My friend, that bar seems higher by the day.

I will say, “I choose to believe that anyone found not guilty is not guilty, but you can’t ask me to clarify that, because holding the position I just told you I hold makes me look like an insensitive idiot so it’s totally not fair to ask me questions about it” has to win for the stupidest comment I have ever seen on…

Asking that you explain your position, and any possible inconsistencies, is not bait. Your refusal to answer speaks volumes.

I’m more than a little horrified that “rape wasn’t considered rape back then” is being repeatedly used to excuse him. And utterly boggled that people are seriously claiming that courts are impartial and therefore it’s not fair to be believe anyone found not guilty could have committed the crime.

“ He can never admit to raping her, even though I think he probably realizes that he did. His answers are the best that can be expected.”

“I agree that we did not have a good understanding of enthusiastic consent”

What school did you go to?? I graduated from a (liberal) liberal arts school in 1997 and that was definitely not the general expectation. Drunk or high people would hook up, but they were generally equal levels of fucked up. If I recall correctly, a Coca Cola even cost more than a nickel back then. And my parents had…

Ignorance of the law does not excuse one from it.

Thanks :). I really hope I didn’t seem too frustrated in my post. I see many, many, may people saying, “he might not have known. . . .” and I think it’s something that many reasonable people say/think (including myself).

And it is absolutely infuriating to me that that third man (Kangas), who recognized something was wrong, just walked away. He saw his two friends raping an unconscious woman and he walked away.

Holy shit she was left bleeding. Again how is there gray area in this case? Also there's a difference between being a little buzz or drunk with little inhibitions and being passed out. The victim was passed out this guy is lucky he didn't serve anytime.

He has escaped punishment from the state as they were unable to prove he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. All other punishments via public opinion and acceptable so long as he is not libeled or slandered.

But all this to say, I’d wager there a scores of men the same age as Parker who wouldn’t consider themselves rapists, but in reality they are.

Whatever he thought of his own actions with a drunk woman he had had a prior relationship with, I doubt it was such a gray area to wave another man to join in when the woman was not conscious to consent (assuming that part of the story is true).

Was it widely accepted that if you got drunk and went to a guy’s room, where you fell asleep alone in a room while he was in another room, that was consent to not just him penetrating you, but him inviting two of his friends to penetrate you along with him?

I wouldn’t claim to know exactly why particular rape victims report or don’t, but Parker’s victim’s attack was different from the common experiences you mention in a few ways: it involved being penetrated by multiple men at the same time, one of whom was a stranger; she went to bed alone (the men were in another room…

I get what you’re saying and everything but in most of those cases you’re talking about people who led political movements. We can’t throw out what MLK did and I’m guessing the British aren’t coming back to India or the US any time soon to take things over.

I ... it troubles me ... okay a lot of things about this trouble me, but what really sticks in my mind right this second is that she was so distraught, she attempted suicide, but all he can talk about right now is how this is affecting his life.