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Date me, rape me
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You know how when a woman doesn't want to have sex at the end of a date, what she really wants is a nice bit of rape? What a relief Ken Clarke thinks so too.
The Justice Secretary is facing calls to resign after he questioned whether date rape was actually rape.
Speaking on Radio Five today, he played down the fact that the average prison term for rape is five years, saying: “They include the 18 year old having sex with a 15 year old and they include date rapes, date rapes sometimes can be very confusing.”
When presenter, Victoria Derybshire, asked whether date rape was as serious as any other kind of rape, he said: “Date rape can be as serious as the worst rape but date rape in my, you are quite right to say, very old experience of being in trials, they do vary extraordinarily one from another and in the end the judge has to decide on the circumstances."
Ok, so the circumstances between each case can hugely vary, but for someone to be convicted of rape, there has to be proof without reasonable doubt that the crime took place. Clarke seems to imply that under certain cases, it's not really rape - are judges handing out shorter sentences for half-rapes?
Clarke refused to agree with Derbyshire that 'rape is rape'. Apparently some forms of forced sex aren't actually so bad.
Either the law punishes people who force others into sex, or it doesn't. It is bizarre and disturbing that the Justice Secretary thinks that some kinds of forced sex are ok after all.
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