I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar Evade Responsibility….

No doubt the usual suspects will soon be jumping on the report in the ‘Mail’ today about the poor chap standing trial for rape after a lawyer allegedly sank enough alcohol to kill an elephant, and then claimed she couldn’t therefore have consented to sex:

The lawyer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been drinking heavily on the night of the alleged attack, Winchester Crown Court was told.

She shared a meal and four bottles of wine with her former flatmate, who then invited Bacon over to the house for a few drinks. By that stage the lawyer said she was so drunk that she cannot remember the chef arriving or her former flatmate leaving half an hour later.

But the court heard the woman, who is in her 30s, then shared another two bottles of wine with Bacon before going to bed.

And she’s concerned about rape…?

She should think herself lucky to have woken up at all…

The alleged victim said she found Peter Bacon lying naked next to her in bed one morning with no memory of what had gone before.

She immediately accused the chef of taking advantage of her, shouting: 'It's because of b******s like you that the law has been changed.'

No, sweetie, sorry.

It’s not because of people like this man – it’s because some women seem to lack all self-control with regards to alcohol and casual sex, and when they regret their actions afterwards, want to be able to have the judicial system absolve them of any responsibility at all in the matter.

So they lobby the likes of Harriet Harman and her lawyer friend Vera Baird to get the law changed so that, no matter what, their own actions are never allowed to hinder them in any way.

The man in the situation? Well, you can see how he is treated:

Bacon, 26, voluntarily went to a police station and told them what the lawyer had said when he woke up in her bed.

He said he wanted to find out what his legal position was but was arrested and later charged.

Now, no doubt, his behaviour wasn’t the conduct of a gentleman. And I’m bound to be accused of ‘blaming the victim’ here.

Which, I say, if there’s blame on both sides, then we aren’t doing women a favour by trying to claim that there isn’t. That’s not ‘empowering women’. That’s treating them like children.

Spoiled, wilful children who don’t need to ever grow up. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t think this is what all those early feminists really had in mind when they campaigned for equality. Was it..?

Update: It took the jury 45 minutes to acquit him. I guess it was lunchtime and they really, really liked the sandwiches from the local deli...

On a less amusing note, it cost the taxpayer £80,000 for the CPS to bring this case. It should come out of the pay packet of the two 'rape specialists' who insisted on pressing ahead with it.