Sleep-Raping? - Feministing

http://web.blogads.com/advertise/liberal_blog_advertising_network

Sleep-Raping?

In Norway, a 34-year old man was acquitted for raping an 18-year old women while she was asleep. Why he was acquitted? He was sleeping as well.

The young women fell asleep on a couch after a party with her friends, and awoke to find the man raping her. He claims he was awakened when she started screaming for help.

An ex-partner testified by phone that similar things had happened to her when they were together. (Um, yeah--sounds like an awesome relationship. Maybe I'm picky, but I like boys who don't fuck while I'm sleeping...)

It looks like the judges couldn't rule out the possibility of his unconsciousness and he was acquitted on a 2-1 margin. I guess they excused the fact that the man had been drinking that night, and undressed the young woman as well. ‘Tis a strange case. But will this be the new excuse?

What do y’all think?

Posted by Vanessa - December 09, 2004, at 01:51PM | in News , Sexual Assault

Email post to a friend |

11 Comments

December 9, 2004 2:58 PM

[0+|0-] Abigail said:

I have heard of people having sex while asleep, but this sounds kind of weird. If I knew I did that kind of thing while unconscious, I think I'd make an effort not to sleep at parties.

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 9, 2004 9:17 PM

[0+|0-] Melissa said:

Assuming that they accept that this is genuine (doesn't seem even remotely plausible to me, but I'll give the jury the benefit of the doubt), it's pretty unconscionable that they not demand that he find some kind of treatment to ensure that this never happens again.

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 9, 2004 9:54 PM

[0+|0-] Aaron said:

I don't find it implausible at all. If people can have sex and commit acts of violence in their sleep, why not both at once? But if they guy's ex-partner is telling the truth, surely he knew about his condition. He might have assumed that someone would be awake to stop him from doing anything in his sleep, but falling asleep still seems a bit negligent. I can't really give a good opinion without knowing the facts of the case...

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 9, 2004 9:54 PM

[0+|0-] Aaron said:

Oops... my link didn't appear.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3744226.stm

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 10, 2004 2:57 PM

[0+|0-] Amanda said:

Aaron, that may be true, but there's no legal grounds to try someone for rape-by-negligence.

If there is evidence for it, I can see it. I'd have to see all the evidence. If he didn't persist after she freaked out and was even freaked himself, then I could see his case.

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 11, 2004 5:22 PM

[0+|0-] james said:

There's a patient in one of the hospitals here in NYC i was interning at that drove in his sleep (you can so-called "sleepwalk" and have your eyes open) from the Bronx to Queens and murdered his cousin with a kitchen knife (with whom he and his entire family testifies he had no prior problems with. In fact, he turned himself in when he awoke in horror covered in blood and didn't know where it came from). They know he was in fact sleeping because he was a patient for an unrelated illness and had a portable EKG (heart monitor) on him which showed patterns of sleeping heart rhythms.

Scary thought (and yes, very rare). Who knows if this guy had it. Just sharing an interesting story i personally saw. But aaron makes a good point that he must have known about this condition and probably should have had some form of therapy, or at least warned her beforehand (as these conditions are often, but not always, treatable).

(again, i'm "james" not the capital-letter "James" - not that i have a side in that whole 60-or-so engagement ring debacle. just sayin i'm not that guy...) :)

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 12, 2004 12:02 AM

[0+|0-] Voxper said:

Don't worry, james with the small 'j'-- Problems only seem to come-up when you take concepts like 'equal treatment' and 'equal opportunity' seriously.
Fortunately, the most regular posters prefer selective interpretations of those principles, so it's usually a very orderly echo-chamber in here.

Based on your name, I assume that you're a member of the immoral and lunk-headed sex? Well, that won't be held against you as long as you have a keen sense of what you should and should not say to your betters. Just remember: this is one of the few places in the world where your normal daily routine of torture and pillage is considered unacceptible.

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

December 12, 2004 9:24 AM

[0+|0-] Amanda said:

Vox, you're not going to awake some lurking woman-hatred in men that's going to woo them to the dark side. I'm sorry you don't like it when a woman disagrees with you. You were just born in the wrong century, I guess. Sometime in medieval times would have been better, maybe? You could legally spank a woman for daring to disagree with you then.

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

January 20, 2005 5:58 PM

[0+|0-] http://www.online-poker-e.com said:

3860 http://www.online-poker-e.com
online poker

I Liked | Disliked this comment | Reply |

January 21, 2005 6:47 PM

[0+|0-] betting said: