Peter Thiel sorry for date rape comments

theguardian.com

5 pointskeepper4 comments

The whole "belated regret" comment is pretty bad, but there's a nugget of value in the larger statement quoted in the article:

If two heavily intoxicated people sleep together, why is the man assumed to have committed rape? Isn't the woman equally guilty of not having gotten consent?

Because the social consensus is that males are usually the sexual aggressors.

And I'd say that's absolutely false. I mean, in cases of violent rape, I'd agree, but to suggest women don't initiate encounters is an incredibly sexist view.

"males are usually the sexual aggressors" only implies that males initiate the majority of sexual encounters, and is more aggressive in initiating them.

Besides, if this hypothesis is correct and we treat both parties equally in cases where both parties claim inebriation, then we create a situation that is favorable to male sexual aggressors, because all they would have to do is claim inebriation in order to get away with sexual assault.

Are some males going to be unfairly prosecuted because of this? Yes, but the intent is to improve everyone's quality of life at the cost of a few.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com