No Respect

There are some things one just cannot let pass without comment. In this case it is some of the astonishing things being said by supporters of Julian Assange. First up we have Respect Party MP and general rent-a-quote George Galloway declaring that one of the sexual offences Assange is being accused of in Sweden doesn't constitute rape because if you have sex with a woman when she is asleep, it doesn't constitute rape. I find it extraordinary that anyone in this day and age could possibly come out with with such idiocy. Worse still, today I read a letter in a newspaper from a Galloway apologist, claiming that the MP had been misrepresented. Apparently he was merely trying to highlight how difficult it apparently is for men to be able to tell what is and isn't rape. If a woman isn't conscious then she can't give consent. Which is surely the very definition of rape. It's that simple. Even if she had previously consented to sex when conscious, it is still rape if she hasn't consented this time. How is that confusing?

Then we have the president of Ecuador - the country Assange is seeking asylum from - declaring that what Assange is accused of doing wouldn't be considered a crime in Latin America, Really? Really? This case seems to have unleashed a deep and extremely unpleasant undercurrent of misogyny, particularly in some on the left, who really should know better. The sad fact is that the people who act as figureheads for endeavors such as Wikileaks are often deeply flawed characters and not necessarily nice people. But clearly, some of Assange's supporters can't bear to countenance this and feel it necessary to defend him by trying to discredit his accusers. I can understand that. However, that they should do this in such misogynistic terms is what disturbs me. Regardless of whether or not the allegations against him have any foundation, to defend him by effectively calling into question the whole concept of rape and a woman's right to say 'no' is completely unacceptable. This 'defence' seems to take us back to a very medieval view of women, as evil succubi out to entrap and corrupt innocent men with their sexual wiles. Really, there are times I'm ashamed to be a man.