The levels of abuse of people with developmental disability are horrifyingly high 80 % +

Also, children with congenital/developmental disabilities, are often `trained’ into a high level of compliance (smile even when people are hurting you, don’t say no, don’t argue, be a `good little cripple’), as I know from my own experiences as a child with Cerebral Palsy.

More on this sort of dynamic at my blog.

I’m not so sure. This is the same country that let the group of boys who gang raped a developmentally-disabled girl, made and sold the attack as porn off with just a few years therapy. No jail there either. COrrect me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that girl white?

“There’s not a chance in hell that this ruling would have been the same if the same Aboriginal perpetrators had raped a white girl.”

NONE. NONE NONE. ABSOLUTELY NONE. If it had been a white girl, her pink cheeks and goldilocks would be on every single form of media known to humankind. The whole world would know and the ruling would get changed in a minute.

AAAHHH, MEAN-NESS ALL AROUND!

Also, though this is just an aside, notice how many cases of judicial asshatery on matters of rape recently have come down from the benches of women? I’m wondering, are these cases just getting more attention because the justices are women (like, Ann Coulter can call for women to lose the right to vote) or is this just a coincidence? I hope its a coincidence–because if it is some kind of elaborate anti-feminist propaganda (see feminists, women aren’t better than men, etc), then damn its elaborate! And yes, when I watched “Undercover Brother” I did relate to Conspiracy Brother.

Anyway, back to the case, I think that a crucial piece of this individual case that you pointed out is that class issues–particularly between the victim and the rapists–are really more complex than one might be able to grasp from an outsider’s perspective (especially, since we’re talking about colonized people).

Also, another thing to think about is how the particular fetishes of the dominant culture (Anglo-Austrialians) might help to frame the “who is rapable” mechanism. If the perspective is that aboriginal women “mature early” or are always willing to have sex (think 19th C. American perspectives on Black Women), then the idea that she could consent (by virtue of her sexually mature status) trumphs the “usual” laws which are for white girls.

I don’t know how anyone from the judge to the court transcriptionist could sleep at night after such a case, let alone the ruling…maybe they pick up tips from George W. Bush.

peace

Asshole.