The Penis Is Not A Magic Wand And Rape Is Still Rape

In 1986 an accident took a young woman away from her loved ones. She didn't die, she entered a comatose state and remained there permanently until she drew her final breath some 12 years later. She was placed in a nursing home where her physical needs were adequately cared for, or so everyone assumed. In 1996 staff discovered that her belly was enlarging. Tests were conducted and it was discovered that she was pregnant.

An internal investigation disclosed that a male nurse's assistant had been accused of a prior rape of a resident. It was, at the time, determined that no rape had occurred, it was consensual and he was allowed to continue in his position. Apparently, he decided that his next victim ought not to have the ability to tell anyone. His reason for raping this particular woman was the claim that he thought it would bring her out of the coma. I'm assuming his defense for the first offense was "she was asking for it".

The case made national news because the woman's family were Catholic and opted not to abort the baby. People were seriously divided over the ethics of this situation. She was obviously, as a comatose patient, not able to voice her own opinion, and since this was a groundbreaking event, could her family really have the right to make this decision for her? It also called in to question the decisions made by the management of this nursing home when they didn't terminate the employee after the first accusation. Apparently an employee having on-the-job sex with old ladies was acceptable.

A person is a resident of a nursing home due to diminished abilities both mental and physical. Since consensual sex requires that all parties involved have the mental capacity to make a consent, why was he even employed there after the first time? Another thing occurred to me and that was how does a 51 year old male suddenly take up rape as a hobby? That question was answered during his trial. He had a history of rape which happened in other states and didn't turn up in the local background check.

New York State locked the barn door after the horse got out by instituting fingerprinting as the only acceptable background check if one wants to work in the healthcare or childcare industry. You don't get to have a job in healthcare if you're convicted of a certain class of felony. My problem with this is that only 3% of rapes are ever prosecuted. Which leaves a whopping 97% of rapists who got away with it to exercise their magic penis at will. They are perfectly employable in hospitals, nursing homes, state homes for the mentally disabled and in home care. Not only that, the state also determines that it is discrimination to refuse to hire a qualified person based on his or her gender.

In the beginning of the fingerprinting regulation, the prospective employee could be put to work while the prints were being processed. They, of course, would have to be terminated if the state received detrimental information regarding that person from the FBI. During the time frame that regulation existed a local hospital hired someone, submitted his prints, put him to work and an 87 year old long term female resident was raped by him. Guess who had been accused of rape? He was awaiting trial on his charges.

This all brings me to my problem with all the "Personhood" Amendments that everyone has decided is the Holy Grail in the fight against abortions. In the rush to protect the unborn, they are opening the door to a definition of rape that does not include statutory, that does not include the capacity to give consent, nor will it include incest.

Until our culture understands that No really does mean NO! Until we accept that rape of all kinds is not the subject of a joke. Until we accept that all women have the right to be treated with respect and dignity no matter how they dress or where they are. Unless all men really understand that their penis has no magical powers to turn an act of force into one of pleasure, then we need to leave any attempt to define rape alone.

If the knowledge that elderly women in nursing homes are actually victims of rape doesn't make you understand that rape is a crime of degradation born from hate, then I don't know how to help you become a human being.