The Bossier City Police Department (BCPD) released a man charged with forcible rape after his wife admitted she fabricated her accusations.
More and more lately, we are seeing those who have been charged with a false report of rape, named, and addresses given as well. The naming part, comes as a breath of fresh air. The press is not shielding criminal acts with anonymity.
The possible sentence he faced: between 5 and 40 years in prison, with him having to server at least 2 years before becoming eligible for parole.
The possible sentence she faces: up to 5 years, and a fine of up to $5,000.
Link:
http://bossierpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3222:false-rape-report-lands-bossier-city-woman-in-jail&catid=2:law-enforcement&Itemid=135
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Hero's Twelve Year Quest to Make False Reporting a Felony Offense Moves Closer to Reality
Imagine having the police pay you a visit one day. You have no idea why. They tell you that you are under arrest for allegedly raping a girl. They handcuff you, and take you to the police station. Television cameras are conveniently present to capture the moment so that the entire community can titillate to your humiliation. The alleged rape, you learn, didn't happen last week. Nor last month. Nor last year. Nope. How about twelve years ago? You can't remember much about what you did twelve years ago, but you know you didn't do that, and you deny it. But they arrest you just the same, and they charge you with rape. And then they schedule a trial where, if you are convicted, you likely will spend the rest of your life behind bars.
Oh, in case I didn't mention it, this story takes place in the United States of America. Pennsylvania to be exact.
You think I'm making this up?
Meet Michael Gallagher, a retired Pennsylvania schoolteacher who was arrested in 1998 for allegedly repeatedly raping a then-fifth grade girl during the 1985-1986 school year at Willow Hill Elementary School in the Abington School District. He was shown on television in handcuffs, to the horror of his wife, family and friends, all because a woman decided to fabricate a twelve year old rape claim against him.
Mr. Gallagher experienced nine months of hell. "Unless you've been a victim of a false accusation, you cannot believe the mental pain and suffering our family has been through for the last nine months,'' Gallagher said.
Trial was scheduled for November 30, 1998, but in October 1998, Mr. Gallagher was exonerated. The Montgomery County district attorney who was planning to send Mr. Gallagher away for many years, announced that the purported victim, whose name is Margaret Powell, had made up the story.
"We have determined that Mr. Gallagher was wrongfully accused by the young lady involved,'' District Attorney Michael Marino said when he announced that all the charges against Mr. Gallagher had been dropped.
It seems prosecutors found serious discrepancies in Powell's story. During pretrial interviews with Powell, she had told prosecutors that she had not told her father about the incidents when they occurred; in September, Marino said, she said she had told him. "That was the first inconsistency,'' Marino said. "There were many others after that.'' Powell began changing her story. "She began to add additional details,'' said another prosecutor. "It seemed to me she was trying to embellish the case and make it better as we moved closer to trial, which raised my suspicions.'' The last straw came when Powell admitted that she was "not sure'' whether sexual intercourse with Gallagher had taken place. Prosecutors then decided to drop the charges. Powell was never charged.
Mr. Gallagher's story was big news. It ran on Dateline NBC in December of 1998. But after his moment of fame, what did Michael Gallagher do? Did he stick his head in the sand? Did he pretend nothing ever happened and turn his back on the community of the falsely accused? Did he write to news outlets and blogs asking them to remove his name from their Web sites so that no one would know of his ordeal (as some men have done with this blog)?
None of the above. Michael Gallagher wants to help other people who are falsely accused. For more than ten years, he has been quietly working to change the law in Pennsylvania to make it a felony to falsely report a felony to authorities. Such offense would carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Presently false reporting is a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania, and it carries a maximum two year prison sentence.
Mr. Gallagher has worked behind the scenes four times to get the bill passed, to no avail.
This week, Mr. Gallagher reports that he received word from State Representative Tom Murt that his bill to make the false reporting of serious crimes in Pennsylvania a felony offense is now in the state House Judiciary Committee and should have enough sponsors, both Democrat and Republican, to pass the House. Mr. Gallagher holds Mr. Murt, also a former teacher, in the highest regard.
On behalf of all our readers, we salute you, Mr. Gallagher, and your faithful wife.
Rep. Murt's contact information is as follows: E-mail: tmurt@pahousegop.com
And here is HB # 1506:
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in falsification and intimidation, further providing for the offense of false reports to law enforcement authorities.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 4906(c) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended by adding a paragraph to read:
§ 4906. False reports to law enforcement authorities.
* * *
(c) Grading.
* * *
(3) Where the information provided relates to an offense graded as a felony, a person commits a felony of the third degree if he:
(i) knowingly gives false information to law enforcement authorities with intent to implicate another;
(ii) reports to law enforcement authorities an offense within their concern knowing that it did not occur; or
(iii) pretends to furnish such authorities with information relating to an offense when he knows he has no information relating to such offense.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
Oh, in case I didn't mention it, this story takes place in the United States of America. Pennsylvania to be exact.
You think I'm making this up?
Meet Michael Gallagher, a retired Pennsylvania schoolteacher who was arrested in 1998 for allegedly repeatedly raping a then-fifth grade girl during the 1985-1986 school year at Willow Hill Elementary School in the Abington School District. He was shown on television in handcuffs, to the horror of his wife, family and friends, all because a woman decided to fabricate a twelve year old rape claim against him.
Mr. Gallagher experienced nine months of hell. "Unless you've been a victim of a false accusation, you cannot believe the mental pain and suffering our family has been through for the last nine months,'' Gallagher said.
Trial was scheduled for November 30, 1998, but in October 1998, Mr. Gallagher was exonerated. The Montgomery County district attorney who was planning to send Mr. Gallagher away for many years, announced that the purported victim, whose name is Margaret Powell, had made up the story.
"We have determined that Mr. Gallagher was wrongfully accused by the young lady involved,'' District Attorney Michael Marino said when he announced that all the charges against Mr. Gallagher had been dropped.
It seems prosecutors found serious discrepancies in Powell's story. During pretrial interviews with Powell, she had told prosecutors that she had not told her father about the incidents when they occurred; in September, Marino said, she said she had told him. "That was the first inconsistency,'' Marino said. "There were many others after that.'' Powell began changing her story. "She began to add additional details,'' said another prosecutor. "It seemed to me she was trying to embellish the case and make it better as we moved closer to trial, which raised my suspicions.'' The last straw came when Powell admitted that she was "not sure'' whether sexual intercourse with Gallagher had taken place. Prosecutors then decided to drop the charges. Powell was never charged.
Mr. Gallagher's story was big news. It ran on Dateline NBC in December of 1998. But after his moment of fame, what did Michael Gallagher do? Did he stick his head in the sand? Did he pretend nothing ever happened and turn his back on the community of the falsely accused? Did he write to news outlets and blogs asking them to remove his name from their Web sites so that no one would know of his ordeal (as some men have done with this blog)?
None of the above. Michael Gallagher wants to help other people who are falsely accused. For more than ten years, he has been quietly working to change the law in Pennsylvania to make it a felony to falsely report a felony to authorities. Such offense would carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Presently false reporting is a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania, and it carries a maximum two year prison sentence.
Mr. Gallagher has worked behind the scenes four times to get the bill passed, to no avail.
This week, Mr. Gallagher reports that he received word from State Representative Tom Murt that his bill to make the false reporting of serious crimes in Pennsylvania a felony offense is now in the state House Judiciary Committee and should have enough sponsors, both Democrat and Republican, to pass the House. Mr. Gallagher holds Mr. Murt, also a former teacher, in the highest regard.
On behalf of all our readers, we salute you, Mr. Gallagher, and your faithful wife.
Rep. Murt's contact information is as follows: E-mail: tmurt@pahousegop.com
And here is HB # 1506:
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in falsification and intimidation, further providing for the offense of false reports to law enforcement authorities.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 4906(c) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended by adding a paragraph to read:
§ 4906. False reports to law enforcement authorities.
* * *
(c) Grading.
* * *
(3) Where the information provided relates to an offense graded as a felony, a person commits a felony of the third degree if he:
(i) knowingly gives false information to law enforcement authorities with intent to implicate another;
(ii) reports to law enforcement authorities an offense within their concern knowing that it did not occur; or
(iii) pretends to furnish such authorities with information relating to an offense when he knows he has no information relating to such offense.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
False rape report lands Bossier City woman, Jessica Perry, in jail
The Bossier City Police Department (BCPD) released a man charged with forcible rape after his wife admitted she fabricated her accusations.
More and more lately, we are seeing those who have been charged with a false report of rape, named, and addresses given as well. The naming part, comes as a breath of fresh air. The press is not shielding criminal acts with anonymity.
The possible sentence he faced: between 5 and 40 years in prison, with him having to server at least 2 years before becoming eligible for parole.
The possible sentence she faces: up to 5 years, and a fine of up to $5,000.
Link:
http://bossierpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3222:false-rape-report-lands-bossier-city-woman-in-jail&catid=2:law-enforcement&Itemid=135
More and more lately, we are seeing those who have been charged with a false report of rape, named, and addresses given as well. The naming part, comes as a breath of fresh air. The press is not shielding criminal acts with anonymity.
The possible sentence he faced: between 5 and 40 years in prison, with him having to server at least 2 years before becoming eligible for parole.
The possible sentence she faces: up to 5 years, and a fine of up to $5,000.
Link:
http://bossierpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3222:false-rape-report-lands-bossier-city-woman-in-jail&catid=2:law-enforcement&Itemid=135
Hero's Twelve Year Quest to Make False Reporting a Felony Offense Moves Closer to Reality
Imagine having the police pay you a visit one day. You have no idea why. They tell you that you are under arrest for allegedly raping a girl. They handcuff you, and take you to the police station. Television cameras are conveniently present to capture the moment so that the entire community can titillate to your humiliation. The alleged rape, you learn, didn't happen last week. Nor last month. Nor last year. Nope. How about twelve years ago? You can't remember much about what you did twelve years ago, but you know you didn't do that, and you deny it. But they arrest you just the same, and they charge you with rape. And then they schedule a trial where, if you are convicted, you likely will spend the rest of your life behind bars.
Oh, in case I didn't mention it, this story takes place in the United States of America. Pennsylvania to be exact.
You think I'm making this up?
Meet Michael Gallagher, a retired Pennsylvania schoolteacher who was arrested in 1998 for allegedly repeatedly raping a then-fifth grade girl during the 1985-1986 school year at Willow Hill Elementary School in the Abington School District. He was shown on television in handcuffs, to the horror of his wife, family and friends, all because a woman decided to fabricate a twelve year old rape claim against him.
Mr. Gallagher experienced nine months of hell. "Unless you've been a victim of a false accusation, you cannot believe the mental pain and suffering our family has been through for the last nine months,'' Gallagher said.
Trial was scheduled for November 30, 1998, but in October 1998, Mr. Gallagher was exonerated. The Montgomery County district attorney who was planning to send Mr. Gallagher away for many years, announced that the purported victim, whose name is Margaret Powell, had made up the story.
"We have determined that Mr. Gallagher was wrongfully accused by the young lady involved,'' District Attorney Michael Marino said when he announced that all the charges against Mr. Gallagher had been dropped.
It seems prosecutors found serious discrepancies in Powell's story. During pretrial interviews with Powell, she had told prosecutors that she had not told her father about the incidents when they occurred; in September, Marino said, she said she had told him. "That was the first inconsistency,'' Marino said. "There were many others after that.'' Powell began changing her story. "She began to add additional details,'' said another prosecutor. "It seemed to me she was trying to embellish the case and make it better as we moved closer to trial, which raised my suspicions.'' The last straw came when Powell admitted that she was "not sure'' whether sexual intercourse with Gallagher had taken place. Prosecutors then decided to drop the charges. Powell was never charged.
Mr. Gallagher's story was big news. It ran on Dateline NBC in December of 1998. But after his moment of fame, what did Michael Gallagher do? Did he stick his head in the sand? Did he pretend nothing ever happened and turn his back on the community of the falsely accused? Did he write to news outlets and blogs asking them to remove his name from their Web sites so that no one would know of his ordeal (as some men have done with this blog)?
None of the above. Michael Gallagher wants to help other people who are falsely accused. For more than ten years, he has been quietly working to change the law in Pennsylvania to make it a felony to falsely report a felony to authorities. Such offense would carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Presently false reporting is a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania, and it carries a maximum two year prison sentence.
Mr. Gallagher has worked behind the scenes four times to get the bill passed, to no avail.
This week, Mr. Gallagher reports that he received word from State Representative Tom Murt that his bill to make the false reporting of serious crimes in Pennsylvania a felony offense is now in the state House Judiciary Committee and should have enough sponsors, both Democrat and Republican, to pass the House. Mr. Gallagher holds Mr. Murt, also a former teacher, in the highest regard.
On behalf of all our readers, we salute you, Mr. Gallagher, and your faithful wife.
Rep. Murt's contact information is as follows: E-mail: tmurt@pahousegop.com
And here is HB # 1506:
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in falsification and intimidation, further providing for the offense of false reports to law enforcement authorities.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 4906(c) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended by adding a paragraph to read:
§ 4906. False reports to law enforcement authorities.
* * *
(c) Grading.
* * *
(3) Where the information provided relates to an offense graded as a felony, a person commits a felony of the third degree if he:
(i) knowingly gives false information to law enforcement authorities with intent to implicate another;
(ii) reports to law enforcement authorities an offense within their concern knowing that it did not occur; or
(iii) pretends to furnish such authorities with information relating to an offense when he knows he has no information relating to such offense.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
Oh, in case I didn't mention it, this story takes place in the United States of America. Pennsylvania to be exact.
You think I'm making this up?
Meet Michael Gallagher, a retired Pennsylvania schoolteacher who was arrested in 1998 for allegedly repeatedly raping a then-fifth grade girl during the 1985-1986 school year at Willow Hill Elementary School in the Abington School District. He was shown on television in handcuffs, to the horror of his wife, family and friends, all because a woman decided to fabricate a twelve year old rape claim against him.
Mr. Gallagher experienced nine months of hell. "Unless you've been a victim of a false accusation, you cannot believe the mental pain and suffering our family has been through for the last nine months,'' Gallagher said.
Trial was scheduled for November 30, 1998, but in October 1998, Mr. Gallagher was exonerated. The Montgomery County district attorney who was planning to send Mr. Gallagher away for many years, announced that the purported victim, whose name is Margaret Powell, had made up the story.
"We have determined that Mr. Gallagher was wrongfully accused by the young lady involved,'' District Attorney Michael Marino said when he announced that all the charges against Mr. Gallagher had been dropped.
It seems prosecutors found serious discrepancies in Powell's story. During pretrial interviews with Powell, she had told prosecutors that she had not told her father about the incidents when they occurred; in September, Marino said, she said she had told him. "That was the first inconsistency,'' Marino said. "There were many others after that.'' Powell began changing her story. "She began to add additional details,'' said another prosecutor. "It seemed to me she was trying to embellish the case and make it better as we moved closer to trial, which raised my suspicions.'' The last straw came when Powell admitted that she was "not sure'' whether sexual intercourse with Gallagher had taken place. Prosecutors then decided to drop the charges. Powell was never charged.
Mr. Gallagher's story was big news. It ran on Dateline NBC in December of 1998. But after his moment of fame, what did Michael Gallagher do? Did he stick his head in the sand? Did he pretend nothing ever happened and turn his back on the community of the falsely accused? Did he write to news outlets and blogs asking them to remove his name from their Web sites so that no one would know of his ordeal (as some men have done with this blog)?
None of the above. Michael Gallagher wants to help other people who are falsely accused. For more than ten years, he has been quietly working to change the law in Pennsylvania to make it a felony to falsely report a felony to authorities. Such offense would carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Presently false reporting is a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania, and it carries a maximum two year prison sentence.
Mr. Gallagher has worked behind the scenes four times to get the bill passed, to no avail.
This week, Mr. Gallagher reports that he received word from State Representative Tom Murt that his bill to make the false reporting of serious crimes in Pennsylvania a felony offense is now in the state House Judiciary Committee and should have enough sponsors, both Democrat and Republican, to pass the House. Mr. Gallagher holds Mr. Murt, also a former teacher, in the highest regard.
On behalf of all our readers, we salute you, Mr. Gallagher, and your faithful wife.
Rep. Murt's contact information is as follows: E-mail: tmurt@pahousegop.com
And here is HB # 1506:
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in falsification and intimidation, further providing for the offense of false reports to law enforcement authorities.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 4906(c) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended by adding a paragraph to read:
§ 4906. False reports to law enforcement authorities.
* * *
(c) Grading.
* * *
(3) Where the information provided relates to an offense graded as a felony, a person commits a felony of the third degree if he:
(i) knowingly gives false information to law enforcement authorities with intent to implicate another;
(ii) reports to law enforcement authorities an offense within their concern knowing that it did not occur; or
(iii) pretends to furnish such authorities with information relating to an offense when he knows he has no information relating to such offense.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Chelsea Ann Johnson charged with filing false rape report
Chelsea Ann Johnson of Dearing told police that Donteveous Coleman, a co-worker at Zaxby's, dragged her into a restroom at the Washington Road restaurant on April 25 and raped her.
Mr. Coleman has been released, but it still awaiting the charges to be formally dropped, which will require a court action.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this case is that Johnson took a polygraph test, which indicated she was being deceptive, and after further questioning, admitted she lied.
I can only surmise, since a polygraph is neither mandatory nor needed, why she took one? My guess, is hubris, and that she thought she could pass it, and that would lend credence to her claim.
Johnson was arrested Friday and released the next day on a $6,050 bond.
Link: http://mirror.augusta.com/stories/2011/05/17/new_616324.shtml
Mr. Coleman has been released, but it still awaiting the charges to be formally dropped, which will require a court action.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this case is that Johnson took a polygraph test, which indicated she was being deceptive, and after further questioning, admitted she lied.
I can only surmise, since a polygraph is neither mandatory nor needed, why she took one? My guess, is hubris, and that she thought she could pass it, and that would lend credence to her claim.
Johnson was arrested Friday and released the next day on a $6,050 bond.
Link: http://mirror.augusta.com/stories/2011/05/17/new_616324.shtml
Chelsea Ann Johnson charged with filing false rape report
Chelsea Ann Johnson of Dearing told police that Donteveous Coleman, a co-worker at Zaxby's, dragged her into a restroom at the Washington Road restaurant on April 25 and raped her.
Mr. Coleman has been released, but it still awaiting the charges to be formally dropped, which will require a court action.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this case is that Johnson took a polygraph test, which indicated she was being deceptive, and after further questioning, admitted she lied.
I can only surmise, since a polygraph is neither mandatory nor needed, why she took one? My guess, is hubris, and that she thought she could pass it, and that would lend credence to her claim.
Johnson was arrested Friday and released the next day on a $6,050 bond.
Link: http://mirror.augusta.com/stories/2011/05/17/new_616324.shtml
Mr. Coleman has been released, but it still awaiting the charges to be formally dropped, which will require a court action.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this case is that Johnson took a polygraph test, which indicated she was being deceptive, and after further questioning, admitted she lied.
I can only surmise, since a polygraph is neither mandatory nor needed, why she took one? My guess, is hubris, and that she thought she could pass it, and that would lend credence to her claim.
Johnson was arrested Friday and released the next day on a $6,050 bond.
Link: http://mirror.augusta.com/stories/2011/05/17/new_616324.shtml
'Slut Walk' Straw Men
We've avoided discussion of the worldwide "Slut Walks" because they are meaningless exercises in straw men-ery intended to justify the existence of the sexual grievance industry so that it gets more funding, and to transmogrify the real reasons women aren't believed when they cry rape.
First, the suggestion that rape claims aren't instantly believed by most people, regardless of the way the woman was dressed, regardless of the absence of supporting evidence, and regardless of how far-fetched the claim, is belied by the facts. Every absurd-on-its-face false rape claim we've reported here was instantly believed by most people when it was first made. That includes police and media. Can you say "Hofstra"? See here: http://goldenstatesociety.blogspot.com/p/lamb-to-slaughter-hofstra-false-rape.html
Second, to the extent legitimate rape claims are doubted (and these are in the minority), the principal reason isn't the way women dress, it's that false rape claims, which are common, diminish the integrity of even legitimate rape claims. Judges bemoan the effects of false rape claims in false rape case after false rape case after false rape case. You'd think someone would finally start listening to them. But instead of enhancing the integrity of rape victims by joining with us to try to eradicate false rape claims, women and men the world over have taken to the streets to insist that women aren't believed because of . . . the way women dress.
It is as ludicrous as it is dishonest.
Let's briefly focus on one aspect of the slut walk "philosophy" to test its veracity. It goes something like this: in our "rape culture," men are afforded a free pass to sexually abuse women who dress in a sexualized manner because men are assumed not to be able to control themselves. Therefore, it's up to women not to dress in a sexualized manner.
I won't spend time trying to refute this inanity. Yes, I am quite certain that, for example, parents across America admonish their daughters who claim they've been raped if those daughters have put themselves in situations where, common sense tells us, rape is more likely to occur. Usually the problem isn't the daughter's dress as much as other things, like drinking to excess at wild parties with men they don't know. Such admonishments, of course, are not "victim blaming," they are good parenting. What is often not mentioned is that those same parents do not, in any manner, give the rapist a free pass because he is supposedly unable to control himself. If given the opportunity, those same parents would castrate the young man and shove his testicles down his throat.
No sane and rational person in 2011 believes rapists should be given a free pass because of the way women dress, and to suggest otherwise is a vapid straw man.
I note, in passing, the following interesting double-standard: while every sane and rational person believes that men have both the capacity and the duty to control themselves when it comes to rape, feminists don't seem to believe that women should be held to the same standard when it comes to false rape claims. Rape culture, Amanda Hess claims, is the reason women falsely cry rape. Among the ways this manifests itself is when "the woman had desired the sex all along, but must defend her femininity by saying that she had been coerced into sex." See here.
Get it? Men who commit sexual assault = no excuses; women who make false rape claims = merely defending their femininity.
I must be honest: the most difficult part about writing this blog is that I am forced treat inane propositions as if they were legitimate just so I can expose them for what they are.
First, the suggestion that rape claims aren't instantly believed by most people, regardless of the way the woman was dressed, regardless of the absence of supporting evidence, and regardless of how far-fetched the claim, is belied by the facts. Every absurd-on-its-face false rape claim we've reported here was instantly believed by most people when it was first made. That includes police and media. Can you say "Hofstra"? See here: http://goldenstatesociety.blogspot.com/p/lamb-to-slaughter-hofstra-false-rape.html
Second, to the extent legitimate rape claims are doubted (and these are in the minority), the principal reason isn't the way women dress, it's that false rape claims, which are common, diminish the integrity of even legitimate rape claims. Judges bemoan the effects of false rape claims in false rape case after false rape case after false rape case. You'd think someone would finally start listening to them. But instead of enhancing the integrity of rape victims by joining with us to try to eradicate false rape claims, women and men the world over have taken to the streets to insist that women aren't believed because of . . . the way women dress.
It is as ludicrous as it is dishonest.
Let's briefly focus on one aspect of the slut walk "philosophy" to test its veracity. It goes something like this: in our "rape culture," men are afforded a free pass to sexually abuse women who dress in a sexualized manner because men are assumed not to be able to control themselves. Therefore, it's up to women not to dress in a sexualized manner.
I won't spend time trying to refute this inanity. Yes, I am quite certain that, for example, parents across America admonish their daughters who claim they've been raped if those daughters have put themselves in situations where, common sense tells us, rape is more likely to occur. Usually the problem isn't the daughter's dress as much as other things, like drinking to excess at wild parties with men they don't know. Such admonishments, of course, are not "victim blaming," they are good parenting. What is often not mentioned is that those same parents do not, in any manner, give the rapist a free pass because he is supposedly unable to control himself. If given the opportunity, those same parents would castrate the young man and shove his testicles down his throat.
No sane and rational person in 2011 believes rapists should be given a free pass because of the way women dress, and to suggest otherwise is a vapid straw man.
I note, in passing, the following interesting double-standard: while every sane and rational person believes that men have both the capacity and the duty to control themselves when it comes to rape, feminists don't seem to believe that women should be held to the same standard when it comes to false rape claims. Rape culture, Amanda Hess claims, is the reason women falsely cry rape. Among the ways this manifests itself is when "the woman had desired the sex all along, but must defend her femininity by saying that she had been coerced into sex." See here.
Get it? Men who commit sexual assault = no excuses; women who make false rape claims = merely defending their femininity.
I must be honest: the most difficult part about writing this blog is that I am forced treat inane propositions as if they were legitimate just so I can expose them for what they are.
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