Nobody can judge a rape victim for not reporting the matter. I understand that, and the reasons why a woman may not report rape have been eloquently stated elsewhere.

I simply find it tragic and infuriating that we should be reduced to speaking of giving the guy a shit time at Swancon, when the consequences of his conduct should be orders of magnitude worse than that.

You are absolutely right there, Peter. I agree with you 100%. But does it happen? Does it bollocks. It’s not the case here, it’s not the case in America, and I’m willing to bet that no matter what you think it’s not really the case in South Africa, either.

Especially considering that rape is a huge, /enormous/ problem in South Africa. There are, I believe, *three times* as many reported rapes in SA as there are here in the UK. Given statistics of that proportion, if courts ever have /time/ to trial anything other than rape cases, not all rape cases are going to trial.

Yes, rapists should be brought to justice. But you know what’s even more important than that? Looking after woman who have been raped and making sure they are as little traumatised as possible, that’s what.

In my country (South Africa), recent legislation has been passed (Act 32 of 2007)as a comprehensive attempt to address the cancer of rape in our society.

Section 2 reads, inter alia, that “The objects of this Act are to afford complainants of sexual offences the maximum
and least traumatising protection that the law can provide …” and there follow, of course, a great many specific provisions.

It is the duty of the court dealing with such a matter to ensure that the victim is treated with dignity and protected from inappropriate questioning.

Without concrete knowledge of your system, it seems highly probable to me that assistance is available to victims in your country as well. But in all events a court should deal with a rapist. For a rapist to go unpunished because of a fear that the process will work against the victim, is unacceptable.

To answer the commenters questioning why the rapist isn’t in jail: I think you underestimate just how devastating a rape trial can be for the victim. She is the only person who can press charges, and probably the only material witness. A trial would involve her recounting the circumstances and details of the rape, and being intensively and intrusively questioned as to her character and reliability. A rapist’s best legal defense is to undermine the victim’s credibility or claim that they invited sexual attention and then later decided to pretend it wasn’t welcome, and given logansrogue’s prior acquaintance with the rapist, she would undoubtedly be painted as “leading him on”, which is to say that people who are supposed to be on the side of right and law would be telling her that she is to blame for getting herself assaulted. If she doesn’t want to put herself through that, I don’t blame her one bit.

I have nothing but admiration for her post, and for the people in the community who are standing up and saying that rapists and abusers are not welcome in our spaces.

Why are we talking about the culprit, and the problem of his possibly attending Swancon?

Surely he is unable to attend, because he is in prison?