Rape in HIMYM?
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darkavenger77 — 9 years ago(October 17, 2016 07:25 PM)
Okay, so maybe rape isn't the correct word to use in this post,
Legally, you're correct. Rape, or more correctly legally called sexual battery (as it relates to adults) is sex without consent. Examples include using force, such as a weapon, a drug to incapacitate the victim, or a victim that is mentally unsound or under a certain age.
In the series, the women Barney picked up were adults of a normal mental capacity (stupidity does not qualify as a mental defect) and always consented, so there was nothing illegal about it.
As another member here observed, lying under the circumstances presented is not a crime.
Ignoring politics doesn't mean politics will ignore you.
-Pericles paraphrased in <100 characters -
MCoop25 — 9 years ago(October 22, 2016 12:03 AM)
It's not illegal in New York. Here's New York rape laws:
New York Penal Code Section 130.25, et seq.
Third Degree Rape
A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person:
Who is incapable of consent by reason of some factor other than being less than 17 years old;
Who is less than 17 years old, and the defendant is 21 years old or more; or
Without such person's consent, which is withheld for some other reason than incapacity to consent.
Second Degree Rape
A person commits second-degree rape when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person:
Who is less than 15 years old and the defendant is 18 years old or more; or
Who is incapable of consent by reason of being mentally disabled or mentally incapacitated.
First Degree Rape
A person is guilty of rape in the first degree when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person:
By "forcible compulsion" compelling the victim through the use of physical force or the threat of immediate death, physical injury or kidnapping;
Who is incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless;
Who is less than 11 years old; or
Who is less than 13 years old and the defendant is 18 years old or more.
I guess the Global Warming one might fall in the forcible compulsion by threat of death but that seems like a stretch. Also, in some states it is illegal to lie if that lie caused the person to have sex with you when they wouldn't otherwise. It might not be rape but it's some lesser sex crime. -
adam-176 — 9 years ago(December 30, 2016 11:59 AM)
Without such person's consent, which is withheld for some other reason than incapacity to consent.
But in these cases, has the woman in question consented? Consenting to sleep with Lorenzo von Matterhorn isn't consenting to sleep with Barney Stinson.
I can see it not being an issue when it's consensual roleplaying, where the woman in question knows it's a part he's playing, but when it's a deception I can actually see an argument for it being non-consensual. If he were doing it for financial gain rather than sexual gratification, he'd be called a con artist, which can be prosecuted depending on circumstances.
Good luck, Captain. I think you're about to go where everyone has gone before
Susan Ivanova -
MCoop25 — 9 years ago(December 30, 2016 12:54 PM)
Under New York law yes the woman consented to have sex. The New York rape test is only 1 part: Did they consent to having sex? If yes, then it's not rape. The only exception is if it was under duress (forcible compulsion). With just a cursory Google search I can't find a State that has criminalized a Lorenzo von Matterhorn situation. Rape by deception seems to be limited to pretending to be their spouse/lover, lying that sex is occurring (I saw an example where it said if a Doctor said he would using a medical instrument down there but instead used his instrument down there), and a doctor saying that it is medically necessary (One doctor claimed that he was injected with a special serum that would cure them of some blood disorder that made up if they had sex with him). Everything else seems to be fair game.
Now where Barney might have raped someone would be when he said he was trolling the amnesia/Alzheimer's ward and would claim to be their spouse. That would fall under many (and maybe all) state's rape laws.
Here's a good article about it
http://nysbar.com/blogs/lawstudentconnection/2013/11/rape_by_fraud_deception_or_imp.html -
adam-176 — 9 years ago(December 30, 2016 02:23 PM)
Fair enough (well I'm sure women subjected to it may dispute "fair"). I didn't actually research, and have no legal training, it was purely "I can see an argument for it". Whether or not it should be an argument is a matter for more legally inclined people than me
Good luck, Captain. I think you're about to go where everyone has gone before
Susan Ivanova -
MCoop25 — 9 years ago(December 30, 2016 02:39 PM)
Yeah it might not be "fair" but a lot of things that are legal aren't exactly fair or moral. I fee like law makers are hesitant to extend rape to a Lorenzo situation because it opens so many doors as to what constitutes a fraud and could open up criminal charges just because someone got rejected or something. If I tell a girl I'm single but I'm not is that a fraud? If I tell a girl I want a committed relationship but all I want is a hookup is that fraud? And so on and so on. I think that's why they keep the definition narrow to only include truly heinous frauds i.e. a twin brother claiming to be their spouse, a doctor lying to his patient, etc.
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stargazer_1682 — 9 years ago(January 06, 2017 03:09 PM)
I think that's why they keep the definition narrow to only include truly heinous frauds i.e. a twin brother claiming to be their spouse, a doctor lying to his patient, etc.
See though, that's where HIMYM kind of falls into a very dark gray area; because they actually inferred some "scheme" of Barney's involving him pose as a doctor to have sex with women. Not only that, he double downed on it by posing as a class action lawyer who is representing the women he slept with as a doctor - suggesting some unseemly, if not outright criminal occurred in the former instance - so that he could target the women he previously with on the one occasion and trick them into having sex with him again. Just the fact that, in posing as a lawyer in some plan related to his guise as a doctor, suggests something legally questionable about the doctor ruse; he's seeking out these women to do the same thing to them again, which seems very predatory.by
RomanceNovelist
At one point, he even designed a web site provoking women he'd slept with into believing they slept with ted, ruining his reputation.
Actually the website was created by one of the women Barney slept with, when pretending to be Ted - the kick boxing instructor from "Ted Mosby, Architect;" who was subsequently a waitress when he sought her out later, in his attempt to locate his stalked.
Oh, it was the horse. I'm going to be King!" -
Petals121 — 9 years ago(December 17, 2016 11:02 PM)
It's actually astounded me how little people have talked about this. Barney is always thought off as amazing and cool instead of the pervert and abuser he really is. It's shocking how little people acknowledge abuse of women.
"I will not be strong armed by threats against my laundry" -
Jeannette_Mary_Labbe — 9 years ago(January 06, 2017 03:15 PM)
It's actually astounded me how little people have talked about this. Barney is always thought off as amazing and cool instead of the pervert and abuser he really is. It's shocking how little people acknowledge abuse of women.
I thought about this when the show first aired. He was a jerk. I didn't see what women saw in him. He was all about sex and nothing else. The episode that bothered me the most was when he was trying to get to 100 on his list of how many women he had sex with. He sees he missed one, goes to the bathroom and comes back saying he just had sex. That's disgusting. I didn't find it funny at all. I wondered who he had sex with and why any woman would want to have sex in a public bathroom and basically just used that way.
"Sometimes life hands you lemons that are worth 2 in the bush, I like kittens." -
amalzia19 — 9 years ago(January 13, 2017 02:43 PM)
Absolutely, disgusting behavior. The episode were he slept with an employee under the table, so she could keep her job but he fired her anyway O_o? Or were he was casting his "son" promising a mother he would hire her son if she sleeps with him, only to pick another kid. How Lily stayed friends with him and Robin got with him more then once and even married him? It's baffling.
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foxytree2 — 9 years ago(January 15, 2017 02:59 PM)
Actually I'd have to say the way that the cop treated Ted was ridiculous in season 8 or season 9. She got to psychically abuse him and urinate in and on his personal property and also stalk him and used her profession as a police officer to abuse someone. And we were all supposed to laugh it off?
#OctaviusUniversity