Actually, the Duke jocks would have still gotten off, because the prosecutor failed to even show that sex had taken place. So under this law there would still have not been a conviction.

But what constitutes “proof”? That is a fuzzy line that needs to be drawn somewhere, and that choice is all about balancing false convictions against prosecutorial power, no?

And If the Patriarchy as defined be thee and thine doesn’t actually exist (i.e., your definition is wrong or you simply missed the boat) you could derail positive accomplishments rather quickly.

Imagine a backlash that returned to the days of yore when it was legally impossible for a man to rape his wife? Within a year of “Twisty’s Law” hitting the books there would just such reactions rocketing through legislatures all over this fair land, wouldn’t there? Or imagine a ‘contract dating’ culture where a woman gets to sign an agreement with a man with strict delineations of what is and isn’t permissible with a time limit and action counter? Bringing a lawyer to a hookup and making sure each act is taped for the safety of the man involved?

Not my idea of the way to improve male/female relations in the PoMo age.

And I am a Traditional Latin Mass Catholic White guy with a stay-at-home wife that homeschools our passel of kids! If *I* think the backlash would be bad for women, you should look around.

We don’t know if the Duke students were falsely accused or not. All we know is that there was not enough evidence to convict them in the current legal and political climate. You’ve got a lot of faith in the judicial system, I don’t.

As for backlash… you’re probably right that there would be backlash. That doesn’t speak to the fairness of the law, however, which is what my post was about.

The fact that you think there would be “dozens” of convictions within the first few months demonstrates how little you understand about the scale of the problem. A woman is sexually assaulted every few minutes in this country.

You put some nice words in Twisty’s mouth, but I can’t think of an instance where she said she thinks the Patriarchy is a powerful group of people. When I talk about patriarchy, I’m not talking about a group of powerful people, I’m talking about a set of cultural practices, beliefs, and social structures that are perpetuated (mostly) by regular everyday men. You know we third wave. Why you playin’?

Let’s do a thought experiment – of Twisty gets her little law within months there will be dozens of rape convictions, some of which are unjust. The result will not be a lot of people saying “Hmmmm. Perhaps i should think about how difficult a rape victim can have it”

The result would be a massive backlash against feminism, the lawmakers who passed such a bill, and women in general.

See, responding to injustice with more injustice is not a solution, it is an escalation. If someone mistakes your intentions and slaps you, a returned punch will not make the first person realize they made an error. If Twisty truly believe “The Patriarchy” is some powerful group that dominates soceity, she should realize that her little law would only result in more suffering for women.