Posted by spoonman Thursday 3 April, 2008 07:18 PM
Should people be forced to sign sexual contracts before one night stands?
An independent female MP - Ann Bressington from South Australia - has suggested blokes carry a legally binding contract, along with their condoms, and get it signed before having sex with a woman.
The idea is to avoid false allegations of rape.
News laws in South Australia would allow a person to stay "stop"
midway though sex. If the other person doesn't stop immediately, then that sex act becomes a rape.
Pretty obviously the new law is mostly targeted at blokes and does leave them wide open (forgive the pun) to prosecution, should a women change her mind after consent has been given.
So Ms Bressington says blokes should carry a contract that would detail her name, address, driver's licence number, marital and child status, whether she is affected by alcohol or drugs, and whether she consents to have sex with the man at another location.
She adds that the new laws make one-night stands and casual sexual relationships a very risky business, legally.
Under the laws, men would not be able to use the prior consent to beat a rape charge, if the woman claimed that consent was withdrawn before he withdraws.
Predictably, the discussion about this issue has largely focused on how easy it would be for men to be prosecuted unfairly, which is a significant issue, make no mistake.
But is a contract the answer?
My gut feeling is that out in the real world, a woman out for a one- night stand does not want her full name, address and marital status to be known by some bloke she's just met and doesn't know from Adam.
Having a random bonk with a stranger is one thing. He knowing all about her - on paper - is another.
Surely any such contract would leave women exposed to threats, stalking and possibly even rape at a future time.
The upshot is, I doubt whether most women would sign such a document, should it come to be. What is the benefit to her in signing it? There is none.
And it seems to me that the new laws would not recognise any prior consent, on a contract or otherwise, as they expressly allow a woman to change her mind during the intercourse for which the original consent was given.
The bottom line is that politicians should stay out of the bedroom.
There are some issues that people need to work out for themselves.
Sex is one of them.
Most blokes don't rape and those few who do usually do it more than once.
The best way to combat sexual assault of women is to allow juries access to an accused man's criminal record in order to determine whether they are serial or repeat offenders.
It's much harder to rape a another women while doing 25 years in the slammer, than it is out on bail, or back on the street after a few months inside.
Over to you......
