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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Jun
26
A reason to not let your daughter wear that tube top . . .
Filed Under courts, misogyny, rape and sexual assault, sexual exploitation and harassment, slut-shaming, violence against women and girls | Posted by Cara |
Because the judge might blame her if she’s raped.
A 24 year old man who raped a 10 year old girl has only been sentenced to 2 years in jail because the child was “dressed provocatively.” Because apparently British men are such disgusting, vicious, wild animals that if a child shows a bit of knee, they can’t help but rape her? Nice to know what the judge thinks of himself and his fellow countrymen.
Oxford Crown Court heard that Fenn raped the girl in a park on 14 October, before an accomplice, Darren Wright, 34, took her home and sexually assaulted her.
Judge Hall said in sentencing he faced a moral dilemma as the fact they had sex within 45 minutes of meeting was an absolute crime.
But he said the girl had dressed provocatively and looked as though she was 16.
Lawyers for the defendants stressed that the sex had been consensual, and was only termed ‘rape’ because of the framework of law.
They said the judge stated that doctors who examined the girl believed she was in her mid-teens and she was treated by most people as older than her actual age.
Isn’t is amazing what qualifies as “mitigating circumstances” these days? Children’s rights groups are understandably pretty pissed off:
Dr Michele Elliott, director of Kidscape, said the decision had left her “lost for words”.
She said: “It takes us back to the 1950s when the victim was blamed if they were dressed provocatively.”
Unfortunately, Dr. Elliott, this is 2007, and that kind of shit happens every fucking day. If only we had left it behind with the ideals of all women as nurturing mothers and domestic abuse. Oh. Wait.
I would personally like to see women’s rights and sexual assault victims advocacy groups get involved in this case, as well. And I would like to see this judge lose his job. I’d also like to see this rapist in jail for life, and anyone who agrees with this insane decision to be forcibly removed from society.
But hey, who am I kidding? Pretty lofty goals for a world that hasn’t figured out that rape is always heinous and unacceptable.
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
It’s effing ridiculous. Remember the thread on feministing, about the guy who got off because he “thought” the girl was 16? Remember where we were told by the critics that it was an issolated incident, and that it was a special circumstance, because she consented and because he thought she was older… what the fuck?
I’m not saying it’s a major trend, but this is twice now that a judge has basically said “Well, suuuure, she’s a child. But, seriously? Look at her! Can you blame the guy?”
Sick.
Wrong.
You’re absolutely right.
sure not..that is why we have laws and courts. in order to protect people from witch hunts like the ones you seem to be favouring. if a girl does look older and WANTS to have sex with a guy, you can hardly call that rape. i would ask, what is wrong with the parents and the way they raised their child? how come they let their daughter run around seeking sex with older man? how has she turned out so twisted?
She’s ten, snusk. She cannot give meaningful consent at that age. No one can. You do not “have sex” with a ten-year-old. It is rape. How has the man turned out so twisted that he wants to rape a ten year old? And what the fuck is wrong with you?
Leave a comment here again and it will be deleted.
I don’t know which makes me sick to my stomach more. Rapists or rape apologists. Fuck.
(Found your site via Feministing. Thanks Cara for such a great blog. I love your writing and perspective. I make it a point to stop by at least once a day…..but I’m gonna stop gushing now)
Aww . . . Thanks!!! :)
Yeah, this is un-fucking-believable.
It makes me feel rage.
Actual punch-stuff RAGE.
Also, I really like your strict policy with dickheads.
They’ve got the rest of the internet to spew their bullshit, and I like how you keep your little area dickhead-free!
On a side note, given that girls (and boys?) are supposedly reaching sexual maturity earlier (breasts, periods, not actual readiness for sex) I wonder if we’re gonna see a rise in this sort of thing? (The I-thought-she-was-older defense for child rape)
I have an (older) friend who has a 14-year-old daughter who looks a lot older than she is.
When she was 11 or so, she could have passed for 16, until she started talking of course!
She wasn’t “trying” to look older, and she was still a little girl in every other respect, she just had the body of an older girl.
I know she often suffers from street harrasment, but there’s no way you could interact with her for more than a minute and think she is actually old enough to consent to sex.
I read an article about the case this morning, and it made me want to vomit. Who goes to a kid’s park if he’s not after a kid? Thought she was 16! What kind of bastard has a go after after his mate? This is disgraceful. I read the girl was from a fostered background, and the judge took this into account, saying she was obviously ‘troubled’ and ‘needy’, and that she had therefore invited her rape. Judges that cannot keep up with the times should be ousted, they do not serve modern morality.
Oh please. Can there be a law where you have to check ID for sex or something? ‘I thought she was 16′ my ass. Yeah, and I had C-cups in 5th Grade but people still figured out I was 11. And since I’m five feet tall, I am continually assumed to be younger than I am today, but just because some guy on the street thinks I’m 16 doesn’t mean I’m going to be ticketed for driving without an adult in the car. You know why? Your perceptions don’t mean shit. A person’s legal age is what matters to the law. Granted, I’m refering to US law here, but the last time I checked that’s how it worked in the UK too. Morons.
Yeah, I got harassed by guys when I was 12 or 13, saying that they thought I was 16 and 17.
The thing is, I never, ever believed them. I always thought then, and still think now, that they had to know full well. I had big boobs, but I know what my face looked like at that age. And it wasn’t 16 or 17.
“if a girl does look older and WANTS to have sex with a guy, you can hardly call that rape”
Except when she’s 10 YEARS OLD, rape apologist.
Children cannot consent to sex. Adult males who seek out young girls for sex should be jailed – or a very long time. The adult men who pretend they just didn’t know she was a child, daggonnit, I suggest tossing them in a deep dark hole.
This will continue as long as there are pedophilic rape apologists like this asshat.
I started getting harrassed around age 10. All the men who did it knew exactly how old I was. WTF is wrong with men that they think coming on to a child is okay? That raping children is okay?
I give up – I’m so tired of hearing such stories generation after generation – I’m moving to the Moon in search of compassionate, rational signs of life.
Sounds like a plan, but I’m not sure the moon is far enough. I’m thinking I should settle Mars.
Ugh, Cara, you too? I was still Episcopalian back then, and ended up asking my priest why God hated me enough to make me grow breasts so young. He handled it really well.
Honestly, even if you think a kid is the legal age of consent, the fact that you are going after someone who is just this side of jailbait really says something, even if they are legal. Two teenagers who are maybe a year or two fooling around is a very different relationship from one between a just-legal teen and a 25+ year old. Older men (and less often women) who look for teen sex partners, even if they stay on the legal side of things, are clearly acting in predatory ways. It kills me that so many judges and juries fail to agknowledge that. Or maybe they do, but girls in foster care are sluts who have it coming.
PS: Awesome blog, Cara!
All of these people making arguments that you can’t possibly not know that a 10-year-old is not 16 — that rule does not apply one hundred percent.
Unfortunately, there *ARE* 10-year-olds who look 16. When I was 10, I had a friend named Lynn. Lynn was 11 and she looked like she was 18-20 years old. I swear to God. She used to model for women’s catalogues. Yes, at 11. She was 5′10″ and her face did not look 11 years old, with or without makeup.
Just because you’ve never known anyone who looked like an adult at an extraordinarily young age does not mean they do not exist. They do. Yes, no matter how a 10- or 11-year-old girl looks, she still has the mind of a 10- or 11-year-old girl. Yes, of course it’s still rape, and of course it’s still really, really wrong. But the situation may not be as clear-cut as you want it to be, at least not in this one respect. Until you’ve seen a picture of the girl, you really don’t know. You just don’t.
She was raped at 10, and it’s JUST as wrong as it would be if she were 30, or 90 — no more, certainly no less. Reserve your judgment for the act, not her age, because you don’t have all the facts.
Evilpotato, even if you’re right, it doesn’t matter. These men are still guilty of statutory rape. And the girl’s dress still has NOTHING to do with anything. No rape victim’s clothing has anything to do with whether or not she was raped.
And actually, her age IS pertinent here, because the judge gave the lenient sentence because she “looked older” and because she was “dressed provocatively.” It’s also pertinent because the men are not be tried for “regular” rape– they are being tried for STATUTORY rape. You cannot have a discussion about statutory rape without discussing age. Period.
i’m so upset after reading this i’m unsure of what to even say. having grown up in my teen years aside my strong, intelligent grandfather that fought for victims of child abuse, watching him defend and aid victims, this takes me right back there. i’ve seen scores of foster children abused, exploited, neglected, and ignored by the social work system, and you hope against hope that these children succeed. they get tossed around from home to home, abused in and out of foster homes by biological, temporary, adoptive parents, family members, strangers. they trust no one, have no true sense of home and place. these children learn the only way to get attention and affection is through acting out, usually sexually. and people like this 24 year old asshole take advantage (not to mention the 34 year old ‘accomplice’ that assaulted her later and was sentenced to only 9 months in jail?!?)
and then she’s yet again a product of the system and the court victimizes her again. to this judge, she’s just another faceless foster child, unworthy of rights.
my god, she’s 10.
think about what you did when you were 10 years old, out playing in parks. were you equipped with the mentality to know about sex?
and the fact that she may or may not look 16 is still ridiculous. 16 is still a child to me, even if it is uk age of consent. and she was at a park. do a large number of non-pedophiles go cruising with an accomplice to a park to find teens for sex? this guy knew what he was doing… and i hope that ignorant judge hall loses his job.
Something else that struck me as beyond disgusting about this is that the judge slaps the rapist(s) on the wrist because she was “dressed provocatively” – meaning she was wearing a frilly bra and a thong.
HOW DID THE RAPIST KNOW THAT? Clearly, he had to start his attack on her to know what she was wearing beneath her clothes.
What she was wearing is irrelevant. This judge needs to be removed from the bench. Immediately.
Why on earth are the rape apologists here arguing that it’s somehow okay because he thought she was sixteen? Did I miss the memo saying that girls at sixteen are capable of mature decisions?
He raped her. Pure and simple. It does not matter if she walked through the streets nude. She is TEN. She is barely at the age she can pick out her own clothes!
A grown man (chronologically and physically speaking ONLY) against a little ten year old girl. Yeah, right.
Castrate the jackass. Then let him alone in a room full of parents.
I am outraged that this judge is even sitting on the bench. He needs to be removed, the rapist should be sent to prison for life.
When are these idiots going to realize rape is not about sex? It is a violent act, and act of power and control! It has nothing to do with how a girl or woman dresses, it is about a sick and twisted violent individual that needs to be locked away from society!
It’s 2007 you wouldn’t think there would still be so much ignorance!!!
The girl’s apparent age is irrelevant: if ‘I thought she was old enough’ isn’t a legally acceptable excuse for giving a physically precocious child alcohol, then it certainly isn’t one for engaging in public sex with her. The onus– legal and moral– was on those guys to ensure she was actually of the age of consent.
I’m going to put in my 2 cents here. I was a 16 year old virgin farm girl in Alberta Can. in 1955. I was GANG RAPED by 16 young punks[ called zoot-zooters] at the time. I still start to shake uncontrollably when ever I see even just a “truckers wallet” chain hanging on some one. There is a %age of males out there that are no better than a “horny” dog, and it is them who cause the most problems and they are the ones their peers should put down before they get a chance to hurt anyone, let alone a child. The age issue should be irrelivant! RAPE IS RAPE PERIOD.
Firstly, thank you for bringing this to the publics attention and then to all those who commented above and whose comments I completely agree with. I for one cannot believe that ‘Judge’ Hall even passed a bar exam and as far as I’m concerned, deserves to be in a prison cell with the rapist where I hope their fellow inmates teach them what rape really feels like and in ideal world, they should be re-sentenced. I truly cannot believe that this was dated 2007 and had to continuously check the date thinking my eyes were misleading me. I cannot think of any words suitable for public viewing that would fittingly describe this Judge other than to say that he is the stupidest, most despicable, lowest form of a ‘human’ scum and what makes it real scary is that he is actually in a position to make life or death decisions!!!!! What the heck is he still doing there????? Please people go to http://www.care2.com/petitions and sign a petition to get this man removed!
Did you have a petition already set up, Samantha? That link just takes you to the main page!