It's often an infuriating argument, but in this case a test that doesn't work properly is worse than no test at all. If there's no test for rape drugs, you know that and can take whatever precautionary measures you find appropriate. If there's a bad test, you might think you're safe when you really, really aren't.

It's frustrating to see people give up on solutions because they aren't perfect, but I do think it's fair in this case - it would be detrimental if one of these flawed systems gave people a false sense of security.

I got a hella burn this summer on the top of a mountain. While wearing 30 spf...

Dipshit probably gets sun burnt in the winter because he thinks the sun can't burn your face on a sunny winter day.

I had the same experience. All the time. Someone actually once yelled it at me from a moving vehicle. I think I was in middle school. It was fucking awful.

Yeah, my best friend's mom would tell me about how I "needed" to get a tan. Need it for what, exactly? This at the very vulnerable age of about 13.

The ironic thing is that Jez and other blogs go out of their way to show that Walking While Black and other accusation do not assume guilt. But when it comes to the serious issue of sexual assualt, they are will to disregard all their other standards in order to get a conviction.

Exactly. My girlfriend and I got real drunk not too long ago, she didn't look/act blacked out, but we had sex and she didn't remember. If we were just acquaintances, could she have cried rape? I know this falls into the gray area, but it's complex and weird to think about.

Exactly. Who hasn't had super drunken sex where both parties are equally impaired? If that's rape then I've been raped by most of my boyfriends.

Couldn't agree more. The judge is in no way blaming women, like you said, she's merely describing the reality of a juror's task. There are standards of evidence and those are hard to meet when the only evidence provided is testimony by someone who was too impaired to be credible.

For me this is the issue:

I agree that rapists are to blame for rape. But she does have a point about a jury not being able to lend credence to the testimony of someone who was totally impaired. It's the same in any trial - how credible is the testimony of anyone who was totally hammered at the time of the event? Whether it's a witness or a…

"But a jury in a position where they've got a woman who says 'I was absolutely off my head, I can't really remember what I was doing, I can't remember what I said, I can't remember if I consented or not but I know I wouldn't have done'. I mean when a jury is faced with something like that, how are they supposed to…

Some people are still trying to decide if Jez wants discussion or an echo chamber. It seems to be leaning towards the latter, and in that case it should probably stop calling itself a feminist website.

This is a very real reality that never gets addressed. The "solution" is to seemingly snap your fingers and pretend that standards of evidence and/or measures of guilt are rather different from the system set up.

where was she blaming the victim?

Maybe do a better job of using evidence in the case to prove the rapist is guilty? Just a thought.

Okay, this is slightly off topic, but I just read this article yesterday that said rape conviction rates in the UK were at an all time high of 63%. It suggests that the difficulty is in getting them to investigate and bring charges, but that the conviction rate once that happens is very high. One of these articles…

My mother and father SOLD THEIR HOUSE in New Hampshire for a loss in order to move to Massachusetts so that my mother could take care of my grandmother (who had dementia) after my grandfather literally dropped dead trying to care for her on his own. All this, despite the fact that my mother's brother lived NEXT DOOR…

I once had a parent tell me that because I didn't have kids, my life was, by default, easy and I wasn't allowed to complain about my problems. This was after I had spent the afternoon sitting with my grandmother who was dying a slow and painful death after fracturing her C2 vertebra. Needless to say my tolerance for…