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The frequency of sexual assaults on college campuses has become so epidemic, that preventing attacks inspired a nationwide campaign, winning the endorsement of President Barack Obama. This effort, entitled, It’sOnUs, calls attention to the many perilous ways students can be raped, but does not include rape by fraud, the crime of duplicitous sex that harms many unsuspecting victims.
In addition to the obvious benefits for college students, why is this effort so important for us to address?
First and foremost, it establishes that “Non-consensual sex is sexual assault,” dispelling the long held notion, by many states, that rape by extreme violence is the only sexual assault that rises to a criminal level.
There are several legal myths that must be dispelled in order to create legal sanctions against rape by fraud. The simple truth is that duplicity invalidates consent in all things. That’s why fraudsters, like Bernie Madoff, are punished when they make off with your money. Like Madoff, rapists who use fraud secure the consent of their victims. In Madoff’s case, his targets even ordered their brokers and bankers to transfer funds into his investment schemes. When viewed in light of recent California legislation on sexual assault, in which “yes” means “yes”, the actions of Madoff’s victims pretty clearly indicated that they had agreed.
But, here’s the catch…… when “consent” is achieved by duplicity, even “yes” means “no.” “Yes” requires legally valid, knowing consent. When consent is not freely and knowingly given, in other words, not coerced through duplicity, “yes”, indeed, means “no.” Even though the victim did not know that a crime was being committed against them at the time, the offender knew.
What we’re fighting against, in the effort to create sanctions against rape by fraud, is the ironic concept that “knowing consent” is important in every other human interaction, but when it sexually violates us, it’s okay. Could the fact that the overwhelming majority of our law makers are men, and that the vast majority of rape by fraud victims are women have something to do with it? And even though the protection would likely help far more women than men, the men who are targeted by female fraudsters deserve the same protections that women are being deprived of.
The concept “Non-consensual sex is sexual assault” is an important first step in ridding state laws of their onerous doctrines of “force.” Once achieved, the next hurdle is to establish that lies of identity engage you in having sex with a stranger. For instance, when someone removes their wedding band to sidle up to you, they are not only breaking their wedding vows, embroiling you in adultery and fornication, but they are also raping you through their use of fraud. Their knowing act of duplicity deprived you of your self-determination over your choice of a sexual partner, defiling you at your most intimate core.
- Rape by violence undermines your knowing consent. If the attack did not penetrate you sexually, it would be “assault”, not “sexual assault” or “rape.”
- Rape by doping you undermines your knowing consent.
- Rape by intoxicating you undermines your knowing consent.
- Rape by coercion, the threat of harm, undermines your knowing consent.
- Statutory rape of an underage minor undermines their knowing consent because they have yet to attain the age of consent.
- Sex with a mentally challenged person is rape when the victim is considered unable to provide “knowing consent.”
Why then is rape by fraud, the deliberate act of depriving someone of their “knowing consent” to penetrate them sexually, not punishable in the vast majority of states?
The state of Tennessee has the most appropriate language in the nation to penalize rape by fraud. Their statutes prohibit intercourse “induced by deception, accomplished by fraud and obtained by ruse.” I am currently seeking a rape by fraud victim in the state of Tennessee who is willing to come forward to seek justice through criminal prosecution of the offender. Doing so can raise awareness throughout the country and help knock down the barriers that prevent wider implementation of rape by fraud laws.
Mischele Lewis recently came forward to arrest William Allen Jordan for defrauding her of sex in New Jersey. I had helped her address the authorities in NJ to file her claim. Jordan was arrested for 2nd degree sexual assault. Although the Grand Jury failed to indict Jordan on the charge, her efforts brought about awareness by a state lawmaker who is considering language to submit in New Jersey to protect its residents from such a crime. And Jordan faces additional charges the Prosecutor filed against him for other damage to Mischele.
Could you be the next person who stands up to make a difference in your state? Write me. I’ll research the criminal statutes in your jurisdiction and let you know if you have a case.
Joyce, you set forth a very logical argument here. One does have to wonder what the barrier really is to including sexual assault by fraud in the law.
The word ‘rape’ generally means sexual penetration without knowing consent, and rape by fraud clearly undermines knowing consent…so, technically, there should be no opposition.
The simple fact that a person would lie by misrepresenting their identity or intentions in order to obtain consent for sex means they know their target would not have consented otherwise. Sex without knowing consent is considered rape. There’s a reason “sexual assault” isn’t simply called “assault.” Sexual violation is widely accepted as the most heinous form of violation. It deserves a separate category, and it has one. There is no rational, defensible reason not to include rape by fraud in this category, but there is such resistance anyway.
It seems that many people are accepting of the use of fraud to obtain consent for sex, and that when it happens they believe it’s the victim’s fault because she or he was naive or gullible, or that it’s just not a “big deal.” They have no idea how profoundly it affects the victim, because they can’t connect to the fact that it is indeed sexual assault.
Someone’s idea of a solution was “just don’t have sex with perfect strangers.” Many people would never have sex with a stranger…knowingly. But because of fraud, they only find out afterward that they did indeed ‘have sex’ with a stranger — a stranger who violated them sexually by using fraud. When that realization happens, all the incidents of ‘having sex’ with that person become what they really were — sexual assault by fraud.
Once the concept penetrates a person’s consciousness, it’s like a light bulb just lit.
Sometimes, even folks who grasp that elaborate hoaxes should be outlawed think little white lies are ok, They don’t reeaaally get it! When the lie alters the character of the person’s identity or the nature of their intent, it’s fraud.
You can’t be a little bit raped, just like you can’t be a little bit pregnant. And when people say to me, “Yeah, but everyone does it,” my answer is always, “Yeah, but they should stop!”
What I’ve recognized is that there are two kinds of people in the world, those with emotional empathy who will get it, and those without emotional empathy who can’t see past the concept that sex is nothing but the exchange of warm flesh and body fluids. They will defend their right to get what they want through a means that every intelligent being comprehends as fraud.
The concept that lies are fraud when used to take something you’re not entitled to, and that fraud undermines consent is a simple one to grasp. Other countries get it…. ours, unfortunately, is a society of very “entitled” people.
People resist the concept simply because they feel that inducing sex by dishonesty is an entitlement.
I hope that now, Valentine’s Day, 2015, is the beginning of a new era in which people see the importance of respect and begin to value the self determination of others in their sexual relations.
And I sincerely thank you for your efforts in helping to spread that word!
Every person who believes that every other person in the universe is entitled to self-determination regarding the use of their sexual organs, should sign the change.org petition to STOP SEXUAL ASSAULT BY FRAUD! http://chn.ge/1JOOCes
Most sincerely,
Joyce