Rape is rape, no matter the conditions

by Sara Ritsch
Op. Ed.

Oklahoma’s rape law requires women to resist rape in order for it to be considered a nonconsensual act. Once the victim has resisted, it can be classified as forcible rape.

In addition to this, inside the forcible sodomy law exists a loophole: the condition of being unconscious is not listed as one of the five facets of rape.

Thus, “forcible sodomy cannot occur where a victim is so intoxicated as to be completely unconscious at the time of the sexual act of oral copulation,” reads the most recent ruling regarding rape in Oklahoma.

But now, lawmakers such as State Rep. Scott Biggs want to close that loophole. It is becoming evident that there is no such thing as ‘qualifications’ for rape – there is just rape.

Women and men, girls and boys, do not have to resist being raped in order to be raped.

The case in question that inspired this ruling involved two high school students who were drinking heavily. The female victim, 16, had a blood-alcohol level of .341, according to blood tests. Her condition was indicative of severe alcohol poisoning.

When the 17-year-old defendant’s DNA was found on her body after his nonconsensual oral penetration, he claimed she consented and that it was her idea.

Because of her lack of memory, it was difficult to prove she did not consent, said the defendant’s attorney Shannon McMurray.

McMurray displayed her audacity, saying, “They [prosecutors] were trying to substitute one element for the other, meaning intoxication in the rape statute, when there was absolutely no evidence of force or him doing anything to make this girl give him oral sex other than she was too intoxicated to consent.”

She went on, in a sickening string of words, “You can’t substitute force with intoxication under the law.”

One thing I would like to address, aside from the gross disregard of the young girl’s right to consent, is the risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases or Infections through oral sex.

Oral sex is just as dangerous as any other sexual contact when in terms of contracting a virus. Without consent or pre-conceived conversation, one or both members of the party are at risk of contraction.

According to the American Sexual Health Association, herpes simplex virus type 1, or HSV-1, can be transmitted to the genitalia orally. It is also possible to contract genital herpes, HSV-2, orally.

HIV can also be contracted through oral sex. Bodily fluids such as semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids and vaginal fluids must come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue in one way to transmit the virus.

For anyone in doubt, mucous membranes are found inside the mouth, rectum, vagina and penis.

Aside from certain strains of Hepatitis, the other STIs that can be transmitted through oral sex include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and human papillomavirus (HPV).

Returning to the discussion of this ruling, Oklahoma’s highest court dismissed all rape charges, saying they could not expand the “fair meaning” of the law.

However, lawmakers are now moving to fix this loophole in the state’s forcible sodomy law.

According to The Associated Press, the court wrote, “’The legislature’s inclusion of an intoxication circumstance for the crime of rape...is not found in the five very specific requirements of forcible sodomy.’”

The AP continues to explain that State Rep. Biggs swept in after the court’s ruling, “horrified” for the decision and “drafting language that legislators could consider as early as next week.”

Biggs, R-Chickasha, said, “I think the judges made a grave error, but if they need more clarification, we are happy to give it to them by fixing the statute.”

He intends to amend the existing bill in order to expand the definition of forcible sodomy in Oklahoma.

In turn, Oklahoma intends to hold onto hope for every person, young or old, who wants to sleep peacefully, without an utterance of ‘no’ slipping between tongue and loose jaw, desperately.

Updates to come.

The Gayly – 4/29/2016 @ 11:26 a.m. CDT