Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Why prostitution should be legal and why Rape laws need to be changed...

Sorry I havent blogged for a while. I am working pro bono on some inflamatory cases and I havent had much time for anything else. The cases I am working on have led me to write this piece. Its long but its worth the read.


In law school I took a class called Sex discrimination and we read an article titled "The (Ir) relevance of Consent." The title struck me hard that I paused and tried to formulate in my head what consent, sex and rape have in common in contributing to the subordination of women. According to Justice Brennan’s dissent in Sonoma County (a case we read in which an underage boy raped an underage girl and the court refused to call it rape, saying it was statutory rape) , the historical development of California’s statutory rape statute “demonstrates that the law was initially enacted on the premise that young women, in contrast to young men, were to be deemed legally incapable of consenting to an act of sexual intercourse.” If a woman because of her ‘fragile nature and weak mind” is unable to give consent to sex, then all sexual interactions between young women and men will be considered rape. This idea is insulting, chauvinistic and paternalistic. Many young women are able to consent to sexual intercourse WITHOUT any form of coercion or violence and often do. What do we define as consent for sexual intercourse? Is it the man asking “may I have penetrative sex with you? And the woman responding, “Yes you may,” or “no you may not.”? Does this consent cover any points after that in which the woman changes her mind or says stop now? To me, rape has always been about the subordination, control and use of woman. I have never seen it as a consent issue. Even if a woman signs a consent form for sexual intercourse, may she not change her mind during the act and say so?


My understanding of rape has always been about a ‘taking’. In a taking, there is neither room to ask for or give consent. I think statutory rape laws should be geared towards protecting young underage victims from older predators and should be gender neutral.

Secondly, statutory rape laws between the underage should be moved to rape law. I think the rape by an underage predator of an underage victim should be accorded the title of rape and should not be place under statutory rape. A rape is a rape and because a rapist is underage should not afford him/her a lesser punishment.

We live in a society that celebrates men for their sexual encounters and condemns women for their sexual encounters. Women are demonized by both men and women for their sexual experiences and because of this, many people do not report rape, especially acquaintance rape. When I was 17 and had just started college, my best friend’s older brother came to visit me in my college dorm and then proceeded to try to rape me. He hit me on my stomach and thighs and choked me as I struggled. Even though he was not successful in raping me, his attempt was highly traumatic for me. I would have been confused about if it was rape or if I had given consent if he had not been physically violent towards me. I struggled with reporting this crime because of the social stigma and the assumption that I may have given consent because I allowed him to visit me in my room. Shortly after this incident, I became very interested in acquaintance rape and took a poll of 15 of my female friends and every single one of them had encountered attempted rape or actual rape by an acquaintance which they never reported. When I read that 1 in every 6 U.S. adult women have experienced an attempted or completed rape, I was astounded. I think this issue would be better addressed by society and not necessarily legislation or litigation. This is because; many women do not report acquaintance rape and those who report may be unsuccessful at litigation because of all the biases in the minds of society, judges and jurors.


I think society as a whole is in a better position to address this issue by changing the attitude regarding women, their sexual desires and its expression and their right to say no at any point during a sexual encounter. Community education, case scenarios and a general belief in the value of a woman and her thoughts will go a long way in reducing acquaintance rape. I doubt this will ever happen as it takes decades to change the set attitudes of society on a view.

Under the Rape Shield law, there is an exception which states that a pattern of prior sexual conduct may be admitted or prior sexual conduct between the complainant and the defendant may be admitted as proof of probable consent. These exceptions belittle a woman. Just because a woman has had sexual intercourse with a man at one time does not mean she agreed to have sexual intercourse with him at another time. This assertion gives the impression that one sexual interaction with a man, gives a license for sexual interaction at any other time. In addition, because a woman has engaged in prostitution does not mean she cannot refuse sex with a man. It is obvious that legislation is incapable of encompassing every aspect of areas regarding rape. On the issue of he said she said scenarios, it still falls to society to be honorable in their dealings and be honest in their assertions. If societal ideas about a woman’s sexual experiences were different, women will not make false accusations of rape.

In a recent article on the BBC news website in February , a recent survey in London showed that women think rape victims should take the blame for their rape. The online survey, titled Wake Up To Rape, polled 1,061 people aged 18 to 50, comprising 712 women and 349 men. Almost three quarters of the women who believed that a rape victim should take the blame for their rape said if a victim got into bed with the assailant before an attack they should accept some responsibility. One-third blamed victims who had dressed provocatively or gone back to the attacker's house for a drink. Of the women who believed some victims should take responsibility, 71% thought a person should accept responsibility when getting into bed with someone, compared with 57% of men. The survey also found that more than one in 10 people were unsure whether they would report being raped to the police, and 2% said they would definitely not do so. The main reasons were being too embarrassed or ashamed (55%), wanting to forget it had happened (41%) and not wanting to go to court (38%). These figures and attitudes continue to be the reason why rape is still so rampant and difficult to prosecute or legislate. I do not think that a woman’s dressing or flirtatious attitude should be seen as a license to be violated sexually.


ON WHY PROSTITUTION SHOULD BE LEGAL.
Prostitution encompasses so many facets of the life of a woman engaged in that vocation, that to look at it singly as a woman selling her body for money is narrow minded. The issue of prostitution should be addressed through legislation. I personally think that prostitution should be made legal and those women who choose to be prostitutes should be treated as employees if they work for a brothel and should be covered under labor laws. If they are treated as employees, they would have access to medical care, pay taxes and have a retirement or benefit plan. I think removing the stigma and criminalization of prostitution will help to decrease sex trafficking, sex slaves and child trafficking. I agree that there are prostitutes who are coerced into prostitution by others or their circumstances but I also believe that if prostitution was not seen as a criminal or immoral act, many would not be pressured into doing it. The secrecy behind prostitution is what fosters the environment of abuse by pimps. If legislation is passed that taxes employee prostitutes pay, and requires work authorization to be hired in a brothel, the instances of trafficking poor immigrant women may be reduced. I am not suggesting that this will be enough to restrict or tackle human trafficking but it may help. I support a woman’s right to choose in every area of her life. If a woman chooses to become a prostitute; and prostitution is a trade, then these women should be respected for their choice and protected in their trade. It is patronizing and insulting for those who are not engaged in the trade to assume that no ‘normal’ woman would want to have so many sexual partners. According to some sociologists, when prostitutes give favorable accounts of their experience, they are engaging in “neutralizing techniques.” They go on further to explain that sociologists us the term to describe the way socially despised and marginalized groups survive marginal condition and they do this to avoid self contempt. This idea propagates the system that thinks that women are unable to make intelligent choices about their bodies and their sexuality and so these decisions need to be made for them. I do not think that in an ideal world of true equality that commercial sex would be exploitative. I think it would be a legitimate business transaction. WITH THAT BEING SAID, I KNOW THAT PROSTITUTION THE WAY IT IS TODAY IS DEGRADING, VIOLENT AND SICK. READ MORE ON THIS HERE

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/26/135702065/relapse-and-recovery-a-tale-of-two-prostitutes

I AM ADVOCATING FOR THE LEGALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION IN ORDER TO REDUCE ITS LURE AND KILL BUSINESS FOR PIMPS AND NOT THAT PROSTITUTION IS GOOD OR RIGHT OR MORAL. SO DONT LEAVE ANY BS COMMENT.

In conclusion, rape and prostitution are two areas that impact women in ways of their sexual expression, desire and right to refuse or give sex to another person. These issues fall squarely under the dominance theory. It shifts the focus of attention from gender-based difference to the imbalance of power between women and men. This power imbalance has been created by society that values men, their thoughts and ideas above women, their thoughts and ideas. This perspective makes the relevant inquiry of whether a rule or practice serves to subordinate women to men. For example, the practice of arresting prostitutes who tend to be women in general and not their pimps who tend to be men in general serves to subordinate women to men. This among many laws, ideas and perceptions about women, rape and prostitution serve as part of a larger system of categories and concepts designed to make women's subordination seem natural and legitimate. This should be challenged by a change in society’s perceptions, more female law makers contributing to legislation that addresses this issue and less stigma attached to women’s sexual choices.

Sorry for all the ranting. Tomorrow I will have a lighter blog post.

Monday, April 18, 2011

My weekend was great because....

I slept!!!

I slept from 7 pm on Friday till 12 ish on Saturday morning. It was raining heavily, so i got up and made myself a tomatoe, cheese and mushroom omellette with waffles and bacon. i felt i had earned the fattening food.

after eating, i watched a bit of tv and slept again till about 6 ish pm. I woke up craving eba and egusi and so i went to the store, bought spinach and garri. I then threw down i the kitchen. the soup was too delish if i do say so myself. here is a picture.


when the food was done, i sat down and ate it all by myself. : (
then ofcourse this got me thinking. i wish i had someone to cook for.
a rainy day hot soup and eba to warm my special someones insides.
then my friend i told you guys about calls me and we talked about his planned visit. tickets are running between $700 to $900. that is just too much. so i am not going to see him as soon as i had expected.

i am not sure if i offeneded him but when i told him that we could split the cost of the ticket, he kinda closed off and after that got off the phone. was i wrong to offer to pay half? i mean i am older than he is and we both work. now i am worried cos he has not answered my bbs today. na wa o

anyway sha, whats going on with nigeria? i looked at the map of the distribution of votes and it is truly divided in north and south. why cant we all just get along?

Friday, April 15, 2011

I know a VAGABOND.....you probably know one too....

i know a vagabond.

his name is-well lets just call him vagabond. i share a house with him and two others

why is he a vagabond you ask?

i will tell you.

first of all, lets consult the merriam webster dictionary for the description of a vagabond.

A vagabond is one who is leading an unsettled, irresponsible, or disreputable life.

that one na oyinbo people definition.

in my books, a vagabond is

a bastard
a cotton picker
an abandonded child with daddy issues
the fruit of a fatherless, lawless, pleasure seeking generation
a person with slave mentality
a person with face tatoo and neck piercing
a cursed person
did i say bastard already?

ok now in case you are still confused, here are some examples of vagabonds.



ok thats enough. now you get the picture.

ok so back to the vagabond i know.

this monkey does not have a job

he is somewhere in the hazy mid-thirties he is a wait for it...a RECORD PRODUCER!!! nigger please

he stays home all day and fucks at night.

some high yellow slut bag he calls a gf, comes over and has violent fights with him then he defiles her with his penis.

last night, they came in around two am, shouting and slamming doors.

next thing i hear smacks and she keeps saying "ow" "ow"

it sounds like he is hitting her with a belt

then she says stoooppp!!!!!

next thing, i hear him moaning. so i am wondering ummm wtf are they doing now???

and guess what i heard?

she started coughing!!!! this bastard was gagging her with his penis!!!

omg!!! heifer have some dignity!!!!

then they start having loud ignorant nigger sex

this is after they made popcorn cause the whole house smelt of butter popcorn after they came in. this house is very huge, so u can imagine how loud and beastly they were being..

bastards.

they are mating and producing the next generation of vagabonds, janitors and fire extinguisher maintenance men.

Only God can punsih them

now i wont be this mad if this didnt happen almost every week nite.

last nite was very annoying.

BUT

they were not done o.

this morning at 6 am, they started again.

i promptly started playing gospel music loudly.

ooo Gosh!!!

i hate vagabonds.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

I should have kissed you....

So yesterday while i was confined to my hospital bed, i decided to listen to chris browns new album- fame and one of the songs caught my attention.

i should have kissed you.

it is by no means a genius work of music, but i liked it becasue of its title and content.

I SHOULD HAVE KISSED YOU

how many times has an opportunity presented itself to us in many areas and we chicken out with fear, excuses, weakness, whatever.

the song also made me sad, because he was obviously referring to a girl he had feelings for and he could never tell and he had the opportunity to kiss her and he didnt. what a waste. if this was a true story, then he lost his chance with someone who could probably like him back.

anyway sha the album is on point. i still have beef for chris brown for beating my lover rihanna but his last two albums graffiti and this one fame were both on point.

anyway in other gist, my childhood friend is coming to see me because i am sick. the last time we saw after 11 years at christmas, we kissed. it was sooo beautiful. i am excited about him coming. i love him but i have decided that me and him have no future cos he is 3 years younger than i am and so i wont even go there. but if soul mates were real, he is my soul mate. anyway sha i will have gist for you guys when he comes.

i am so excited.

anyway sha guys please kiss whoever it is you want and tell that person you love them. the only time we have is NOW tomorrow is often too late.

peace

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Second hand smoke is a bastard...

Sorry guys for being away so long

after finding out i passed the bar, i went out to celebrate. i went to a dinner with some of my old law school buddies and met one cute first year law student. he took a shine to me so i was like "why not" i will indulge him. after dinner, they started game night which was so boring. new guy looked at me and asked me if i wanted to go roller skating. i said sure why not. so i left with him to meet up with his frat brothers at the skating rink.

the place was so ghetto. i was afraid. my friend told me that i was in the most dangerous city in america. at that moment i started asking myself who sent me. twenty minutes later new guy came and said that he noticed i looked uncomfortable so we should leave.

i was so happy to leave there. i had had enough of akata people for one night. gosh!!! so ghetto.

after that i went out with five of my guy friends and we ended up at some club that they were smoking in. i was surprised to find that there are still places people are allowed to smoke indoors.

lets just say everything went downhill from there. the next day my throat was on fire, i got terribly ill and had to be hospitalized.
i just returned home today.

the only high point is that i got the breakdown of my bar results and i did extremely well and scored way above what you need to pass.
i will return to work tomorrow. i have lost 8 pounds. nonsense.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Palpitation will not kill me.....

my bar results come out tomorrow. i am fucking scared. i have been having panic attacks all day. in between praying to God to make sure i pass and saying wtf?

i am in trouble.

God please have mercy on me. if i dont pass i might automatically lose my job. and i need them six figures. i am planning to move to nigeria in a year. i need all the income i can get.

meanwhile, there is hottt gist and i cant even concentrate.

short story, i caught the secretary rubbing one of the partners penis today after a meeting.

yes i did.

i am so sure it happened cos they both looked startled when i came back into the conference room.

i just said, "sorry to interrupt" and walked out

that secretary is a sharp girl. nothing do you blondie.

na wa for old ashawo men o. the man has a wife and a kid in law school who is interning at this office this summer.

i wonder if the blondie will make a move on the son also. after all why should she put all her eggs in one basket?

abeg jare equal opportunity ashawo all the way....CARRY GO!

anyway, i am really nervous and trying to laugh it off and be like it doesnt matter but i am very competitive and would hate to not pass. u guys please pray for me.

anxiety makes me want heavy caning....

i was going to call my friend whose dick i fell on late last year, but the guy is vexing for me. apparently i used him and have been ignoring him since. LOL

na wa for guys o

if you call they will say you are clingy

if you dont call, they will say you are distant or a user

abeg which ones??

anyway i just sent him a text sha.

let him come and exercise with me.

no talking required....


ok seriously sha, please pray for me guys.

i cannot fail.

i have passed IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME.

amen.


this is all i have been listening to today in between worrying, lusting and praying.

God forgive me.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

If you cannot spell.....NOTHING FOR YOU

i hate bad grammar.

if you want to tick me off, spell words wrongly- all the time. be carefree about grammar, tense structure and spelling.

i refuse to give any time to people who cant speak english. but this is only if english is their native language. hence i will tolerate your bad grammar if you are from a francophone country or if you are russian or german or whatever.

but. if english is your first language, you ought to learn to speak it properly and spell properly.

i hate reading inter office memos. i am a lawyer and i wonder how some of these mugus made partner.

mr partner it is "i am in a meeting" NOT "am in a meeting"

today i dont feel lonely at all. thank god.

today i feel happy.

two toasters called me today. i hate both of them and i tell them this. apparently it is the funniest thing they have ever heard. they think i am playing hard to get. how is "stop calling me, i hate you and you irritate the shit out of me" playing hard to get?

i dey fear peope o.

anyway sha, learn to spell.

it helps.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I am lonely



last night i couldnt get to sleep, so i started listening to one of my favorite cd's meshell ndegeocello's bitter and i knew instantly that i had to start blogging.

i am a tumble of feelings, notions, ideas, hopes and cynicism.

i shamefully admitted to myself that i am ashamed that i am lonely.

but i am.

fucking lonely.

i am supposed to be too accomplished to feel this way. but i am.

i want someone to laugh at my jokes.

to touch my scalp.

to slide into my moistness between the hours of 4 am and 5:15am.

he would know that he did not need my permission.

i would already be molded to his soul in a union that transcends the bullshit counterfiet ideas of love on celbreality shows *torianddean* *kloeandlamar* bullshit

he would know my craziness and love it.

he would remind me that its ok to be weak and to accept help sometimes.

above all he will be my friend.

so where the hell are you?

hurry the fuck up.

cos i am sooooo lonely.

welcome to my blog.