A Day to Bare Our Souls - and Find Ourselves

"LEGITIMIZING" SEX OFFENDERS?

SPARE ME!! Yet another misogynist asking for forgiveness. And we, as a society, have to stop giving these guys a pass.

I have lost track of the number of abuse victims I have met who have been victims of mental or emotional rape or marital rape. The abuser always says "well she wanted it too" or "she's my wife/girlfriend - so I am entitled." Make me hurl! They lie and then they ask forgiveness. Hollow, shallow forgiveness. "I'm a man.... I have needs... I need relief." Maybe they can find relief with some nice cellmate?

Forgiveness for these guys usually also means FORGETTING! Let's all be nice and act like it never happened. They think women are objects so we are horrible if we act like human beings and demand to be treated with respect. Or we demand an apology or acknowledgement.

Don't get me wrong. I am a big believer in restorative justice. When both parties are sincere and seek to heal. But I am so sick of the "forgiveness" movement. Some things you can't forgive. You can process them but you maybe you can't forgive. You certainly don't forget.

Bad enough some guys manipulate women. Tell them they "love" them or outright lie to them. (I've come to consider abuse of TRUST to get sex a form of rape, too.) Bad enough once they get what they want they abandon them or start abusing them again. Then they subsequently abuse the woman and call her a loose canon or a stalker when she demands some explanation, apology or even decides to deep six the relationship. And my all time (puke) legal favorite: "IT WAS CONSENTUAL."

Plea bargain? For lying? for abusing? for using a woman like a sex toy? Because of who he is? Sorry... not buying it. Repeal that plea bargain. The plea bargain is just further abuse. Stop Now.

Women's groups demand repeal of Katsav plea bargain
Ruth Eglash

Representatives of more than 20 women's organizations and 30 victims of sexual abuse, assault and rape gathered outside the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem on Tuesday to make sure their demand to overturn the plea bargain reached between Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz and former president Moshe Katsav was heard.

"It is clear that the plea bargain reached is not fully legal," Dorit Abramovitch, coordinator of the Coalition of Women's Organizations, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. "We are very optimistic that our petitions will be successful and we have been overwhelmed by the amount of public support for our cause."

Abramovitch said, however, that the Knesset's and the government's attitudes towards sex offenders, especially those of high public standing, seems to be moving in the wrong direction in recent months.

"The government continues to do what it wants," she said, adding that some of the sexual abuse victims at the protest were becoming desperate.

"They are worried that if the plea bargain is accepted it will grant legitimacy to all sex offenders to continue doing what they are doing," said Abramovitch, herself a victim of incest. "Already in the last two weeks we have seen two rapists being given lighter sentences, and the phenomenon will only get increase."

The five-judge panel headed by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch failed to rule Tuesday on the six petitions asking to freeze the plea bargain until the court examines the merits of the arrangement; Abramovitch said that women's groups would continue to demonstrate.

"It seems that even the judges are not convinced by the evasiveness of the defense's argument," said attorney Tziona Koenig Yair, executive director of the Israel Women's Network, which was one of the groups petitioning the court. "In the hour and a half of argument, the attorney-general did not manage to explain in a reasonable manner how an initial indictment of rape had been turned into a slap on the wrist that might even allow the president to return to public life in several years."

"The public support shown for our fight has been unbelievable," said Abramovitch, adding that the number of female sexual abuse and rape victims to come forward to demonstrate had been steadily growing. "In the past they did not want to step forward, but now they realize that they have to speak up for themselves," she said.

The petitions filed to the High Court include one submitted jointly by the Movement for Quality Government, the Israel Women's Network, Kolech, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers, WIZO and Na'amat. Two others were filed by attorneys Eitan Peleg and Yoel Eden; two more were from the lawyers representing "Beit Hanassi Aleph," who accuses Katsav of raping her, and from another woman identified as "Kaf" who accuses Katsav of sexual misconduct.

from JPost

Here's just a few more tidbits and this type of outrage by courts against women:

LAST week a judge showed leniency to a man who raped a ten-year-old girl. The reason he gave: The child had been dressed “provocatively”.

Original article

or try this one if you can stomach it:

...even if the case does go to trial, there is every chance the accused will be acquitted.

One leading expert says that rape has almost become a non-crime because so few cases result in a sentence.

ORIGINAL

From blog friend, Marcella Chester:

Three months after she got a rape kit done, she was fingerprinted which I find disturbing as it could have been used to try to intimidate her into going away. It took almost 2 years for the sheets she was told to bring in were actually tested. The DNA found on those sheets resulted in a match to a man, who when questioned initially, denied any sexual contact but when informed of the DNA match changed his story to say that they did have sex but it was consensual.

The man has been caught in a proven lie (something many men would have you believe never happens), but no charges have been filed in the case and Nicole Quiroz doesn't seem to expect any charges to ever be filed.

Ignorance and disrespect are always going to be with us to some extent, but it doesn't have to be with us among those who have sworn to enforce the law.

ALSO READ MARCELLA'S POST ON "...LETTING RAPISTS RUN FREE"

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