Rape or Sell Out

It's been a little confusing lately to see women coming forward claiming they were raped 30-40 years ago.  Some claim rape when they weren't forcibly attacked but chose to go along with the sex in order to keep their jobs or to further their careers.  Is this rape???  I'm thinking it's wrong to put these actions in the same category as the women who were drugged or physically forced to have sex.

We always seem to go overboard when exposing injustices and I think that's the case with the recent exposes.  If a woman has the choice of submitting or walking away and she chooses to submit, that is not rape.  If a woman chooses to submit or risk losing her job or career, that is not rape.  It might be illegal to be given those options but it still isn't rape.

There are women out there who have suffered unbelievably at the hands of a rapist and you can't equate that with a woman who submits because she wants to keep her well paid job.  Again, not right but not rape.

I heard the other day that a woman was claiming sexual assault because a man put his hand on her leg.  Definitely not right but is it something that could bring a criminal charge and jail time?

With every minor or questionable case we're seeing on the news, actual and horrible cases of rape are being lumped in with the leg touchers.  Is that going to give real rape victims justice?  I'm afraid what will happen is that it will clog the justice system so badly that rapists will either go free or not be punished to the full extent of the law.

Men with the power to take away a woman's job or career if they don't submit to their advances are creeps of the highest order but I can't for the life of me call that rape.  We can't ignore the fact that the woman was free to walk away.

There are already laws that protect women who suffer unfair consequences when they refuse their employer's advances.  I wish such laws had been in place many years ago because there is not a woman on earth who hasn't had to fight off or ignore unwanted male attention.  Be vocal and tell the offender that a repeat will result in a police report.

Another problem we've always had and still have are the people who know that sexual assault is taking place but don't stop it.  They are equally responsible for the assault and should also be charged.  We're seeing this in the news right now with the people who worked with Larry Nassar and somehow never noticed over the span of 20 years or so that he was molesting hundreds of young girls under his tutelage.  Some are now resigning from their jobs in fear of being charged as accessories but I hope they get what's coming to them.

Yes, the wave of women exposing what has always been part of growing up female will, in the end, create a better world for women but we have to be careful what we call "rape" or "sexual assault".