but I never suggested that anyone else was responsible. I accept that if I'm no longer able to take acre of myself I am at risk, I take that risk.
42 comments
Of course the friend inside your head would agree with you that it wasn't rape.
Key Question: did the inebriated person give consent for sex? If they were unconscious, then I'd assume that the answer is NO. Therefore, it would be rape.
It is rape. Someone who you have no reason to believe would want to have sex with you is unconscious and you have sex with them. It is rape. I mean how difficult is it to understand the concept of consent. You the rapist are to blame. You are a friend. The person probably trusted you and you betrayed that trust. Carrying your incapacitated friend is not kidnapping because the person can leave as soon as he/she is conscious. If you have sex with a person against their will you can't undo that, the person can't erase it from happening.
And if the drunk person suddenly wakes up, realizes there's someone trying to penetrate them and smashes the nearest object into your face, leaving you blind in one eye, it isn't assault.
With a friend as untrustworthy as you, who needs enemies! This is rape. It leaves you open to a criminal charge. It might even result with you paying child care for the next eighteen years. It might also multiply your jail time, if they decide that you are complicit in MAKING that person drunk or drugged. You would be insane to take that risk. You might lose a helluva lot more than a friend.
I've done some pretty stupid things while Brahms ...
I know, I did some goofy shit when I was Mozart, too! Haha.
Hahahahaheeheeheeheehaha.
"The houseguest then has sex with the unconscious person, who doesn't say no."
Well, of course, they didn't say no. They were unconscious!
Why don't you go do that, and try that argument out in court....
So if I get you drunk , and give you to Bubba and his gang from some backdoor fun, it's not rape right? You took the drinks, you put yourself at risk, and by your own logic it's not rape.
May want to reconsider your logic gasopode. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander.
"I've done some pretty stupid things while Brahms"
Possible responses:
1. Do you have a Liszt of them? Come on, Telemann!
2. You seem kind of Straussed about this.
3. If you can't Handel your alcohol, the situation can un-Ravel pretty quickly. So if you can't Copland, you should lay off the Meyerbeer.
4. That's gotta Suk, but I'm Bizet right now.
They are unable to consent, so it is rape.
If that were to happen to you, I doubt that you would just shrug it off and say "Oh well, I took the risk."
You're making it sound like a dumb prank, like drawing on someone's face when they're asleep.
No, you would probably feel betrayed and violated.
here are some more gems frpm gaspode from the same thread :
"These two statements seem at odds. If the only defence allowable is one of self defence then when does anything approaching crime of passion’ come into play. What I’m asking is if there is ever a time in either law or in your personal opinion when it is an acceptable defence to claim I acted unreasonably and possibly excessively simply because I am human and not entirely capable of controlling my emotions’. And if this is an acceptable defence for physical assault then why not sexual?"
and "Just so I don't get my head bitten off let me make it quite clear from the outset that I don't condone rape under any circumstances.
Having said that I have to comment that no one seems to have made even passing reference to the concept of a crime-of-passion on the rapist’s part. Is there no such concept under American law?
To draw an analogy, if I start arguing with another man and it turns personal, and then gets loud, we get into a pushing match and I throw a punch, I can't then suddenly say "NO, I don't want to fight with you and have no intention of continuing this'. Under local law the other bloke can beat the snot out of me and get away with it either scott free or very lightly even if he openly acknowledges that he realised I was not a threat. It's certainly a very different kettle of fish to normal unprovoked assault. Now I know that someone is going to make the obvious comment that in this case I would have committed the first crime and this is perfectly true. The reason for the (poor) analogy is simply to draw attention to the fact that there is a point at which emotion will override basic common sense and morality, and that if someone places themselves in that situation they cannot possibly claim it is entirely the greater or final aggressor at fault.
I accept this doesn’t make it right and the law does too, but it fortunately allows for the fact that humans are humans.Should adult human beings have to take responsibility for the affect their actions are going to have on other human beings? Do they need to accept that at some stage it will be impossible to reverse the consequences of those actions?"
wow just wow.
Without giving consent, it's rape. You think guys who pass out at parties give consent to have dicks drawn on their faces with permanent marker? Then what makes you think anyone gives consent for others to have sex with them while passed out?
If having sex with someone who's passed out isn't rape, then why is Bill Cosby facing possible criminal charges? Or anyone else who slipped a roofie into a woman's drink?
Usually The Straight Dope is a pretty decent website with some decent people...but WOW, this guy's a total asshat. YES, SHERLOCK, IT IS RAPE!!!
@ hudson.
So by his own logic, if I got him drunk, and gave him to Bubba and his gang because they couldn't control themselves, it not only wouldn't be rape, but should be allowed to be counted as a crime of passion if did to come to trial?
"Slams head against wall."
I'm fully willing to bet he'd be screaming rape if a guy or girl did this to him.
Carrying an incapacitated friend home- not kidnapping.
Carrying an incapacitated friend anywhere else- might be kidnapping.
And why is it so hard for you dofuses to keep your penises in your pants until your partner is sober and willing?
I can't imagine that sex with an unconscious partner is any good anyway just from a practical point of view.
What good are helpless people if you can't use them?Besides,it's completely their fault!They fucked up and trusted you,right?Have you given any thought to the possibilities of long term coma patients,for fun and profit?I mean, there could be more folks like you out there,hey?Come, Brother Gasopode,let us prey.And who needs Brahms lullaby if someone is"chemically incapacitated"?Keep it simple.
If he's Elephant's Trunk and Mozart, is it rape if said Elephant in the room sucks him off?!
...and this scenario cannot possibly any worse than what gassypoo has shart out as one here. And no LSD - or any kind of 'Dope' - was required to formulate what I came up with; simply exposure to Spike Milligan's works, the daft animations of "Monty Python"'s Terry Gilliam, and "Viz" Comic.
But what the OP suggests? This is your brain on Dope , kids.
And now the tune "Nellie The Elephant" by the Toy Dolls is playing in your head.
...manually. X3
Uh huh. And if it's a guy that's unconscious and their gay friend doesn't hear them saying no? How about something a little less rapey and I just borrow your wallet?
Oh? Changes everything does it? Fuck you.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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