Some Thoughts On “Sex By Surprise”

Interesting blog about the latest buzz in the air: the Julian Assange "rape affair" on Jezebel: 

"Commentators are saying Julian Assange didn't rape anyone, and these are trumped-up charges of "sex by surprise," which means that Assange didn't wear a condom and days later the women he slept with are claiming rape. Totally unfair, right?

Well, no, I'm not sure it's that straightforward. The actual details of what happened are hard to come by, and are largely filtered through tabloid sources that are quick to offer crucial facts like the hair color of the women (blonde) and the clothes they wore (pink, tight), but it sounds like the sex was consensual on the condition that a condom was used. 

It also sounds like in one case, condom use was negotiated for and Assange agreed to wear a condom but didn't, and the woman didn't realize it until after they had sex; in the second case, it sounds like the condom broke and the woman told Assange to stop, which he did not. This is of course speculation based on the bare-bones reported description of events, but it's at least clear that "this is a case of a broken condom" isn't close to the whole story. (It's also worth pointing out that the charge is actually a quite minor one in Sweden, and the punishment is a $700 fine)."

Read more: http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2010/12/06/some-thoughts-on-sex-by-surprise/#ixzz17WW28QVV