Your thoughts on a rape-shield contract?

White_Unifier

White_Unifier

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Feb 21, 2017
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The problem with rape is that it's difficult to prove even at the best of times (and false accusations only make it even more difficult to prove). Could the concept of rape-shield contracts solve the problem?

For example, imagine the criminal code allowing a person to sign a rape-shield contract at any passport office that he (or she) could then have stamped in his/her passport. This contract would allow him/her to legally fornicate but allow the state to find him/her guilty of 'aggravated sexual intercourse' should a prosecutor prove beyond reasonable doubt that he/she committed sexual intercourse with and on a balance of probabilities that he/she sexually assaulted a complainant. This law would apply not only to the person who signs the contract but also to any other person in that person's interaction with the one who signs the contract. To be fair, if he wants to avoid legal problems, he would just need to ask to see her passport. If she has that contract printed into her passport and he chooses to have sex with her, then he's accepting it. If he doesn't accept it, then don't sleep with her.

Another version might be an abstinence contract that a person could sign at any passport office and have stamped into his passport. This would legally prohibit him from fornicating and could make him pay a significant fine should a criminal judge find him guilty of fornication. This contract would apply not only to him/her but to any other person in that person's interactions with him/her. Again, if any person wants to stay out of trouble, he/she would just need to ask to see the person's passport and, if the person refuses to show it or shows it with the abstinence contract printed into it, then it's up to you accept the legal risks and sleep with that person or not.

Of course a person could choose to not sign either contract and just go by the standard assault laws in his sexual relations with others who likewise have not signed the contract; but the option to sign these contracts could give a person more choice.

What are your thoughts on this as a solution to making it easier to deter potential rapists?
 
White_Unifier

White_Unifier

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Feb 21, 2017
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captain morgan said:
Sounds pretty complicated... I dunno how many folks you'll be getting sold on this concept of formalizing their sex lives
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How would it be so complicated? For example, a college student figures no man will rape her if she needs to prove rape on a mere balance of probabilities so she signs the rape-shield contract and gets it stamped into her passport. Any man who wants to have sex with her will need to accept the rules of that contract... or not have sex with her.

Another example might be a college student who isn't planning on sleeping around at college anyway. She might sign the abstinence contract which would make it even easier to punish a rapist. Again, any man who doesn't agree with it would have the option of not sleeping with her. If he wants to know her status, he just needs to ask to see her passport. If she refuses to show it, then assume the worst and don't sleep with her.

How is that complicated? He just has to ask to see her passport and make his decision based on that.

Hoid said:
Ridiculous
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What was ridiculous in what Captain Morgain said?
 
H

Hoid

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I have no idea - he has been on my ignore list since about 5 seconds after I met him - but a rape shield law?

I don't see what that does.
 
captain morgan

captain morgan

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White_Unifier said:
How would it be so complicated? For example, a college student figures no man will rape her if she needs to prove rape on a mere balance of probabilities so she signs the rape-shield contract and gets it stamped into her passport. Any man who wants to have sex with her will need to accept the rules of that contract... or not have sex with her.

Another example might be a college student who isn't planning on sleeping around at college anyway. She might sign the abstinence contract which would make it even easier to punish a rapist. Again, any man who doesn't agree with it would have the option of not sleeping with her. If he wants to know her status, he just needs to ask to see her passport. If she refuses to show it, then assume the worst and don't sleep with her.

How is that complicated? He just has to ask to see her passport and make his decision based on that.
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And if the woman that signs the contract (with terms) decides to change a few of those terms mid-act voluntarily (or believed by the partner) and later recants?

you're still back to he said - she said

Same goes for the abstinence situation, hormones have a funny way of changing people's minds

PS - Hoid reacts really badly to direct questions based in reality.

Thought you might want to know
 
White_Unifier

White_Unifier

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Feb 21, 2017
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captain morgan said:
And if the woman that signs the contract (with terms) decides to change a few of those terms mid-act voluntarily (or believed by the partner) and later recants?

you're still back to he said - she said

Same goes for the abstinence situation, hormones have a funny way of changing people's minds

PS - Hoid reacts really badly to direct questions based in reality.

Thought you might want to know
Click to expand...

Of course there would be consequences to signing the contract. For example, a woman who decides to sign the abstinence contract would have it stamped into her passport, registered in a Government database, become irreversible, and would remain active until the expiry date of the passport. She could choose to not renew it when she applies for her new passport, but she would be stuck with it until then. Think of it as a trade off. If she sleeps with a man, even consensually, and he then accuses her of rape, a prosecutor would need to prove only that he did not coerce her into sex to find her guilty of fornication. Of course the prosecutor would still need to prove sexual assault beyond reasonable doubt to find her guilty of sexual assault, but we all know that will be difficult to do anyway. The trade off is that she accuses him of sexually assaulting her, she too would need to prove only that she did not coerce him into sex to have him found guilty of fornication. In other words, it's a trade-off between sexual freedom and sexual protection.

If she is not willing to trade off that much sexual freedom for sexual protection, then she could sign the rape-shield contract instead. Even then though, once she signs it, she's stuck with it until her passport expires.If a man accuses her of rape, then he would need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she slept with him, and then only on a balance of probabilities that she raped him to find her guilty of 'aggravated sexual intercourse.' Once she signs the contract, she's stuck with it. She made her bed, she sleeps in it. On the flip side, if she accuses him of rape, then she needs to prove only sex beyond reasonable doubt and rape on a balance of probabilities to find him guilty of 'aggravated sexual intercourse.'

If she does not like that, then she could choose to sign no contract. But then, if a man rapes her, tough. She slogs it out in court as is now the case. On the flip sides, if a man accuses her of rape, she too is fully protected by the presumption of innocence.

To avoid conflict between the contracts, we could say the abstinence contract overrides the rape-shield contract and the rape-shield contract overrides standard law in any interaction between a signatory and another person.

If you don't like the contract a person signed, then you don't sleep with that person. If you signed the contract and suddenly discover no one wants to sleep with you or tell you to contact them once your passport expires (and now they can last 10 years!) then oops. Should have thought of that before signing the contract.

Hoid said:
I have no idea - he has been on my ignore list since about 5 seconds after I met him - but a rape shield law?

I don't see what that does.
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Actually, we have mild rape shield laws already. Any more than that would violate the constitution. A rape-shield contract though could get around that since then a person would be accepting such strict rules for himself and anyone who sleeps with him would be accepting the same rules or could choose to not sleep with him.

One way to look at it is that sexual freedom and sexual protection present an inextricable dilemma. The more sexual freedom the law allows, the more difficult it then becomes to prove more serious crimes. The more sexual protection the law provides, the more it infringes on sexual freedom. So, why not let each individual person decide for himself how much sexual freedom he's willing to trade in exchange for sexual protection under the law?
 
MHz

MHz

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How many guys are going to sign a paper saying if sex ever happens between two specific people happens then it is rape?
 
taxslave

taxslave

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White_Unifier said:
The problem with rape is that it's difficult to prove even at the best of times (and false accusations only make it even more difficult to prove). Could the concept of rape-shield contracts solve the problem?

For example, imagine the criminal code allowing a person to sign a rape-shield contract at any passport office that he (or she) could then have stamped in his/her passport. This contract would allow him/her to legally fornicate but allow the state to find him/her guilty of 'aggravated sexual intercourse' should a prosecutor prove beyond reasonable doubt that he/she committed sexual intercourse with and on a balance of probabilities that he/she sexually assaulted a complainant. This law would apply not only to the person who signs the contract but also to any other person in that person's interaction with the one who signs the contract. To be fair, if he wants to avoid legal problems, he would just need to ask to see her passport. If she has that contract printed into her passport and he chooses to have sex with her, then he's accepting it. If he doesn't accept it, then don't sleep with her.

Another version might be an abstinence contract that a person could sign at any passport office and have stamped into his passport. This would legally prohibit him from fornicating and could make him pay a significant fine should a criminal judge find him guilty of fornication. This contract would apply not only to him/her but to any other person in that person's interactions with him/her. Again, if any person wants to stay out of trouble, he/she would just need to ask to see the person's passport and, if the person refuses to show it or shows it with the abstinence contract printed into it, then it's up to you accept the legal risks and sleep with that person or not.

Of course a person could choose to not sign either contract and just go by the standard assault laws in his sexual relations with others who likewise have not signed the contract; but the option to sign these contracts could give a person more choice.

What are your thoughts on this as a solution to making it easier to deter potential rapists?
Click to expand...
Sounds pretty stupid to me. Just more government intrusion into areas they have no right to be. Not to mention the cost of all these thought police.
 
C

Cliffy

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Nov 19, 2008
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