MovieChat Forums > Nothing Is Private (2008) Discussion > statutory rape vs. violent rape

statutory rape vs. violent rape

posted 11 years ago by movieliker1
5 replies | jump to latest

I thought this was a great film - hard to watch sometimes but about a very difficult subject, well done, well acted, well presented and an important topic.

People need to loosen up over the fact that teenagers are having (and have always had) sex with adults. Many times the teenager enjoys the experience and is mature enough to handle it. I agree, it needs to be against the law because many teenagers are not mature enough to handle such and there is way too much room for abuse.

But, anyone who feels that statutory rape is as bad a crime as violent rape is wrong. When a female (or male) is raped against their will, beat up, injured and/or killed, that is much more severe than a teenager having sex with an adult. Even when the teenager is not horney, desirous or interested, or even when the teenager is so immature or naive that they just don't know what to do or they think they should just go along because the other partner is an adult, yes, it is wrong, should be against the law and should be punished but it is not as wrong or as severe as violent rape.

[–] CountChoculitis 11 years ago

It's pretty stupid to try and establish degrees of rape. Rape is rape and it's never more wrong in one situation than in another. If we go trying to sub-categorize it, it's like you're trying to belittle someone else's horrific experience and the suffering it caused.

Whether raped by coercion, intimidation, or physical force, rape is a traumatic experience. It's completely unnecessary to get nit-picky about it.

"The guy we're meeting with can't even grow his own hair?!? COME ON!!!" -Gob

[–] movieliker1 10 years ago

“It's pretty stupid to try and establish degrees of rape. Rape is rape and it's never more wrong in one situation than in another. If we go trying to sub-categorize it, it's like you're trying to belittle someone else's horrific experience and the suffering it caused.”

“Whether raped by coercion, intimidation, or physical force, rape is a traumatic experience. It's completely unnecessary to get nit-picky about it.”

I disagree. When a man picks up a mature, sophisticated 16 year old in a bar who says she is 21 and they spend the night together making love— that is different than a man who violently attacks a women, beats her up, threatens to kill her, forces himself on her “when she is not in the mood” and leaves her for dead. Those are two different crimes that should require two different punishments.

[–] CountChoculitis 10 years ago

But the first scenario you're talking about involves someone unknowingly committing statutory rape with a willing, consenting participant. In that case, they're "making love." She's not being beaten or intimidated into a situation she doesn't want to be in. He's being irresponsible for not taking higher precautions to keep a mistake like this from happening, but it is a mistake. That's a complicated situation and I don't really think it applies, as he is not consciously beating or intimidating someone in order to have sex with him when they don't want to. And that's the kind of severity difference I'm talking about. Intimidating a young girl into having sex with you is no better than using physical violence against them.

"The guy we're meeting with can't even grow his own hair?!? COME ON!!!" -Gob

[–] movieliker1 10 years ago

I don’t think you realize that rape does NOT have to involve violence, intimidation or threats. Rape is defined as having sex with someone who doesn’t want to have sex — even if they don’t say no, even if they don’t resist.

Statutory Rape is defined as having sex with a minor. So, if an adult has “consensual” sex with a minor — it is statutory rape and it is against the law — even if the minor wanted to have sex, even if the minor lied about his/her age, and even if the adult did NOT know the minor was a minor.

Rape that involves violence is usually classified as “Aggravated Rape”.

(There is something called “Aggravated Statutory Rape”.)

That is what I have been saying. "Aggravated Rape" is more severe than having "consensual" sex with a minor — depending on the particular circumstance (more specifically, the ages of the participants).

[–] TeraisaWrites 7 years ago

In my opinion it's like abuse-people think that the abuse where you are hit or beat in some physical way is the worst, but in reality, it's the emotional, mental, and verbal abuse the victims uses to gage themselves FOR LIFE.

When the victim comes to an understanding that it's not what they would have wanted in any other situation, it's often too late. The scars endure and are harder to cover or fix than a physical scar.

In non-physical abuse, you blame yourself and have flashbacks to figure out what you could have done or said...

And in the vein of "violent" abuse, I realize that when people say, "Well, at least your SO doesn't hit you," they generally don't mean to dismiss your anguish but rather they mean, in their mind, that okay, we don't have to stress thinking you may be killed any time soon.." Whether they mean to comfort you or themselves, who knows?

Here's the real deal-it's the law in the movie: rape is rape and the man knew better - or else why keep it a secret ? The girl maybe thought she "wanted" it or "enjoyed" it but it doesn't matter and that's exactly what he counts on.

I love Eckart so I was quite sad I had to hate his character!