Use Your Words

We have a serious problem with words in this country. Words carry weight. Sentence structure charges conversation. This shit is real. 

Picture says "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."

In other words, “Missiles of ligneous or porous consistency have the potential of fracturing my osseous structure, but, appellations will eternally be benign.”   

Rape trigger warning for everything after the cut.

Two years ago an Oklahoma rapist was allowed to go free with charges dropped because of what Oklahoma Representative Scott Biggs called a loophole in the Oklahoma law.The rapist was originally charged with first degree rape and forcible oral sodomy on a girl who was intoxicated and incapacitated. In other word, he shoved his dick in the mouth of a girl who was so drunk her friends had to carry her to the car so he could violate her. 

The rapist said that the girl performed consensual oral sex. A person who is passed out doesn't have the state of mind (or even the muscle coordination) to agree to to placing their lips around a penis.

Oklahoma laws define rape as a forced act of “sexual intercourse involving vaginal or anal penetration.” The state says that rape is forced sex, they didn't have proof of forced sex, so they dropped the charge.

There is no such thing as forced sex. 

SEX IS A CONSENSUAL ACT.

Sex is a mutually agreed upon activity. 

Rape is a brutal act of control against another person. Forcibly penetrating another human being is rape.Sex is not involved in the act of rape.

The forcible oral sodomy charge was then dropped because intoxication and unconsciousness are not part of the legal definition of forced oral sodomy. So if the person is awake and saying no then they have been forced. If they are knocked out or drunk or high or in some way incapacitated then the rapist is not forcing oral sodomy on them.

I’m tired of sweet words for horrific things. This is happening everywhere—not just in legal circles. We sugar coat rape and molestation by talking about consent violations. I'm not using a royal we. I do it, too. But consent violations are so vague that they cover everything from "she kissed him after he said no" to "he raped him with a curling iron after he said no."
 

We need to stop softening the truth. These "little" problems should not become easy and palatable for our polite conversation and in depth discussions. These actions are not polite. These discussions are about horrific actions done by disgusting people.

A screwed up law that allows rapists to walk happily away is a big fucking mistake, not a tiny little loophole. The State of Oklahoma's screwed up shit allows people to violently attack other people without any consequences. They don't need to put a patch on it. They need to rewrite the entire damned set of laws so that atrocities like this stop happening.

While they’re working on that, we all need to work on saying what we mean because exerting force to penetrate a person's oral cavity with a tumescent copulatory organ should never be considered a loophole.

Jan 23, 2017 UPDATE: The law was changed in May of 2017, but it was too late for the victim whose appeal was rejected.