I agree, but also understand the prosecutor's position. The victim says in her testimony that, essentially, 'I'll just make them finish quickly so I can leave'. Then (apparently) in the video, she says something like 'this is hard, I have to get rid of my gum'. Those two things alone would make it pretty easy for a defense attorney to make at least one jury member to believe that she was an active participant, and that she made a decision to be so. Either one of those things means it's no longer sexual assault.
But, inviting friends over to line up was (as one of the accused stated) "not cool".
i agree w/ what your saying here. legal issues aside (and i'm not totally indifferent to the challenges that a prosecutor can face in a case like this), i think we have a major problem in this country regarding young men's understanding of what constitutes consent.
there was a segment on "this american life" a while back that highlighted an outreach program for college students designed to address (for lack of a better term) sexual communication between young men and women on campus. i was utterly dumbfounded at some of the attitudes of the men being interviewed on the issue of consent. i don't remember details as it was a while ago, but it was along the lines of, "...so if a woman pushes you away and says no...?" "eh, she's just being playful..."
that's a real problem. i've already made this point in a different thread, but (again, legal issues aside), there was no part of the young lady's encounter with any of those men that was consensual. sex is not consensual if one of the participants is going along because of pressure or fear. and, while i'm completely willing to acknowledge that that pressure or fear operates on a pretty wide spectrum, and that it is obviously possible for a woman to feel some mild pressure and not really give off any signals that the guy could be expected to pick up on, under most circumstances, those signals should at least be clear enough for the young man to question whether she's on board w/ what's happening. the sheer volume of cases of acquaintance rape would seem to demand at least a small amount of that kind of caution.
i would be willing to bet that every single one of the guys in the um case, from beginning to end, considered what they were doing consensual at the time. there are apparently some involved who recognize in hindsight that it wasn't, but the fact that everyone involved just kept on going with no apparent second thoughts points to a problem with their understanding of the issue. and the fact that this is not an isolated incident points to a broader societal question (it does that for me at least).
i guess my point is that we are living in a society that has placed basically 100% of the burden of preventing rape on the victims (don't drink, don't go in there, don't talk to a guy you don't know w/o your friends around, etc, etc, etc) and none on the potential perpetrators. i'm not saying the ratio should be switched, but there needs to be a shared responsibility. as a society, we ought to be able to expect young men to tune in to the signals and act with at least a little caution or concern for the needs of the other person. i mean, in most circumstances, that doesn't even count as particularly kind or thoughtful. it's just basic human decency.
let's not forget that, according this woman's testimony, she initially stopped them from undressing her, and she said "no." even if she hadn't said "no," maybe the fact that she stopped me when i tried to undress her is a cue as to her general attitude. maybe the fact that she spent "a long time" in the bathroom to the point where i had to go tell her to come out gives me a signal that i should not proceed as though she's ready for sex with two strangers. perhaps it's ok and not at all strange for me, given these signals to her possible nervousness and the relatively extreme nature of the sex we are about to engage in to maybe ask her how she's feeling. maybe there's a way for me to try to confirm her willingness without a notarized contract. perhaps i should treat this person as a fellow human being and not as a hole in which to insert my penis.
in short (i know, too late), i get that the requirements for conviction can make this challenging for police and prosecutors, but (a) that's no reason not to challenge and perhaps improve the legal understanding of consent, and (b) there are more than just legal solutions available to us to solve problems like this. education and discussion may not be the end all be all, but it's at least a start.
