Discovering the flaws in North Carolina’s laws concerning rape and sexual abuse

North Carolina doesn’t care about prosecuting sex crimes. More specifically, it does not care about rape. Charges were dropped earlier this month against a high school football player in Charlotte accused of raping his girlfriend. The DA used a thirty-one year old state Supreme Court ruling to justify it. According to the 1979 ruling State vs. Way; no rape has occurred if a person consents to sex but changes their mind during and wishes to stop, their partner has the legal right to physically restrain them from leaving and force them to continue the act. Welcome to North Carolina where rape is legal. Her family is challenging this ruling for the sake of future victims.   

Rape is forcing a non-consenting individual into a sexual act. Withdrawing consent means that the person becomes non-consenting. Non-consent is rape. Rape is violation of human rights.  Withdrawing consent is an inherent human right. For the state of North Carolina to claim otherwise is a violation of human rights. “Stop” is just as much a right as saying “no.” No means no, and stop means stop. 

Rape is something we all ought to find morally reprehensible. It is the idea that some people have an inherent right over the bodies and sexuality of others. The right to one’s own body and sexuality is a fundamental, inalienable right. We shouldn’t be having a conversation about the right to one’s own body and sexuality because it should be just naturally assumed. And yet, here we are.

The worst part in this is our society allows rape. Mainstream American culture is inundated with images and concepts that appeal to sexual violence against women. From victim-blaming in our courts to slut-shaming on the streets, women and men are taught that women have no right to say no.  Given the much more prevalent occurrence of male sexual violence against women, rape is pretty much a woman’s problem. A girl in a class the other week had a man harass her at a club because she refused a drink from his friend. He literally put his hand in her face twice.  To him, she did not have the right to refuse a drink. That kind of controlling behavior leads to the acceptance of rape in our society. 

Any time a woman is raped, she is told she was asking for it. We assume she must have done something to put herself in that situation. She must have worn something provocative or acted in a provocative manner. She must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe she let him buy her a few drinks or even agreed to go out on a date with him. She must have done something, right? Making these excuses does not help anyone. Most women are raped by men they know; friends, acquaintances, co-workers, dates, boyfriends, neighbors, etc. There are times when women can follow all the rules and still get raped or assaulted. Therefore, the only way to stop rape is to stop the thought patterns of the rapists that cause rape. We have to stop the rape culture and the mentality that men have a right to a woman’s body and the right to control a woman’s sexuality. But first we have to establish in our laws that rapists will be punished.   

It is sickening; there is a young woman today who is not receiving justice. There are many women today not receiving justice. Today there is a family with the obstacle of trying to convince an ignorant, misogynistic world that their daughter has a right to her body; that no one has a right to her body but her. I would imagine there are many women, and even men, who have tried to withdraw consent only to have their partner force or pressure them into continuing. Sex has no place for coercion and that kind of violence. 

I encourage those who are disturbed as I am to sign the petition at http://chn.ge/aTAuSj via Women’s Rights at Change.org. This petition is to encourage the state of North Carolina to reevaluate this Supreme Court ruling and to express how it is a violation of basic human rights. This family needs help and our state government needs to know its citizens respect the rights of women.