I Thought She Consented

This week we read Marcia Baron’s “I Thought She Consented”. Baron writes her views on “Actus Reus” and “Mens Rea”. Actus Reus by definition is “action or conduct that is a constituent element of a crime, as opposed to the mental state of the accused.” Actus Reus is the physical act of the crime and Mens Rea is the mental element of the crime, or why the man did it. Baron believes that when a man is tried on an account of rape they should be convicted, unless there was reason to believe that she constended.

So what kind of non-consent is seen as reason to consent? An example we discussed in class this week is if a man only surrounds himself with graphic pornography that leads him to believe that women who say “no” really mean “yes”. If this man rapes a woman and uses the excuse “Sometimes no means yes because of what I’ve learned in porn” is that a reasonable excuse? If a man is told his whole life “when a woman says no she really means yes” and continues to harass women and rape women based on that belief is that his fault? As Baron says "If it is suggested that some people (though not suffer- ing from any mental disability) are constitutionally careless, a point made early on in this essay needs to be repeated: character traits alone do not excuse" (pg. 24)

There needs to be a basic understanding between the words “yes” and “no”. If a woman tries a man on an account of rape and admits at any one point that she had said “no” as her form of non-consent and he continued to harass her that should be enough evidence that it was non-consensually. Along with that is the word “no” was never communicated but neither was the word “yes” that is still non-consensual. It is crucial that “yes” is recognized as the only proof on consent. Yes mean yes and no means no should be the basis for any consensus of a rape trial. Nothing can trump those words that can mean consent otherwise. Either of those words have to be exchanged to decide the conviction of a man accused of rape.

This awareness and understanding basic of consent starts with the right kind of sex education. Teaching young men and women the importance of consent on both sides and what the difference between no means no and yes means yes. Also, stressing the fact that if neither of those words or the attitude of those words are said or represented in some sort of evidential way, that is not consent. Education and recognition can help create the conversation people need to start having, stop teaching girls how to not be raped and start teaching boys not to. We also need to end the myth that No means no does could mean “hard to get”. That myth needs to end because it creates the issue of “I didn’t think she meant it”. Rape culture is prevalent in our society and turning our heads away is not going to make a difference.