I Thought She Consented

Quinell Feder

            In Marcia Baron’s article I Thought She Consented, Baron deals with the issue of consent and rape, more specifically with unreasonable consent in order to differentiate between consensual sex and non-consensual sex. Legally most states argue that for rape to be treated under the law as rape, force must have been used. So in some states, if you are so drunk you cannot verbally consent and someone has sex with you, it is not considered rape under the law. Baron advocates for more education to help people understand the meaning of consent in order to lower the unreasonable consent cases. These cases are often excused by the perpetrator by saying things like, “we were both really drunk she didn’t say no”, or “I thought she was just saying no because she was shy” also known as negligence.

            Under Barons definition of rape, force is not required for there to be rape. Sometimes out of terror a victim might not fight back and although the rapists may not have used force, he was still not granted consent and therefore it is still rape. According to Baron all perpetrators of rape should be convicted unless there is any sign she consented. “My view is that force should not be part of the legal definition of rape, and thus that the prosecution's task, with respect to the act element, should only be to prove nonconsensual sex. (Baron, 2) ” By eliminating all but one factor to a rape case, it will ensure that the court is doing all that it can do in order to protect the victims of rape instead of protecting the rapists. I agree with Barons standards for rape conviction.

            Convicting a rapist comes down to two components Actus Reus and Mens Rea. Actus Reus is the physical action or conducts that is a constituent element of a crime, whereas Mens Rea is the mental aspect of crime. Under Mens Rea people argue that you cannot convict someone of rape because of negligence, because the man could not know they are causing harm. For example it is often assumed that women do not feel confident expressing their sexuality, as a result females will often say no out of fear of being judged. That is not an excuse for rape. Even if someone shows signs of hesitation and then consents, there is still further communication that should be had and it is worth taking that time to have a conversation about what both parties are comfortable participating in sexually. People can make up excuses like the one I used for days, until that line is drawn between what consent means under the law, women will constantly be let down and betrayed by the legal system. It is time we stop victim blaming.