Can we all now agree that Assange did rape those women?

[the_future_modernes]

TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE DESCRIPTIONS:


Via Shakesville

Assange Lawyer Concedes 'Disrespectful,' 'Disturbing' Sexual Acts

Assange’s attorneys are contending that the extradition order is invalid because the actions alleged are not criminal under British law. In doing so, they appear to be conceding the truth of at least some of those allegations. “Nothing I say,” Assange lawyer Ben Emmerson told the court this morning, “should be taken as denigrating the complainants” or to “trivialize their experience.” His arguments should not be construed as disputing that they honestly consider Assange’s behavior “disrespectful” or “disturbing,” he said, or that Assange “push[ed] at the boundaries of what they felt comfortable with.”

Emmerson went on to provide accounts of the two encounters in question which granted — at least for the purposes of today’s hearing — the validity of Assange’s accusers’ central claims. He described Assange as penetrating one woman while she slept without a condom, in defiance of her previously expressed wishes, before arguing that because she subsequently “consented to … continuation” of the act of intercourse, the incident as a whole must be taken as consensual.

In the other incident, in which Assange is alleged to have held a woman down against her will during a sexual encounter, Emmerson offered this summary: “[The complainant] was lying on her back and Assange was on top of her … [she] felt that Assange wanted to insert his penis into her vagina directly, which she did not want since he was not wearing a condom … she therefore tried to turn her hips and squeeze her legs together in order to avoid a penetration … [she] tried several times to reach for a condom, which Assange had stopped her from doing by holding her arms and bending her legs open and trying to penetrate her with his penis without using a condom. [She] says that she felt about to cry since she was held down and could not reach a condom and felt this could end badly.”

As in the case of the first incident, Emmerson argues that subsequent consent renders the entire encounter consensual, and legal.MORE

No dude. That is NOT consensual.

Like Shakesville says:

Supposing Assange's victims did actually "consent" to the continuation of acts of rape, about which I am profoundly dubious, Assange's own attorney now concedes that was, at best, what happened here: His victims gave "subsequent consent" to sexual activity for which explicit consent was neither sought nor given, after having been assumed, for months, to have invented the act of rape out of revenge or because they were government operatives or whatthefuckever.

I think I may have pointed out once or twice or three million times in this space that the people who benefit from rape apologia and victim-blaming, of the precise sort that we've seen with regard to the accusations against Julian Assange, are rapists.

Which is a pretty strong incentive not to engage in it, if you don't like rape or rapists.

But somehow it's never strong enough to deter the invocation of the same old tired rape culture narratives when it comes to defending an Important Man Doing Important Work.

Whoops. You defended a rapist.MORE

Further reading:


From scarleteen.com How can men know if someone is giving consent or not? possible trigger warnings as the article describes situations which are rape in order to point out to all and sundry that these situations are in fact, rape.

And if you buy one book this year, or borrow it from the library, it should be this one:

The Revolution Starts at Home:Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities

Comments

[paradox_dragon]

Ugh, how can anyone argue that that was consensual? What do you want to bet that this will get quietly ignored, in contrast to the bazillions of bloggers & other people who went out of their way to condemn the women when the accusations were first made.

Also, I just got The Revolution Starts at Home from the library today, and am looking forward to starting it. When I requested it, I figured I'd have an uphill battle getting them to order it, but they did so without objection, so I bet quite a few people put in requests for it, which makes me happy.

[the_future_modernes]

Also, I just got The Revolution Starts at Home from the library today, and am looking forward to starting it. When I requested it, I figured I'd have an uphill battle getting them to order it, but they did so without objection, so I bet quite a few people put in requests for it, which makes me happy.

WHoo!!!

[xenologer]

Thanks for these links. *relays Important True Things to Facebook*

[thejeopardymaze]

I couldn't stand seeing pics of his face on magazines anymore even before reading that.