agreed.

As I said, I think that may have been a factor in past decades. Now? Not so much.

But, as a theory, it makes a helluva lot more sense than Dame Helen's "they're all just jealous." I can't think of a single woman who has said (or even thought, in the deepest id-centric corners of her mind) "Some guy/guys held you down, beat you senseless, and forced penetration? And now you're hurt, traumatized, scared witless, and angry as hell? Lucky girl. What's your secret?"

Yuck, Helen.

@Juliebird

I do think there was a lot of that thinking 40 years ago - maybe even 30. I don't believe this holds as much now - and there are jury stats out there that seem to show women more empathetic.

But that is because rape is spoken about now. And there is such a push to make sure people do not blame the victim. But a few decades ago, it was a whispered about crime, and a rape victim was in a class all by her self.

It was one of those things that if there was reason, if she did not do something that caused it - then it could happen to any woman.

Now - we know it can happen to any woman - so female jurers are not thinking about that (as much) anymore.

it's a sense of self-preservation.

The theory goes like this:

I am a woman juror, hearing about a woman's traumatic rape.

I think to myself "She's just like me. This could have happened to me. It could happen to me someday. Yikes! No, it can't. She must have done something, something to get her in this situation. She must have done something stupid. If she did something stupid, that it's kinda her fault it happened, not some random event or unpredictable trauma. I'm not stupid, like her. So, I am safe. I'll never be in her shoes. Thank God!"

But, I'm not a big believer of this theory, at least in today's jury rooms. Most women I know can have empathy without freaking out. Most women I know can say "I'm luckier than she" instead of "I'm smarter than she."

she is just saying that, in her opinion, women are more likely to blame the victim than men. (In my experience things are much more widely divided; I've always found conservatism vs. progressivism a better predictor than male vs. female; but everybody is entitled to his/her opinion.)

As Anony pointed out, Ms Mirren's opinions on the topic were probably formed decades ago, when the situation was much more anti-victim than it is today. But all in all, isn't that an empirical question? Someone interested in the truth should simply do what beigelights is doing -- gather data on the results of rape cases and plot it against the number of women jurors. (Try to sort the cases in terms of how obvious the result is; cases in which it's obvious that the defendant did do it, or that the plaintiff is lying, are probably going to have easy verdicts regardless of the number of women jurors.)

I haven't really experienced a higher level of animosity between women as between men, or between women and men. I have certainly met women who felt they were competing with other women, be it sexually or in the workplace, and who got angry at those they were competing with; but not much more than I noticed among men. At least I didn't notice it (though I wasn't explicitly looking at that aspect, I must admit). It seems other people's experiences here are roughly similar to this. Or am I wrong?

Ignore Christina, (s)he always appears on these types of posts to stir the pot. An anti-female "female".

Waste of keystrokes.

As far as female friendship goes - it ALWAYS is a surprise to the many many women who have close friendships with women that we are supposed to be competing with them - over the male resources!

Usually men are saying that (the ones that want to believe that we are scratchy little kitties), or the type of woman who regards men as a resource.

I try to get out of the way of either type - they truly deserve each other.

If it's in my DNA to not get along with other women then why are 90% of my friends other women?

If men are just indifferent to each other according to all the 'great philosophers' then why did Oedipus kill his father?

“Whether in a deep-seated animalistic way, going back billions of years, or from a sense of tribal jealousy or just antagonism,” – Mirren

Women need to recognize this about our dna. We are inclined toward female on female bitchiness. Ever seen the movie "Mean Girls"? Men don’t hate each other like women hate each other. Comedians and philosophers have been pointing out this truth forever. To deny it is to deny obvious social patterns and don blinders. Women need to recognize this impulse to move past it.

Interesting that Harding is writing about how women don’t really hate each other or instinctively engage in catty put downs. All this sisterly posturing after Salon launched countless low blows at the accomplished Sarah Palin.

"Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

1) Due to anatomical differences, it is a lot easier (and more common) for a man to rape a woman.

2) The subject was date rape, which tends to be men feeling that the woman's actions imply consent, or she owes him because he bought her a drink or dinner. I don't think many people would consider a case where a woman uses an implement to anally rape a man to be date rape, as opposed to violent rape.

3) I consider drugs to be the same issue as drink.

4) A man getting a woman drunk would have to do with things like pushing alcohol on someone he knows is unlikely to be used to it or aware of the effects (ie preying on relatively young and naive college students). Spiking drinks, Viewing a very drunk woman as an easy mark. And yes, the difference is in his head. A clueless drunk might commit the same acts, thinking that the woman was both equally eager to get drunk and screw,

5) The issue at question was women jurors' decisions when faced with such cases, in which case, the juror has to decide, whether the victim was preyed on, or acted in such as way that the man credibly believed she had consented. So, it is the juror's judgement, and obviously no juror is a mind reader.

As a side note, I suspect in cases where consent was fuzzy and a lot of drink was involved, rape is not about power, but about miscommunication.