Luis Rubiales could face a prison sentence of two and a half years if convicted of kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips against her will, court documents have shown. The former Spanish football federation chief has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion in the aftermath of the kiss, offences carrying jail terms of one year and 18 months respectively.
The 46-year-old grabbed Hermoso and kissed her on the lips on 20 August during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, sparking global outrage and causing a national debate in Spain about sexism. Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning, but Rubiales argued it was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.
Well, then, by all means, put a figure on it. Remember, justice should be blind, so “disciplinary action” doesn’t really cut it on the civil side of things. What is a valid punishment for nonconsensual sexual contact in a court of law? What should any member of society receive if they were to do this?
If a boss forced an unwanted kiss (and bear hug lift) on an employee, and then insisted that it was consensual and that the employee was lying when they said it was not, tried to coerce them into saying they were lying, had other senior people declare that they were lying, and used the company website to declare that they were lying, after a years-long dispute with this and dozens of other employees complaining of sexism and creepy behaviour endorsed by this boss…
I’m not a fan of carceral solutions but I’d certainly like to see a lifetime ban on working in that industry, a lifetime ban on holding any position of authority over others without supervision, and massive monetary compensation to every complainant.
And if the criminal justice system in its current carceral context magically became laser-focused on rich people abusing their power instead of poor people trying to survive, that would be an excellent start, no?
A month maybe? Even child molesters rarely get 30 months.
Whew. You sure you want to argue that child molester punishments should set the bar on sexual assault criminal punishment? Cause I’d be OK with stringing up pedophiles by their ball sacks and letting fire ants eat them from the asshole out. But I digress.
What you are saying is that if you were out at a bar, and someone, anyone really, but lets say for the sake of argument it’s Harvey Weinstein, came up and kissed your partner on the mouth without their consent, a month is fine? What if he kissed your daughter? Just grabbed either of them by the ears and planted a slobbery mouthful of sexual assault on them. A month is good? He could walk free? How do you think your partner would feel? How about your daughter? What if it was televised? What if it became their life for the next year in a very public court case? A month? Just let me know when you are out and about with someone you care about. I’ve got a few weeks of vacation saved up, I can take the hit and spend some time in the clink.
So you’re saying if a female coworker that had a bit too much to drink at the office new year party gives me an uninvited hug and kiss, I can sure her and she gets 30 months in jail?
It depends.
Is she the leader of a powerful group of cronies in the office that had been the subject of complaints about inappropriate sexist and creepy behaviour for many years, with all complaints dismissed because the offenders held all the power?
When you complained about it, did she insist that it was consensual and that you were lying when you said it was not?
Did she use the company website to publish statements calling you a liar, including threats to prosecute you for lying?
Yes. As the law states. If a woman or a man did this they would be able to be sued for up to the maximum sentence if found guilty of the crime. Why is this hard?
Hmmm. Well, that does change things, doesn’t it. I hadn’t thought about it from the opposite perspective, or even dreamed about the ramifications of what could happen if mind altering substances were in the mix. Fuck. Now I really have to think about it.
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Yep. 30 months. Keep your shit together or face the consequences. If you can’t be trusted to not get handsy when you are on the sauce, then it is your responsibility to stay away from the gutrot, not society’s responsibility to condone your actions.
That is certainly a take.
This is insane
That’s Lemmy for you!