Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime?

[anonymouse]

Whilst on the matter of semantics, I have to pick up your use of the word 'should' in 'that person should be counselled'. That makes it sound like a punishment for the victim. Yes, they should be offered it, but effective counselling is challenging and often painful for the counsellee, and should only be undertaken voluntarily and when the person is ready. Will go with 'they should be offered counselling', which I suspect is what you meant anyway.

And as for punishment - well that is whole new can of worms.

Suspecting we are having a heated agreement,
cariad

lol - Not at all, cariad It's a very interesting debate about a slippery subject. You quite rightly picked me up on 'should be counselled'. That implies something far more forceful than I meant. What (I think) I'm trying to say is that, just as some people behave far more aggressively that society deems acceptable, so too some people are much more sensitive than the average person. In other words, just as some people can be extreme and unreasonable in one direction, so too can others have extreme reactions that could be considered unreasonable when compared to the common community reactions to the same thing.

I also wonder about the motivations of people (not here, of course) who are pushing to create a law for 'online rape'. Are they really interested in protecting people from online abuse, or is it merely the thin edge of a censorship wedge?

~Handing the can of worms to somebody else...~

anonymouse