There's a somewhat interesting article on sexual behavior between consenting adults in Canada: the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that one has to be conscious in order to consent and to participate in the sexual activity. Here's the article and I presume that there are other articles about the court case elsewhere: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/canada/110527/international-sex-news-canada-supreme-court
The details provided in the news article indicate that this situation is perhaps a little more complicated than one might expect but I'll leave that to the interested reader. What makes this relevant to people in the U.S., especially in NYC, is that there just was a notorious court case in NYC where a woman accused two policemen of having raped her (allegedly one did the raping and the other served as a lookout). Some complicating factors include: (1) the police first helped the woman out of a taxi cab because she had passed out from too much alcohol consumption (she had been out celebrating a job promotion or the like), (2) the police helped her up to her apartment where she fell asleep on her bed, (3) the cops came back to check on her a couple of time, even making a false 911 call that would allow them to come back, and (4) the woman's drunken memory was pretty sketchy but she maintained that she remembers having been raped by one of the cops. The criminal trial ended just a day or so ago and the two cops were acquitted of the rape charges but found guilty of official misconduct (for the fake 911 call). They were immediately fired by the NYPD after the verdict and will be sentenced sometime in June. Here is a NY Times article that summarizes some of the reactions that New Yorkers had to the verdict: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/nyregion/reacting-to-police-rape-case-with-anger-but-little-surprise.html?pagewanted=all Was the woman really raped? There is no physical evidence to support the assertion (on the NY Times website there is a news article on this problematic point) and all she really has was her drunken memories (she had a hard time reconstructing the sequence of events and remembering details). The jury apparently felt that the District Attorney did not have enough evidence to support the charge and this left the jury with a reasonable doubt about the rape. Nonetheless there is understandable rage about the verdict. One is reminded of Alonzo Harris' (character played by Denzel Washington in the movie "Training Day") catchphrase: "It's not what you know, it's what you can prove." But in any event, if you're engaging in sex, make sure that everyone is awake and gives consent. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=10760 or send a blank email to leave-10760-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
