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Things That Render "Feminist" a Meaningless Label

By Fannie

TW: Sexual Assault

Speaking of Wikileaks spokesman Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations, his attorney Per E. Samuelson, a rape-defense specialist, laments:

"To be accused of a sex crime in Sweden is considered very serious. Swedish courts tend to believe what the woman says."

I think he thinks that's a bad thing.

The article continues:

"The Swedish government recently ordered an investigation into the possibility of tightening rape laws even more, Samuelson said. What may be considered is a new law making clear a man has to have the approval and permission from a woman before he has sex with her."

I think he thinks this, too, is a bad thing.

A bit later, he laments that "90 percent of rape cases he's seen result in convictions."

Although many defense attorneys wouldn't highlight such a statistic, you guessed it, that number is also supposed to be a bad thing.

One is led to wonder if that statistic would be framed as so very lamentable if the crime in question was, say, homicide. Unlike rape, which is largely seen as a crime against women committed by men, homicide is a crime that does not have gender overtones. It's prosecution or defense is not implicated in the "gender wars." It's victims, rather than being seen as mostly women, are seen as humans.

Because of the easily-ascertainable humanity of homicide victims, as oppose to rape victims who are seen by many as fulfilling their god-given role as members of the sex class, many would likely applaud a prosecutor who could boast of a 90% conviction rate.

Instead, we get an article where we are to sympathize with a man accused of rape who might face, to borrow from the headline, a "'tough climate' in feminist-friendly Sweden." I guess the US journalist who wrote this article prefers our anti-feminist climate of dealing with rape? For, after presenting quote after quote of the rape defense attorney, the journalist frames the accusers' alleged victims' attorney as a man who associates with "the more militant feminist Swedish politicians" and then spends multiple paragraphs discussing how people he may or may not agree with or be close to basically hate men. I guess he's guilty by association.

But don't worry ladies, defense attorney Samuelson isn't anti-feminist. In fact, he claims:

"I consider myself a feminist too."

Totes.

Because high up on the Feminist Agenda is prioritizing the notion that, for legal purposes, women should be assumed to exist in a state of perpetual consent to sex with men.

Full post as published by Fannie's Room on December 10, 2010 (boomark / email).