Pipe down David Osborne
I'm angry. I'm fucking angry!
Once again a man has opined on rape with the usual tact and empathy of a bull in a china shop. How often do we see men reinforcing rape myths and unashamedly victim blaming? We shouldn't be surprised at one more right?
Well, when the man involved is a barrister and is supposed to be knowledgable in the law I'm not just surprised, or shocked, I'm downright furious!
David Osborne has been a practicing barrister for 40 years. He is a father of 4, one of his children being a daughter. He is known to some as "the barrister bard" for once delivering his closing argument in verse. He is also a misogynist.
For whatever reason he saw fit he decided to write a blog about the clarification of guidelines for dealing with complaints of rape, that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, recently announced. These guidelines do not change the law that has been in place for eleven years, they are merely being used to ensure that the law of the land is being adhered to properly.
David Osborne has, in his disputed, wisdom taken umbrage with the law of the land, and the DPP highlighting that from the police, as gatekeepers, to the courtroom these laws are being misinterpreted and misunderstood.
In his disgustingly titled blog "SHE WAS GAGGING FOR IT." (His capitals not mine) he writes,
“In my book, consent is consent, blind drunk or otherwise, and regret after the event cannot make it rape....I have a very simple solution which I hope you will agree is fair.
If the complainant (I do not refer to her as the victim) was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or both, when she was ‘raped’, this provides the accused with a complete defence."
This is a completely ridiculous statement to make! This barrister is suggesting that the very opposite view of the law be taken. That any man who rapes a woman who is unable to consent through intoxication should be found not guilty!
The law is very clear. Consent must be freely given, and consent must be given by someone who has the "free and full capacity" to do so. In eleven years that has not changed. To suggest that a full defence for every rape charge is "the woman was drunk" is just obscene!
Pressed further by the Daily Mirror David Osborne stated
“The protection in law that they have got seems to me to be twofold.
“Number One: Don’t go out in the first place.
“Or Number Two: If you do go out don’t get rat-arsed. If you get rat arsed, I’m sorry, you are asking for trouble."
WHAT? I BEG YOUR PARDON? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
"Don't go out in the first place."
Yes, that's right women. To ensure we don't get raped we should stay indoors. No doubts David Osborne wants to see us shackled to the kitchen sink, barefoot, pregnant.
Secondly if we do dare pass the threshold we mustn't get drunk. As we all know, being drunk in possession of a female body is a crime. How dare we consume alcohol? How dare we choose to get pissed? How dare we act like men!
David Osborne then goes on to ensure he "others" rape victims. They aren't like his daughter, they aren't like "decent" women, oh no.
“I’ve advised my own daughter, although thank God she doesn’t trollop around the streets half naked and under the influence.
"She is now just coming up to her 30th birthday. I’ve said that you’ve got to bear in mind that walking the streets provocatively dressed can in some circumstances be an invitation to a red blooded bloke."
His daughter doesn't "trollop around the streets half naked and under the influence." Let us all clutch our pearls to our necks and grab our kerchiefs aghast at the thought. His daughter is like those "sluts" who dare to wear whatever they choose, who dare to go out and drink, who get raped because their clothing or actions warranted it.
Then we get on to those poor "red-blooded males". You know the ones, the ones who, instead of wanting to share a consensual sexual encounter, just can't control themselves bodily if they come across a woman who is obviously in not fit state to give consent. It's not their fault, it's their biological urges.
I do find it abhorrent that anyone can defend these men's urges which are more akin to sex that appears closely related to necrophilia, with a partner virtually comatose through alcohol, than with someone who is engaging in consensual willing sex.
Many many women (and men) are working damn hard to ensure that men who rape are brought to justice in a system that has always been heavily weighted towards the accused. With an estimated 80,000 rapes each year and only 1070 convictions things have to change. Men need to known that rape is NOT acceptable. They need to know that they will be punished. We need to change the actions of our judicial system from the police upwards so that rape can challenged.
David Osborne seems to think he can help lower rape statistics.
“I tell you what would drop the rape statistics would be if girls covered up, dressed appropriately and stopped drinking themselves legless.”
NO DAVID OSBORNE! Being drunk is not a crime. Being dressed inappropriately (whatever that means) is not a crime. Being uncovered in public is not a crime. Neither is it an invitation for men to use a woman ejaculate in after a night on the beers with the lads.
RAPE IS A CRIME. MEN WHO RAPE WOMEN WHO ARE VULNERABLE THROUGH INTOXICATION ARE CRIMINALS. AND YOU SIR, ARE A RAPE APOLOGIST AND A VICTIM BLAMER!
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I’m so glad I didn’t read the full details of what this rape apologist said. What an utter failure of a human being.
No wonder women can’t get justice when freaks such as him are working in the legal system. He is a rape apologist and should be struck off. I can’t say any more because I’m so fucking angry too!
If the complainant is under the influence of misogyny at the time he has the shit kicked out of him, this provides the accused with a complete defence.
I wonder why that oh so clever male barrister David Osborne hasn’t castigated male victims who have been mugged; been subjected to assault by a male(s) because these male victims clearly didn’t ensure their safety and security by not entering male owned public spaces without the mandatory female bodyguard(s) and/or provoked a male(s) into subjecting them to physical male violence.
I’m still waiting for men to demand that all males must not go out alone after dark but instead remain in their own homes in order to reduce male violence perpetrated against other males.
I’m also still waiting for males to be told that if they consume alcohol and are subsequently involved in a male on male street brawl or the drunken male(s) are robbed/attacked by other males then the drunken male(s) are the ones responsible for allowing themselves to be attacked by other males.
But misogynist Osborne will not blame males who have been mugged/had their property stolen/ or been robbed/assaulted when they are drunk and/or have consumed alcohol, because men have always accorded themselves male right of freedom of movement and male right to consume alcohol.
Osborne is just another mundane male who believes males have the innate sacred right of sexual access to any female any time any place. Notice Osborne conveniently ignored male accountability in respect of pandemic male sexual violence continuing to be perpetrated against women and girls. Instead he believes it is okay for males to sexually prey on women and girls because Osborne believes only certain women and girls are not males’ sexual property.
News flash Osborne – rape and male sexual violence against women and girls will only decrease when and if males decide they will not sexually prey on women and girls.
Thank you for putting into words the fury I’ve been feeling.
Does he not realise that he is giving every rapist a get-out-of-jail-free card? Just make sure your victim has had a drink & you can do what you like to them? I despise this man.
I hope he David Osborne has been reported to his professional body’s disciplinary committee for bring his profession into disrepute. i also hope that that professional body treats this with the seriousness it deserves.
I haven’t read the entire piece by David Osborne but from the extracts I’ve seen it can be neatly summed up as if men behaved like civilised human beings then women would be safe to be drunk/sober, to dress how they chose, leave their houses and return unharmed and not raped and to otherwise generally enjoy their liberty in the same way that men do. In short David has underscored that it’s men who are the problem and until they mend their ways women will never be safe.