re: #158 calochortus

Very true. I recall hearing about an older woman with dementia who thought a man who lived at the same nursing home was her husband. Having a physical relationship might actually have been good for her (IIRC the man was treating her kindly and all-he just wasn’t who she thought he was.)

I don’t know what the correct decision would be in this case, or who would be the appropriate person to make that decision.

I think that’s why people like to cling to the very clear-cut person-was-beaten-into-submitting definition of rape. Because it does avoid the murky grounds of intent and consent and what these things actually mean in practice.

However, papering over these issues doesn’t make them go away, as much as some conservatives would like them to. And, for that matter, some liberals as well.