Detailed account of a rape I told you I had written…

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WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE

Let me propose a little scenario:

Betty is a 38 year old, white female. She is homeless and is currently sleeping in the lounge area of an AA meeting room. She has a history of sexual abuse and comes from a dysfunctional family. She has a functional heart murmur. One incident of sexual assault could be considered violent. She also has a history of alcohol and drug abuse. One year ago she was released from a women's prison, after doing eight months on trespassing charges. During her incarceration she was considered to be totally disabled. She is single has never been married and has no children. She does receive disability benefits. She just lost her automobile. She is currently suffering from chronic bronchitis, exacerbated by a deluge of second-hand cigarette smoke.

Jack is a 40-year-old white male. He is also a recovering alcoholic, with some long-term sobriety.

He currently has no specific profession but is employed. He rents a room in a house with three other people.

Jack and Betty know of each other from attending AA meetings. They never engaged in any after meeting conversation and never even acknowledged each other's presence during a meeting, but they know each other's names.

One Saturday afternoon during the time of Betty's homelessness, Jack enters the AA meeting room. He spots Betty sitting at a table alone. He sits down and introduces himself. They start talking and Betty begins to tell Jack about her situation. Jack then invites Betty out to eat. Then Betty explains that she has not been able to shower or cleanup much for about five days. Jack says it doesn't matter and takes her out to eat anyway. After dinner, Jack decides he needs to go by his house before he returns Betty to the meeting room. Betty is just content to be out for awhile, so they go to Jack's house. While there, Jack offers to let Betty take a shower which she does. Jack then takes a shower himself and afterwards, comes up with a brilliant idea. Jack claims he needs to get out of town for a few days and invites Betty to go to the beach. Betty agrees but stipulates that she is not interested in sex and does not want to engage in sex, and only under those conditions will she go. Jack assures Betty that sex is not a problem, so they head to the beach. After an hour of driving Jack decides to disclose some personal information about himself to Betty. Jack begins to tell her that, when a child, he was molested, by his mother. Betty doesn't know how to respond and suddenly becomes very uncomfortable. Betty begins to think that Jack might be experiencing some rage toward his mother, and she suddenly feels that she has been the appointed victim for that rage. Betty starts to panic and begins looking for ways to get out of the situation. She has no money, the situation seems hopeless for Betty, unless she wants to risk getting a ride with some stranger while at the rest stop. They finally arrive at the beach and Jack pulls into a drugstore to purchase medication for Betty. He returns with 2 cups of warm water and a box of Thera-flu. Jack decided he would also take some of the thera-flu so Betty mixes a cup for each of them. After downing the cold medication, Jack decides they should go out to eat. After dinner Jack begins driving around looking for a motel room. Betty becomes very tense and distressed. She suggests to Jack that they return home, as she is not feeling well and the medication has begun to take effect. Jack says, "I'm not going to go back tonight". After approximately two hours, Jack settles on a motel room. By now, Betty is pretty sure about what is going to transpire. She tries to engage Jack in conversation to avoid any sexual contact. She reiterates that she is not interested in having sex, nor does she feel like engaging in sex. She has been intermittently coughing up chunks of green mucous. Jack reclines on one bed and Betty on the other. After a few minutes Jack moves over to Betty's bed. She asks Jack, "what are you doing"? Jack tries to smooth talk her. Betty begins to worry about what might happen if she tries to resist Jack. She thinks to herself, "it is better to be alive and raped than raped and killed. During the act, Betty attempts to push Jack away. Jack places his hand around Betty's neck as if to threaten her with violence if she resisted. The next morning there was complete silence between the two of them. They didn't have breakfast and Jack decided to attend an AA meeting before leaving the beach. They return home, Jack drops Betty off at the AA club and leaves. A few days pass, and Betty finally receives her disability benefits. Betty is very angry by now. She encounters Jack a second time, and he offers her a job cleaning his room for extra cash. Jack than discloses to Betty that he had been dating another woman. He stated that she was a graduate biology student at the local university, studying the effects of vitamin C. Betty explains to Jack that she is not interested in being his clean-up woman and that she has received her disability benefits. They part ways, never to encounter one another again. It is clear to Betty that she was raped, but how is she going to prove it. She calls the Police in the town where the incident occurred and tried to file a report. The detective listens to her story and politely exclaims that it is her word against his. No investigation is pursued. Four weeks later, Betty discovers she is pregnant. She decides to have an abortion. She tells her mother who invites her to return home with the hopes of her mother's help. Her mother agrees over the phone to give Betty money for an abortion. After returning home Betty's mother changes her mind and claims that she should have the child. Betty has already decided on an abortion. Unable to come to an agreement, Betty's mother decides she does not want Betty in her home and has her arrested for trespassing. Betty is carried off by the local police and incarcerated. Not having any valid reason to hold Betty any longer, Betty is released with no place to go. She returns to the town where she had been staying and where the abortion is to take place and is taken into a homeless shelter. After considering her medical condition, the Doctor who is to perform the abortion suggests that Betty get the procedure done in a hospital. Betty contacts the rape crisis center and gets assistance in making the arrangements. Prior to the procedure Betty requests that tissue be reserved for DNA identification. Betty is placed under anesthesia for the procedure. After the procedure, Betty is found room in a homeless shelter so that she may receive follow-up treatment. Betty, attempts to follow through with the police but they will not investigate. The case is closed.

Your thoughts on the outcome of this scenario?

Let me add some more details...Betty was also sexually abused as a child, by two teenage boys in the hood, and had been physically assaulted by her father on two occasions. She had been mentally and emotionally abandoned by her mother. Having attended many AA meetings herself, but unable to maintain any long term sobriety, Betty naively assumed AA members adhered to certain principles of honesty and decency which you must maintain in order to stay sober. Betty had attempted psychotherapy in addition to AA meetings, but was unable to continue because her medical insurance considered her diagnosis at the time, pre-existing. She was subsequently laid off from her job and could not afford to pay out of pocket, the therapists fees (Capitalism at its best). Betty is 5'4" tall. About Jack...it was noted that Jack, on many occasions in AA meetings, exhibited a considerable amount of hostility, but never addressed it with the group. Jack was not involved in psychotherapy. He had also done time in the Navy. Jack is 5'11" tall.

This scenario is actually the true account of a real life situation. Other details have been left out to protect the victim, for obvious reasons. The investigating officer Betty contacted, with regard to this pre-meditated rape, was a man. This is only one in millions of cases of rape that never get prosecuted, despite the fact that they are reported. I'd like to get a response from the ladies. Can you help me out Girls, conservative or liberal, doesn't matter.

Chuz asks... "Just a question. "what the fuck did she THINK was going to happen"?

Kay responds: "That's right, the bitch got into the damn car and went with the guy. What the hell, she asked for it. She knew he was going to f--- her, no matter what he said and she went anyway. It's her fault. Isn't that what every man wants anyway? What a dumb broad...and he sucks down his 6th can of beer."

Chuz, you don't need to respond, because it is obvious that you think because the woman got into the car in the first place, she deserved what happened, so it is her fault. Real responsibility and respect there. In fact your name says it all, just life right? That's just the kind of negligent attitude we need. But I'll give you this, you don't lack any bias. Well, we are that life and we are responsible for everything that man has created and creates. We are the only ones that can clean it up! I wonder if you meant that to be an objective response? "Laws are not born out of objectivity." Immanuel Kant. The sad thing is Chuz, your response doesn't reflect any since of justice, not even for Jack, who was molested by his mother. You certainly aren't a man of principle and it is becoming clearer that you do not respect women, even more to the point, you do not respect yourself. I think Elizabeth Neill labels this the reasoning of a "pre-conventional person, reasoning usually exhibited by a nine year old, one for whom rules and social expectations are something external to the self." "Most adolescents and adults reason at the second level, the conventional level ", Rights of Privacy and the Privacy Trade, by Elizabeth Neill.

"If some beggar steals a bridle he’ll be hung by a man who’s stolen a horse. There’s no surer justice in the world than that which makes the rich thief hang the poor one." Pierre Cardenal