Hey, Can A Woman "Ask To Get Raped"?

* More than 44 percent of those surveyed have suffered physical violence in a close relationship, from slapping to severe beatings.

I would love to see any survey that would show that 44 percents of women had been even slapped less alone severely beaten by a partner anywhere in the western world!!!!!!!!!!!!

alone if a man had grab her breasts in a middle of a made out session and she was unhappy about it

Somehow I do not think that even they are talking about sex play but then you can never know as dishonest as they tend to be.

N.R.A. Stymies Firearms Research, Scientists Say
By MICHAEL LUO
Published: January 25, 2011

In the wake of the shootings in Tucson, the familiar questions inevitably resurfaced: Are communities where more people carry guns safer or less safe? Does the availability of high-capacity magazines increase deaths? Do more rigorous background checks make a difference?

The reality is that even these and other basic questions cannot be fully answered, because not enough research has been done. And there is a reason for that. Scientists in the field and former officials with the government agency that used to finance the great bulk of this research agree in saying that the influence of the National Rife Association has all but choked off money for such work.

Former bus driver from Heath gets 4 years for raping passenger
Jan. 25, 2011

UPDATE | NEWARK -- A 71-year-old former bus driver was sentenced to four years in prison for raping a 70-year-old passenger with Alzheimer's disease in his Licking County Aging Program bus.

Donald G. Moore, last known address 1086 Nadine Drive, Heath, was found guilty Tuesday of one count each of rape, a first-degree felony; sexual battery, a third-degree felony and gross sexual imposition, a fourth-degree felony. He could have faced up to 16-and-a-half years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

Between Dec. 1, 2009, and April 15, 2010, Moore sexually abused the woman five times when he was supposed to transport her from home to an adult day-care center, where she stayed when her relative was at work.

On April 15, a witness saw the victim topless in an aging program bus stopped at Licking Springs Nature Trail, 1539 Columbus Road, Granville, Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Huston said.

Moore told police he thought the woman "liked it," but officers said she was impaired by her disease and could not consent, Huston said.

"It's pretty clear the defendant simply took advantage of the victim," Huston said.

A fingerprint background check before Moore's hiring in 2003 revealed no criminal background, said Dave Bibler, executive director of the Licking County Aging Program. Moore is no longer employed by the agency, according to a news release.

Moore was arrested on April 15 and held at the Licking County jail on a $500,000 bond until his attorney, Diane Menashe, petitioned the court for his release because of health problems.

Moore was released on June 30 to his Heath home, where he was tracked by an electronic monitor. Although most people accused of rape remain in jail, Moore was let out because of his age and health problems, Huston said.

Moore appeared in court Tuesday, wearing a Licking County Aging Program hat, in a wheelchair with a plastic bag of medications to take to prison. Menashe said Moore underwent chemotherapy to treat his lymphoma, but his prognosis is "bleak."

Menashe plans to ask Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Marcelain for Moore's early release after three years.

Marcelain sentenced Moore to four years in prison and ordered him to register as a Tier III sex offender every 90 days for life.
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20110125/NEWS01/110125008/1002/news01/Former-bus-driver-gets-prison-rape?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Jeans for Justice
By: Erika Odell

On Tuesday, hundreds of people across the Shoals participated in Jeans for Justice. Rape response in the Shoals has been participating in the event for the past nine years, but this world wide movement started in Italy in 1999.

"It grew out of a protest from an Italian supreme court decision where a rape conviction was overturned because the court said the victim was wearing jeans so she couldn't have been raped. They said the perpetrator couldn't have taken her jeans off without her help," said Kathy Connolly, Director of Rape Response in the Shoals. "Obviously, that's just ridiculous and as a reminder of the kinds of things rape victims go through, we celebrate Jeans for Justice."

Local schools, businesses and individuals paid a dollar to wear jeans to work, hoping to raise money and awareness about the crime.

Melanie Harris, and 8th grade math teacher at Florence Middle School said that it's a great way to share with her students about rape awareness.

"I believe that Jeans for Justice is a great way to raise awareness for sexual assault and rape," said Harris. "It's a great way for us to take a stand, not only to show the students, but as community members."

The agency raised $3500 last year to help serve rape victims in the Shoals area.

"Rape is a terrible crime, and it's such a trauma," said Connolly. "I tell people, it's as if a hand grenade was lofted in to their life and the pieces of it blew everywhere, and it really takes a whole community caring to help people on to the road to healing. Even if you're not ready to tell anyone, I encourage people to disclose to the crisis line to seek help
http://www.waaytv.com/news/local/story/Jeans-for-Justice/wpfDor_ol06ChRM7bIN-SQ.cspx

Proposed State Bill Requires Sex Offenders to be Identified on Driver's License
January 25, 2011
By HOLLY NUNN

ANNAPOLIS (January 25, 2011) - State Sen. Richard F. Colburn wants to make sure police officers in Maryland know what they're dealing with when they stop a sex offender on the road, especially if that sex offender has a child in the car.

Colburn, R-Dorchester, has introduced legislation this year that would require that driver's licenses display a code identifying sex offenders to law enforcement.

"I believe that if we're serious about cracking down on sex offenders, we need to give our police officers this tool," Colburn said.

Colburn introduced a similar measure last year during a flurry of legislative activity on sex offenders in response to the December 2009 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell in Wicomico County. A registered sex offender has been charged with the crime.

The 2010 legislation passed the Senate but died in conference committee due to concerns that the amendment had not been properly vetted and that it could lead to violation of offenders' rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been among those opposed to such legislation, calling any mark on an identification card "a scarlet letter" and an unnecessary measure.

David Walsh-Little, a public defender and member of Maryland's Sex Offender Advisory Board, said the mark would have the effect of "marginalizing people who need treatment in a society that needs education about sex offenses."

Colburn said the code, placed on a sex offender's driver's license by the Motor Vehicle Administration, could only be read by law enforcement. And that might be enough to convince other legislators to support the bill.

"If Sen. Colburn brings it back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, and it's in a code that's only discernible to police officers, it has my support," said Sen. James Brochin, D-Baltimore County, and a member of that committee. "Because I think that's a win-win."

Colburn is unsure of how exactly the bill would be implemented, but Wicomico County Sherriff Mike Lewis, who led the search for Sarah Foxwell and worked with Colburn on the legislation, said there are a couple of ways it could be marked on the license -- either in the bar code or with a small, lettered caution code, similar to the marking for drivers with corrective lenses.

Lewis said that such marks would give his officers an additional level of awareness when pulling over sex offenders.

"I have every right, actually I have a duty, to ask that sex offender additional questions if he has a child in the car," Lewis said. Investigators believe that Sarah Foxwell was driven throughout Wicomico County the night of her disappearance.

Similar legislation has been considered in Connecticut and California. A few states, including Delaware, Louisiana and Tennessee, already have laws for marking the driver's licenses of sex offenders.

Other legislation has been introduced to crack down on sex offenders, including a bill toughening the punishment for indecent exposure involving minors and a bill to criminalize attempted sexual offense in the third degree.
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2011/13124.shtml

"I have every right, actually I have a duty, to ask that sex offender additional questions if he has a child in the car," Lewis said. Investigators believe that Sarah Foxwell was driven throughout Wicomico County the night of her disappearance.

Given that they now define sex offenders as an eighteen years old who had have sex with his 16 years old girlfriend or the sixteen girlfriend who send a nude picture of herself to her eighteen years old boyfriend I think the idea is crazy.

The more they do such the more likely that anyone listed as a sex offender will change ID and disappear completely

So please clarify your remark so its more understandable in context with the current discussion.

Drunk driving will be next, and within twenty years our entire rap sheet will be encoded on our drivers Lisc if we allow this.

CONCLUSION
Law reform efforts were only one component of a broad-based Canadian feminist strategy that sought to de-individualize sexual violence and place it firmly in the social and political arena as a legitimate object of governmental intervention. As I have argued here, even though statute and doctrine have moved Canadian law in the direction of an ‘only yes means yes’ standard, the transactional logics of affirmative consent operate to decontextualize sexual violence from the social power relations that define it. The atomized frame of criminal law is accentuated in a context of neoliberalism where risk management discourses hail women as hyper-cautious victims of sexual violence and reconstruct vulnerability as a failure of responsibilization.

In a context in which sexual violence as a gender equality issue has disappeared from political agendas, the opportunities for law reform have closed. This temporary closure of political spaces has produced a productive strategic emphasis on ensuring enforcement and altering police practices. Restricted opportunities for law reform should also promote critical reflection and prompt a reminder that criminal law reform, even in its most progressive guises, is a limited strategy. As Marcus (1992) has insightfully argued, an emphasis on vindication in the courts has limited effectiveness for a politics of rape
prevention. This strategy conceives of sexual violence as a taken for granted occurrence, with only post rape events offering possible occasions for intervention. In the present context, a renewed focus on prevention, including cultivating women’s resistance to their assigned role as safety-conscious victims-in-waiting and engaging men in anti-rape education and politics, constitute promising extra-legal strategies.