Here's the one that gets me

"Asking a person incapable of making an informed decision to engage in sexual activity puts the person asking at very high risk of committing criminal or civil violations."

So what if they're both drunk or stoned, one gets to play the card and the other doesn't?

We are all responsible for our own actions, not just some of us. The rules listed in this article are one sided and do not acknowledge the plain and simple facts that there will most likely always be sexual predators until such time as we learn how to identify them early enough to avoid problems. Because of this equal emphasis should be given to avoiding situations were the predation can occur.

I'm not blaming the victim, just trying to avoid having more of them

What Humans Do...

Compassion and caring of course, are not part of the lexicon in this late "free market" view of the world.

That said, though there are important differences too, from a "female" perspective I'm sure, as well as an "aware" male view, there are still many aspects of attitudes, ideas and behaviours here, in the "enlightened" West, that are still not that different from Afghanistan, and many other parts of the relatively so-called "backward" world. We are still a fairly primitive species, humans, with a still primitive and rather brutal social order. With a long ways to go yet in freeing ourselves individually and collectively from tending to commodify people generally, and reduce them to objects for our "utilitarian" and "self-gratification" uses. And then we feign surprise when our kids act out in the same ways.

What humans, even pretenciously "elightened" ones, do to each other, each and every day is mind boggling.

We raised four daughters, my wife and I, and I experience a great sadness from this story.

And there wasn't a long gun anywhere in sight apparently.

Our priorities and ideas are all fucked up.

Time for parents to take charge!

Yes, rape is about power!
People in need of such power are not liable to worry about these 7 rules, they are driven and not reasonable nor sensible.

So, what did society do in the past?
Generally they made sure that free time was at a minimum, that chores were plentiful and that nobody had the nerve to object to the regime, teenager of not.

It is not by chance that we say: "Idle hands--etc. etc.?

Do You Really Think . . . . .

That teens who form ideas of the 'norm' by watching internet porn, who have been told that 'sex is just sex and everyone does it', who then attend wild parties were drugs and booze abound ...... really give a crap what their parents say??

I witnessed a sexual assault yesterday....

At the skate park where I ride, a young girl (+/-15) was grabbing a young boys (+/-15) balls, he really didn't want or approve of this. Did he deserve it?

PS. Coyote truly is the king of the comma.

Where are the parents

I wonder what sort of parenting the boys and (young?) men who committed the crime recieved. I think it is the responsibility of every parent of a son to teach their boys to respect all people and especially women. Parents have a duty to instill morals in thier sons to know not to hit a girl, or harm a girl from a young age.

As for the girls, it is unfair to say to them to never go out, party, dance, or try drinking because they might be victimized. Girls will only be free to grow up normally and safely if we correct the behavior of the men and boys.

As for the creators and/or distributors of the tape I hope that each and every one of them is punished to the full extent of the law as accesories to rape after the fact as well as producers and distributors of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

talk to your kids, about everything

Kids aren't born knowing how to interact with each other. Adults have to teach them. It doesn't matter whether you are talking about kindergarteners sharing, grade 3s turn taking or teens initiating sexual encounters, healthy and productive ways of doing things must be TAUGHT. And if you think that's creepy or funny then you deserve the hassle you get because your kid learned to do things badly, from their idiot peers or deviant adults.

It seems parents are getting more willing to talk with their kids about what's acceptable and what's not but we still tend to avoid the hard stuff which, if you think about it, is the most important stuff.

@ jwstewart

" PS. Coyote truly is the king of the comma. "

This would make him a...commaist?

Charges laid for child pornography.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/09/29/bc-rave-rape-child-porn-charges.html?ref=rss

They should go after the subsequent posters as well. This should be interesting.

Confusion

Can anyone explain the dichotemy that seems to always exist in discussions about sexual violence: generally the first statement made is "it's about power, not sex" yet inevitabley factors blamed for encouragging such crimal acts are ALWAYS completely about sex. What about non-sexual demeaning comments about womem or assaults? Where do they fit in the issue?

Another bizarre "fact" that is ubiquitous in these discussions is the assumed "continuum" of behavior. It's like demeaning jokes or comments are the "gateway drug" to becoming a violent predator. They may say something about the participant's underlying character but to say they are a training ground for violent rape is really something

What does genuine science such as peer reviewed sociology and psychology, rather than women's studies, have to say about sexual predators, their motivations and their origins?

no conscience, no consequence

I'm apalled that nobody stepped in to stop the rape. The guy who videotaped it? What is wrong with him?
Did any of the spectators think they couldn't actually do anything to stop the assault? Were they all under 5'3"? Surely someone could have merely yelled "STOP!" Have some courage?
If parents can't properly raise their children to have moral, i.e.human values, they shouldn't breed.
The lax (non-existent) punishment under the present Youth Offenders Act means that young men and women get away with henous crimes.
This is complete bullshit. I knew right from wrong when I was 7 or 8 years old.
The by-standers to this rape should be charged with 'accessories' to the crime.

Marushka said:

Indeed, but then we'd deplete the planetary population by about 80% in about 20 years ... Snap! Now there's an idea.

marushka..marushka ( sigh)

marushka...you don`t just "step in" during these events.
It is all in your perception...I see the youngsters as showing great entrepreneurial spirit. The video "went Viral" for gosh sake..is that moving forward or what!!??
marushka get with the times..the new barbarism...just kind of go with the flow, get with the program.
On T.V. last night Bill Good announced a new shipment of Red Mittens were in and becoming available to any and all who missed out!

Schools are zoos for human animals

How about ten years hard labour for the kids who did it and five years probation for every one watched? In additon the perps should pay $100,000 each to the victim in compensation and the voyeurs $10,000 each. Put a price on their entertainment.

When we look back on the Alabama chain gangs and horrors of the old-fashioned penal system, we forget; there was a reason they developed that way.

Justice is a balance. It isn't right to sentence someone to ten years of Transportation to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread, but it isn't right to protect the criminal either. The perpetrators need a high-profile trial, with the maximum sentence allowed and no parole.

The animals in the human zoo need to hear a loud, clear message. A public flogging would be a fine spectacle.

Come into the House

Neil Postman made some fine observations about media, but his analysis of media and it's merging with "the market" really makes for frightening consequences when you synthesize his thoughts with those of Chomsky, Gutstein, McCluhan or McChesney.
In essence, media is now the cultural "free market" and as Postman noted, in days past, parents could reasonably assert some control over what was permitted into their home. Then came radio. Then came television. When the cultural standards of television changed with the advent of cable and 24 hour programming, so came new technology that would allow parents greater control over what could be seen in the household. Then came the Internet and like television before it, various technologies sprang up to permit parents to close off certain venues.
To the best of my knowledge, most of these have failed.
As our commerce driven culture seeks to venture further and further away from "cultural norms" to find profit in the diminishing niches, we've found the walls and borders that allowed us some control over the information flooding the brains of the uncritical are all gone.
Because, we're told - we "demanded" it.
Recall Telus wanting to offer "porn on demand" a few years back. Surely, this showed the social inclination of Darren Entwistle, CEO of Telus. Why would Mr. Entwistle care if your 10 year daughter was subjected to images of Girl on Horse action during her ride on the Skytrain when really, people want their porn and can pay for it?
Were it not for a large church organization organizing around that issue, Telus would happily be profiting from this.

Our culture tends to see no moral or ethical difficulty in permitting the sale of most anything. Nor do children fail to note the deep and awful hypocrisies we live by when we proclaim to them the value of truth and honesty and moral living, only to turn around and betray them using the pretext of "only doing my job".

Under those conditions, words like decency, respect, morals and ethics have little to no value at all.

Why are people surprised by this?

the mob approves of anything that society frowns at.

About this comment "I'm apalled that nobody stepped in to stop the rape"

We must remember that everyone of these people no doubt had a cell-phone and knew how to use it!

Hence it is not a matter of being 5'3" and 98 pounds, but a matter of NOT seeing a need to stop the rape!

Young adults get away with mouthing off to the parents who support them and basically do whatever they feel like; so how can they be expected to behave differently towards any other human being?

We have spoiled them more and more by every decade, to the point where they truly are the "me-me-me" generation.

Show the proof that it was a

Show the proof that it was a rape, I say. Or shut up and let the court see it... the people that immediately jump up and say: "hang em!" are the people that should question what it is they know about the situation when really they should not know more than what they have seen. WE HAVE SEEN NOTHING!! While were at it lets stop calling a 16yr old with a cel phone a child pornographer. He is a child, albeit a harasser of his peer and quite desensitized to what he did but he is probably allowed to watch the same shows as everyone else where what he did is really quite tame in comparison. Gossip Girl anyone? xoxo The kids will be alright if we stop teaching them about monsters that don't exist.

word for word

Have a look at Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges. The newspaper and TV reports could have been lifted directly from the book as he explores the porn industry in the US. Most of the clients of porn are young men, teens to early twenties--and should we be surprised when the act out their fantasies on some innocent victim. Big business is involved in porn and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation a big investor. Just another indication of our society on the slippery road to oblivion.

Sexuality is the Gordian knot of the human condition

"deep and awful hypocrisies" indeed.

Once, and someplaces still, women were excluded from politics and men were excluded from child rearing. Which had the most powerful opportunity to influence the future?

Then western women demanded the right to play politics. Inevitable after the invention of artilllery, which made women and children equal victims of politics and it's evils.

But, the only way to frame such a demand in a world where democracy is growing is as a human rights issue, which carried with it a large pile of attached baggage . Things have changed as a result; they've changed a lot.

Now, choice is paramount. Divorce is easy, prostitution is legal and common. A woman's choice, they say. Women become pornographic actresses as a career choice, and kids wear mass produced t-shirts with Porn Star emblazoned across the front.

In order for those children who witnessed this event to have the ability to develop the conviction and courage to have intervened, they would first have had to have the ability to recognize it as what it was.

A crime.

Not a show, a party, a game. Not consensual or even conscious.

Do we think they could have developed that conviction with enough certainty to then raise the courage to act? I believe that at least three out of four humans will do just that, act, if only they become sure that they are right in their belief that somebody is being hurt. Even when alcohol is involved.

But, then, I also believe that every one of Coyote's commas is a perfect and worthwhile punctuation, adding it's value to the cadence of his words. So, what do I know?

Parenting is useless?

I don't understand the viewpoint in some of the previous posts. Are some people suggesting there is no form of parenting that can produce responsible teens? Despite their protests, teenagers are not adults and still have much to learn. They will take in information that is presented to them, and it is largely up to family and schools to make sure they have access to information that makes them think about their roles in society and their community. Missing this step means they learn "the rules" from their peers (who are also learning) and pop media (which isn't much concerned with teaching moral values).

this injustice is still happening.....

every day that goes by the Pitt Meadows teens that know who and what are keeping silent. Shame on those Pitt Meadows teens and their parents.

Start talking you little shits.

Some great thoughts on politics, choice, and commas and such

Bailey wrote:

"Once, and someplaces still, women were excluded from politics and men were excluded from child rearing. Which had the most powerful opportunity to influence the future?

Then western women demanded the right to play politics. Inevitable after the invention of artilllery, which made women and children equal victims of politics and it's evils."

Well said.

For all its often compelling draw, over the years I've come to realize that the ineffectiveness, the distraction, and yes, the built-in evil of politics betrays us with empty promise - like a restaurant where the focus is on architecture over the quality of the food served.