“If rape is considered to be forceful entry,
Your words were the crowbar at the edge of her door,
continuously bending.
Sending the message, that you would do no harm.
And frankly, eyes that love can’t see through charm.
Every time she doubted, you would push and pry.
She acted under the influence of your seductive eyes,
Your corruptive lies, your scandalous speech.
Your ski mask embroidered with the words, “Je’taime, Cherie.”
(Excerpt from Pen of a Ready Ready Vol.1, available for purchase at https://svenstelemaque.com/shop/)
Rape and its technical definition differ, depending on the laws of the society in which it is applied. As the ethics and moral guidelines of a society change, so does its law.
In the case of rape, I could not help but face the music my conscience played with instruments like truth, integrity, and honor. I realized how unjustly I have used the word “love”, serenading women to a tune of false pretensions and motives. I found that I, along with so many others, was guilty of “rape by deception”. Some may say that my view point is unrealistic and extreme; however global legislators are now beginning to view “rape by deception” as a criminal offense. Rape laws are either centered on sexual autonomy or consent, whichever stand you take.
Note, “It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it.” It is impossible to measure the impact upon the victim as a result of acquiring sex, or “rape”, by deception. With that being said, I found no greater reference than Jed Rubenfeld , a prominent law professor at Yale Law School, in his article, “The Riddle of Rape-by-Deception and the Myth of Sexual Autonomy”, published in the Yale Law Journal. The article focused on the many supporting events and ideologies supporting different stances on rape. The case studies he included were varied, including a married Palestinian father, who, in 2010, posed as a Jewish bachelor seeking a commitment with a Jewish woman. The man was convicted of rape, and the courts stated that if “[the complainant] had not thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated with him.”
When the case in Israel was still in motion, Massachusetts introduced a new bill promising a maximum sentence of life imprisonment to anyone who “has sexual intercourse . . . with a person having obtained that person’s consent by the use of fraud, concealment, or artifice.” The state of Tennessee has already outlined the crime as, “sexual penetration . . . accomplished by fraud” and Idaho has included an amendment that states a rape had been committed when “artifice, pretense, or concealment,” is required, or the victim believes the offender to be “someone other than” who that person is. A Canadian Supreme Court Justice broadened the definition further to state that rape is committed when sex is acquired through “dishonesty”.
The ‘high tide’ of Rubenfeld’s insights take the otherwise definitive concept of rape and transform its shores, the marked line between solid land and watery depths, suddenly unrecognizable.
- (Source: Rubenfeld, Jed (2013). The Riddle of Rape-by-Deception and the Myth of Sexual Autonomy 122 Yale L.J. 1372)