Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Oh. Oh.

Freely given, hastily accepted. Consensual sex. One-night stands. Women hoping that if they put out there might be repeats, and who knows what that might lead to. Marriage? Why not. Where there is sex there is hope. But that robustly-proven old adage, 'act in haste, repent at leisure', also quite concisely describes how many women feel after the fact. As in dammit, did I really do that?

And things can get even more complicated when, as happens all too often, the woman was - or thought she was - misled somehow. That the man represented himself as something - someone, actually - he was not. A wealthy man. A bachelor. A member of a royal house. A high-powered politician. A well-remunerated professional man. A guy looking for the right girl to complement his life. A Jew?

Since when might being a Jewish guy on the loose land some shmuck in an eager woman's bed? Ah, in Israel, when he's facing off with a Jewish woman. Jewish women generally, when they envision where things might go from there, think: eager Jewish guy. But this guy was a 30-year-old delivery man, and an Arab.

See where we're going here? He did what hordes of men before him have done, for the opportunity to get into some woman's bed; he misrepresented who he was. What he was. Introducing himself as a "Daniel", when he was really a "Sabbar". And, when the woman, whose name is being protected, while his is not, discovered the deception she was rather irritated.

Sufficiently so to bring criminal charges against him. And an Israeli court convicted this man of "rape by deception" following a criminal trial. They met in Jerusalem, on the street. They conversed, they meandered over to a nearby office and there they had a quickie. After which Sabbar Kashur departed, swiftly.

No coy telephone contact afterward, suggesting another assignation. He knew where to draw the line. She did not. It was perfectly all right for her to engage in sex for whatever reason, not necessarily as she later suggested, on the chance that she might find in him a future husband. Not so all right for him to represent himself as a remotely potential mate. For like oil and water, Jews and Arabs don't naturally meld in the MidEast.

The judge, a female, obviously allowed her gender to interpret law, concluding that the law had a duty to protect such women from "smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent victims at an unbearable price. If (the victim) hadn't thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have co-operated." Co-operated?

Pu-lease! Would this have occurred if it had been a married Jewish man passing himself off as a bachelor? If he had been a Jewish criminal with a long record of gender-abuse?

As it is this poor guy who has been found criminally responsible, can appeal. No amount of appealing, however, will protect him from his wife's reaction at his insultingly sordid dalliance.

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