Progressive Norway

I suppose I ought to congratulate the Norwegians on their commitment to equality even in matters of nonconsensual sexual relations.

A 23-year-old Norwegian woman was sentenced to nine months in prison yesterday after she was convicted of raping a man.

The Bergen district court also ordered her to pay 40,000 kroner (£3,340) in compensation, in what the local news media said was the first case of its kind in Norway.

According to court testimony, the January 2004 sexual assault took place when the 31-year-old man, whose name was withheld, fell asleep on a couch in the apartment the woman shared with her boyfriend.

He testified that he had woken up because the woman was performing oral sex on him. She at first denied it, but later changed her story, admitting sexual contact but claiming it was consensual.

The court said a legal amendment from 2000 defines such undesired sexual contact as rape.

The man said the episode left him with insomnia and virtually no interest in sex. He also described it as a breach of trust that had crushed his faith in people.

Poor baby! How does he manage to get up in the mornings, after living through such a horrendous ordeal? Still, the sentence seems fair enough in light of the Norwegian legal definition of "rape", although when that term comes to mind it triggers in me rather more unpleasant notions than mere sexual molestation: a man who feels up a woman's breasts without her permission is a sick idiot in need of punishment, but a "rapist" he is not - nor, to my mind, is a woman who gives a man fellatio while he's sleeping. It trivializes the seriousness of rape to pretend that all forms of molestation are equivalent in severity to it.

Comments

[razib]

gotta be honest, it depends if she's a fat chick.

[Anon]

Bah, the dude must be gay. Or she hideous.

[gene berman]

Surprised at the above two comments--was sure I'd see something more along the lines of the court having "struck a blow for equality--or vice-versa."

[Andrew]

Is the 9 month sentence more lenient than what an typical violent male rapist would receive in Norway? If so, at least the sentencing does take into account that this rape is not as bad as what most people think of as rape.

[Mrs Tilton]

Also, could it be that the Guardian story is a bit loose in its translation? Many jurisdictions have a hierarchy of sex crimes, with rape pegged as the worst. I don't have a link to the Norwegian decision (and couldn't read it if I did), but can it be that the woman was convicted of some other, less severe form of sexual assault?

Mind you, a man can of course be raped, and even by a woman (those having trouble visualising how are directed to take note of some of the equipment on sale in their local sex shop)*. I think there's nothing at all ludicrous in a 'gender-neutral' rape law. But at the same time -- though what this Norwegian woman did was clearly sexual, and if (as we must assume) it was against the will of the man, just as clearly a sexual assault -- I find it odd that it would fit a legal definition of 'rape'. (Though of course, it all depends on how Norwegian law defines rape.)

* She might not even need to obtain special equipment. I can recall an American case from years ago. A woman and a man were romantically, and sexually, involved. The man subsequently got religious, and broke off the relationship; the woman still carried the torch. She drugged him and tied him naked to a bed. When he awoke, she used the Norwegian woman's technique to induce a state in which the relevant portion of the man's body no longer endorsed his will's disinclination to engage in intercourse, which proceeded to be engaged in.

[Jim]

"Also, could it be that the Guardian story is a bit loose in its translation? "

If Norway is in the sitzpinkeln zone, this act could very well fall under a hysterically over-broad definition of rape.

[Sandy]

Well, I guess he was gay, his boyfriend got jealous, and made him go to the police. Men can be such spoilsports, can't they!?

[truth_is_stranger]

This is just another sad result of liberalism.

http://truth-is-stranger.blogspot.com/2005/04/random-current-events-commentary.html

[sotong]

Well if I had to choose between either a BJ or a BJ plus £3,340, I might be tempted to sue for rape too. I probably wouldn't do it because it would mean no more BJs from that girl, and I don't like lying, and people would think I'm even weirder than I really am, but I'd be tempted for sure.

[Jim]

"Bah, the dude must be gay. "

If he's dating some big, blond,broad-shouldered Scandihoovian cow, he's halfway there already.

"This is just another sad result of liberalism"

Yeah, equality sucks that way.

[ogunsiron]

What's gay is the bottom-of-the-barrel scraping quality of many comments on this thread.