WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Says to Leave London Embassy 'Soon'

[BainsBane]

125. Secrecy in govt is an entirely separate issue

Wikileaks is already public. The information has been released, and Assange's standing in Swedish court has no bearing on any of that.

You are very much mistaken about how consent works. Swedish law is quite clear, as is American law. Someone who is incapacitated or asleep cannot consent to sex. It's not that complicated. A women who consents once does not consent in perpetuity. That conception of women as property is no longer supported under the law, which, for example, recognizes marital rape as a crime.

Obviously Assange thought it was perfectly acceptable to penetrate a sleeping woman, to hold her down against her will (as the arrest warrant makes clear, he used force and prevented her from moving) to violate her. That is the nature of a rapist. They believe themselves entitled to women's bodies. People here are supporting the idea that he had rights over women's bodies because he is a great man, more important than the women who have accused him.

Assange is an accused, not convicted, sexual assailant. Proof is a matter for the courts. It is not a justification or evading justice. If he is innocent, he can clear his name in the Swedish courts. Hiding out for two years displays consciousness of guilt, in my view, and it could be used as such under American law.

If sexual assault is so terrible, why are you blaming the victim for the assault on her? Why are you excusing Assange? The lesson in this case is don't rape, seek consent, and don't make excuses for accused sexual assailants because you believe them more important than their victims. I certainly hope you don't intend to act on the version of consent you convey above.

I am a critic of covering up for rapists. I don't give a shit if he is Julian Assange, a football player, the Dalai Lama, or Jesus Christ himself. If a legal complaint is made, the accused is responsible for responding to it. I take that position because I don't believe 25% of women in the West (higher in other areas of the world) deserve to be raped while their assailants operate with virtual impunity. I do so because I will not support violence over justice and male privilege over women's rights to their own bodies. Those are non-negotiables for me. I would think anyone with any concern for equal rights and the nature of the society they live in would feel the same way. It makes me ill that they do not.