I just finished the entire series for the first time and honestly I found Barney's character disgusting, I never understood why they would be friends with him. I understand that he's a crazy character and it's just a sitcom and his womanising ways aren't to be taken that seriously (I hope!) but I just thought some of it was really off and not funny, especially the comment where he implies he sold a girl into sex slavery! I can't understand how the others could put up with that or pretend his behaviour was ok, especially Robyn and Lily - although they seemed pretty awful themselves at points and basically just thought of Barney's conquests as stupid 'skanks' I think. Kind of a warped attitude during this series, it especially annoyed me one episode where Marshall calls Robyn a slut for having a one night stand, yet he's sitting opposite Barney, the biggest manwhore ever. I do really like NPH but could never get the hype around Barney's character.

Disclaimer: I say this all as a fan of the show (minus the ending!)
For everyone worrying so much about the legalities of whether or not it technically counts as rape: honestly? It doesn't really matter. At some point not even that long ago it was legal to rape your wife; in fact, it wasn't considered rape at all. We live in a world that has never been a woman's world and it's taking us a LONG time to catch up. If it's legal in one state and illegal in another, does that make it right or wrong depending on where you live? Anyone who thinks so is a walking red flag. People should stop worrying so much about what the current laws are or are not like it's some sort of textbook and worry about whether it's decent and whether or not it's okay to treat women like this, worry about whether we're doing enough in our culture to make sure everyone knows how consent works. Wiping your hands of a situation because it all checks out legally doesn't make you a good person, it makes you a law-abiding person; anyone who raped their wife was still an awful human being whether they were breaking the law or not.
A woman has the right to make an informed decision about who she wants to sleep with, and she's allowed to change her mind. A woman can say yes to a man and that yes can be conditional; yes, providing who you say you are, yes, providing you use a condom, yes, but I'm not comfortable with certain things. It's fine if a one-night stand doesn't know your entire backstory, but if you've wilfully mislead her or lied to her about who you are, then she hasn't consented to sex with YOU. A woman has the right to choose not to sleep with married men, a woman has the right to sleep with men she thinks are exclusively sleeping with her, a woman has the right to decide what the terms are regarding what she does with her body. If you don't tell her you're married because it didn't come up, you're an beep for cheating on your wife, sure, but you haven't abused anyone. If she asks you whether you are married and you tell you aren't when you are, then if she would only consent to having sex with a single partner then you've had non-consensual sex with her.
If you honestly think it's all fine and dandy because the laws check out, well.gross. And people who think it's "just a show" don't understand how pop culture can influence real life. And for everyone saying that the rest of the gang made a show of rolling their eyes and calling him gross, sure, but the show still painted him as a (dare I say it) legendary figure. I say this as someone who has had more than one male friend and an ex-boyfriend who idolised Barney and thought all of his tricks were hilarious. Maybe the friends thought Barney was gross but I'm not convinced they made it explicit that the audience should as well.
Oh, and straight ladies: never, ever, ever EVER go out with a guy who idolises Barney. "If you were any HIMYM character, who would you be?" It's a fantastic litmus test: if they say Barney, RUN. I say this from experience.

It's funny, how dumb ass you think this thread is, but still keep posting in it
Lol, yeah. Doesn't seem like he is only justifying Barneys behavior, seems a bit too personal.