shameless plug for his blog shows that the internet doesn't make people stupid, stupid people make the internet stupid...to modify a phrase. The link has nothing to do with the baby boomers or this subject, by the way. Ew.

Americaspeaksink, do you even know what we're talking about?

Generally, I agree with you and like your writing....but this...."the definition of rape has changed, in a direction that makes me a little sad..."

Man, I pulled up at that.

Hasn't rape always meant "sexual intercourse forced on a person against their will"? When did this definition "change", and in what "sad" direction has it gone...?

Ohhhhhh...right...before, you had to be a nun horrifically ravaged by a dozen invading Visigoths for it to be "real" rape. Preferably, you wouldn't survive the attack...your motives might be suspect if you did.

Held down by a vindictive, bitter former boyfriend and forced to have sex while you begged and pleaded for him to stop? Not rape, you slut. Were you drinking? REALLY not rape. Were you paralyzed by fear/conditioning/helplessness so that there are no overt injuries? SOOOOOOO not rape, all such women can shut up and go home now.

Is that what you mean by a "changing defintion"?

Gah, I've got about a billion things to say about that, but I don't have the energy for it anymore. I agree that the word "rape" has been cheapened/trivialized in some contexts, like some whiny starlet comlaining she got "raped" by the media (although Susan Sontag has a lot to say about cameras and sexual agression)....but as far as I know the definition of the word hasn't changed.

I usually agree with most of your points...care to enlighten us?

That's what we used to call it back in the 80s.

She has an okay voice and a sob story.

Her version of "wild horses" bored me to tears.....

Anybody who knows opera is insulted by Paul Potts, too. Of course the target audience of these people isn't really music lovers but other dreadfully plain middle aged people vicariously enjoying a wish fulfillment fantasy of being a big hit on stage in spite of being dreadfully plain, middle aged, and not able to sing.

Her name is out there, and I don't think she'll ever get a job in her life, if a potential employer happens to Google her name. Photo? Who needs it? Her identity is known.

Should we care?

Not about that, I think. It's a sad side effect of our nosy, digital age. If the consequences are bad for the boys, they'll be just as bad for her.

We should care about how these high profile media circuses skew the discussion and provide the crazies with ammunition to use against all women who try to report rape.

And, nothing is ever going to change the fact that having sex under the influence with multiple strangers is a risky activity--much more risky for women than for men, but very, very stupid for both genders and highly inadvisable. All morality aside, even Dan Savage, king of kink, tells people to meet their hookups offline, in a safe setting, to assess their suitability before going ahead with the deed. It's just common sense.

to 25 years in the pen on the basis of her story, The Jim and others would have some reason to be getting their rage on.

But they weren't.

So get over your anger, unless the problem is that you're really pissed about something else......

hmmmm?

I'll say the same thing I said about the Duke case--the outrage seems a little strange given that the system worked. There was no miscarriage of justice. The problems with the accusation were discovered and the charges dropped, and nobody served any prison time.

So why, exactly, are men flipping out?

Because of the "shame"? Oh, COME ON.

Shame plays no role in a society that believes consensual drunken gang bangs are okay and a topic fit for public discussion. The outrage is artificial, ginned up, and stinks to high heaven of garden variety woman-hating.

The argument goes: "LOOK! Women are bitches who make up rape stories. THIS IS PROOF it ALWAYS happens! These lusty whores should never, ever be believed!!!!"

The entire purpose of the excessive outrage is to undermine the credibility of all women reporting a rape, and to convince others to assume that women reporting rape are liars unless, maybe, they have horrific injuries. And what would anyone want to do that for? Misogyny. Plain and simple.

It's still here, like racism. It hasn't gone anywhere, and I like to call it out when I see it.