The Cuomo Leap: Women Are Children And Men Are Criminals
Also, men must act as human breathalizers and women's keepers or risk life in prison.
Cuomo's rape-'loophole' proposal infantilizes women, observes Karol Markowicz in the New York Post:
In a statement calling rape an "insidious disease" (which indeed it is), Cuomo claimed that "a loophole in current law allows rapists to walk free and vacate their heinous crimes based on a legal technicality."That "technicality" involves the voluntary consumption of alcohol or drugs by accusers, as opposed to involuntary use.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr., among others, has been pushing for legislation that would remove the power to consent from anyone who has had too much to drink or is otherwise impaired. That is, if one partner in a sexual encounter is too drunk, the encounter as such is nonconsensual.
Vance is eager to showcase himself as tough on sex crimes -- his office infamously went easy on Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, after all.
While the new rule will theoretically be applied to both men and women who drink too much, the practical matter is that law and society hold men accountable for a woman's level of drunkenness during sex, and no one is trying to hide that fact.
Writing about the proposed change on the Daily Wire website, Ashe Schow laid out how these kinds of rules actually get applied. She brought up Duke University dean Sue Wasiolek, who infamously argued that when both parties are drunk, "assuming it is a male and female, it is the responsibility in the case of the male to gain consent before proceeding with sex."
Incredibly infantilizing and sexist.
So when both people are drunk, the women is legally unable to give consent, yet the man...who is just as drunk!...is not only able to give consent for himself, he is also supposed to be able to evaluate whether the woman is truly sober enough to consent. This is idiotic.
— Paulette (@divingnomad) December 23, 2019
What this will ultimately do is leave men who are not rapists open to victimization.
I note with some consternation that alcohol is something of a "magic bullet," particularly when it comes to getting women out of contracts.
"Well, I had one drink before I signed the prenup." And suddenly the prenup is invalid. (And nullifying prenups doesn't even require a woman to claim she had a drink. All it takes is for the judge to decide that the prenup is "unfair" and suddenly, it's gone.)
Sex is a verbal contract. And contracts should be upheld as long as the person has the wherewithal to sign them or verbalize consent. "But I was too drunk!" does not suddenly shift responsibility. It is not our job to protect you from your own poor judgment. It is your responsibility as an adult to grow and mature from your own bad decisions. If you make bad decisions when drinking, then you need to curb your drinking, not sob like a millennial paying off student loans that you shouldn't be held to the contract you voluntarily entered.
Patrick at December 25, 2019 7:25 AM
There was a point at which I thought Andrew Cuomo represented the sensible side of the Democratic Party - when he took on the teachers unions.
No longer. In the 2018 primary, he cozied up to the very union he'd squared off against the year before.
Lately, he's been as nutty as the AOC/Warren/Sanders wing of the party:
His emotional meltdown started last year when Cynthia Nixon challenged him from the left in the 2018 gubernatorial race.
Conan the Grammarian at December 25, 2019 8:20 AM
Alcohol is indeed a problem but if you are going to go for casual drunk sex, the problem is you not the alcohol. Many people find they are too inhibited to have sex without alcohol. I saw a survey of women in Britain where a large majority of wives said they had never had sex without at least one drink. But there is such a thing as dating that has advantages over hookups. How can hookups turn out well? You don't know the person. Will they be kind and will they call you the next day? You'll find out after it is too late.
Many of the "assault" accusations on campus are cases where the woman could have left (it was his dorm room) or could have called for help (her dorm room). The plea they make is that they were "intimidated". If there is no violence or threat of violence, and if you (the woman) are free to say no or leave it is on you. If you got too drunk to say no then learn your lesson and don't get that drunk when dating.
cc at December 25, 2019 8:50 AM
If you make bad decisions when drinking, then you need to curb your drinking
That. Alternatively, go drinking with trusted wingpeople who'll protect you from yourself. Or drink at home, alone.
I'm starting to think the Muslims might be onto something with the whole sharia law thing. Of course, that means bringing back chattel slavery for women. Maybe we can go half way, and set up a simple guardianship system?
I'd say something about that pesky 13th amendment, but I've been assured that the Constitution is a living document, so...
I R A Darth Aggie at December 25, 2019 10:34 AM
“I'm starting to think the Muslims might be onto something with the whole sharia law thing.”
Well, alcohol use certainly has a big negative impact on society. Just think of the thousands of people killed and injured when people drive drunk, not to mention all the domestic violence and assaults when people are drunk.
But, of course, the solution we once tried, Prohibition, didn’t work and was also unfair to all those who drink responsibly.
We just have to accept that our freedoms come with collateral tdamage. We can try to minimize that damage but it will always exist. It’s the same thing with guns. Our freedom to possess not just guns, but massive amounts of firepower, means that there is going to be collateral damage, whether it’s an angry ex blowing away his former girlfriend/wife, or a 20-year-old slaughtering 20 young children at an elementary school.
JD at December 25, 2019 11:11 AM
That may be the hardest sell. People are simply not ready to acknowledge that all choices are a series of tradeoffs. Freedom of Speech means that you're going to be offended by what someone says. Freedom of Religion means your religion, even if it's the majority religion, may not get to dominate the public space. A presumption of innocence means the guilty get to have a lawyer represent them and they don't go to jail just because they're accused or disliked, or both.
Our forefathers created a system designed to protect the minority from the "tyranny of the majority." And it works, if we let it.
Conan the Grammarian at December 25, 2019 4:26 PM
Yet one more reason men have to distrust and resent women.
What could go wrong?
Jay R at December 25, 2019 4:45 PM
> Yet one more reason men
> have to distrust and
> resent women
"Yet one more." You sound like a collector.
Men have to "distrust and resent women."
We each pursue to the meaning of Christmas in our own special way...
Crid at December 25, 2019 7:23 PM
"Well, alcohol use certainly has a big negative impact on society. Just think of the thousands of people killed and injured when people drive drunk, not to mention all the domestic violence and assaults when people are drunk. "
Don't do that. You'll hurt the people pushing pot who claim that legalizing alcohol was a good thing.
Radwaste at December 26, 2019 3:38 AM
Goddess thinks that:
Well maybe for like 30 seconds, or until a few really dumb/creepy men are used to generate the required headlines (prophetic flash - several of these lawsuits will involve parties after "slut walks"...). Maybe a few innocents will be caught in the net.
After that Reality will issue another much-needed pushback/ass-kick in the direction of traditional sexual mores - the common-sense, humanizing notion that emotional intimacy, trust, and committment are linked to (and precede!) sexual congress.
Whatever can't go on, won't.
What this ULTIMATELY will do is turn even more "empowered" women into bitter cat ladies or sperm-bank single mothers.
Ben David at December 26, 2019 9:10 AM
As Christopher Stasheff pointed out (humorously, in The Warlock In Spite Of Himself), authoritarian government will always eventually insert itself into personal and sexual relations. People who advocate authoritarian government never seem to realize this, or want to admit it.
Cousin Dave at December 27, 2019 8:08 AM
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