BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Women's Issues Jeans alibi for rape

Italy's highest court of appeals recently overturned the conviction of a 45-year-old man found guilty of raping an 18-year-old woman. They based their decision on the fact that the woman was wearing jeans. They reasoned that jeans can not be forcibly removed from a victim, as they are difficult even for the wearer to remove. Therefore, they deduced that the victim must have consented. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Is preventing rape really as simple as donning a tight-fitting pair of jeans?

You have got to be kidding!

Did it never occur to them that the basic difference would be that the rapist wouldn't care whether it HURT ripping the jeans off the person he was raping; while someone who was having willing sex would? OMG! <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

And people always seemd shocked when I say i never reported my rapist - I knew I wouldn't be believed! I would have been raked over the coals - subjected to humiliating questioning, because I was from out of town and he was a hometown football hero! Of course I wasn't reporting it!

One out of three women are sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Shocking, disturbing, and sad.

I think most of us have the vision that judges are all wise, educated, and fair men, like Moses. Yet, when you hear some of these stories....!

It was several years ago, but some judge in the southern US said something that just makes me want to castrate him! He said that when a woman was being raped, there is nothing she can do about it, so she might as well just lie back and enjoy it.

No, this isn't a sick joke. The idiot actually said that.

I think the Italian and the southern judges should be tried for blasphemy, and their juries should comprise all rape victims. Now that would be true justice!!!

This is sadly disgusting. It makes me think of a book I read about rape, The Story of Jane Doe. It is based on real events in Toronto. It's a really good book. This woman known as "Jane Doe" (there are many) is raped physically by a predator then repeatedly by the system. The book was really an eye opener for me.

I don't think it's available in the US but here's the Amazon description and review. Maybe a library would carry it.

Please be careful of the statistics you read. What is the definition of sexual assault? It isn't an insulting question because some groups will put rape in the same category of sexual assault as a man putting a hand on a woman's shoulder, which made her feel uncomfortable!! That's a grave insult to any woman who has really been raped.

Oh my God, I don't know what to say. I'm not trying to be nosy, but did this occur in the past ten years? I can't imagine what you went through, though I'm frightened that the rapist is still on the streets. I'm so sorry about what you have endured. I just want to give you a big hug. I'm indignant that you have to suffer from someone else's crime.

Life is sad sometimes.

Ally, It happened my freshman year in college, which would have been back in 1990. So 16 years ago.

Although I had never had actual intercourse before the rape, a few years before, my Dad had caught aboyfriend and I in a "compromising" situation. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Part of my chewing out included the words, "One day a boy is not going to be able to stop, and it's going to be your own fault."

This was one of the other reasons I never reported it. I knew I wouldn't even have the support of my family behind me.

Someone very close to me was raped walking home from work in broad daylight in a moderate-sized college town. Not only did the assault take place outside, but it was a snowy day in late october. She was wearing jeans, hiking boots, a loose tshirt, a flannel zip-up jacket, a winter coat and gloves.

She was small at 5'2" and 115 lbs and her attacker (whom she knew) was 6'4" and easily 180-200 lbs. He simply outweighed and overpowered her, even in the inclement weather and with the woman wearing jeans. I know it happened, I was the one who was attacked. It took me nearly 10 years to even be able to talk about it to anyone aside from my therapists, midwives and occassionally my husband. It took me 8 years to tell my own parents.

Unfortunately when it comes to prosecuting rape cases there is so much progress that needs to be made. This man was not convicted of raping me. He raped another woman the following year but the case was dismissed due to "lack of evidence". It took his raping a 17 year old for him to be arrested, and he did only a few weeks in prison. It's sickening.

Meg