Drunken Ramblings...Or Binding Contract?

Drunk women can consent to sex, judges rule

This is a very difficult problem.

On the one hand, it trusts women to make decisions, which is something we have patently been denied in the past.

On the other hand?

This opens the doors (floodgates?) to untold numbers of date raped women losing any hope of convicting their attackers.

While I think this ruling is important to enabling and empowering women, I think we may be putting the cart before the horse on this one. BEFORE we say "saying yes when drunk is an all-clear," we need to establish that it's also perfectly reasonable to say no during the act of sex and expect that decision to be honored. We also need to establish that if it's totally cool and acceptable for men to have drunken hook ups, the same must be true for women. This ruling aside, we must remove the shame surrounding behaviors and actions some women feel they "need to be drunk" to do.

And last of all, but this is a little lower down on the list, we need to hold men just as accountable for their drunken behavior as we would women. Too many men are forgiven for laundry lists of offenses (other than rape, even) "because they were drunk."

An article from last week asked if the party girl antics of Britney and Paris would be as publicized if they were men. Much as I hate to say it, I think the answer is a "no." With this in mind, we need to refocus on the accountability of all people.

Either being drunk renders all decisions made null and void (regardless of gender, natch), or all decisions made while drunk hold the same sway. There can be no middle ground, and there can certainly be no allowances made for gender.

My City Keeps Bleeding

"Remains of 9/11 Victims Were Used to Fill Potholes, Contractor Says"

One day, I'll sort out how I feel about September 11th, 2001.

I'll sort out how I feel about how the city and the nation has changed since that day.

I'll sort out the guilt I still feel, almost six years later, that I was upstate at college, and not here to comfort my family, or even do anything immediately to help.

I'll sort out the horror and panic I felt when I accidentally took the Path train right into the site, totally unaware that Ground Zero is the terminus.

Today, however, is not that day.

\o/ - ("You're a kitty!" )

Just to show you that we're not all gloom and doom here at Red Stapler, I now give you...

A 100-Kitten Salute!

Ms. Stapler's own cat, Morbo, has this to say on the matter:

Hello and a WTF-Link

Hey Stapler Fans!

Sorry this place has been blank...I've had lots of ideas and not much time. (Stage Managing an off-off-Broadway show will do that to a blogger!)

Anyway. WTF Link of the day:

"Husband Rips Wife's Eyes Out After She Refuses Sex"

Mohamed Hadfi, 31, tore out his 23-year-old wife Samira Bari's eyes following a heated argument in their apartment in the southern French city of Nimes in July 2003 after she refused to have sex with him.

Um.

Somehow reminding him that "No means no" didn't quite ah...penetrate.

My idea of justice? Her seeing-eye-dog attacks him and bites his junk off.



"My cock is in the bitch's mouth. And not in the good way," indeed...

One Burrito Should Not Contain My Entire Day's Worth of Calories

This is the scariest website I have ever been to.

Mexican, or in the case of the North East, Tex-Mex food CAN be healthy. Burritoville succeeds quite well at giving its customers healthy substitutes on its menu. Brown rice, soy cheese, and soy sour cream can go a long way to reducing the caloric value of a meal. Not to mention the fat content. Other similar restaurants offer low fat or fat-free yogurt in lieu of sour cream.

People have had their backs up this week with the 1,000 calorie appetizers, entrees, and desserts at places like The Cheesecake Factory and similar. Let's also keep in mind that a fast food restaurant that purports to be a healthier alternative that's made to order, and then has 1,000+ calories and almost 50 grams of fat is really misleading.

If I eat at Uno's and get the pizza skins, I know I'm eating something that's bad for me, and I'm okay with that. However, if I order a Burrito Bol, and the only non-vegetable items I order are rice and guacamole, and there's still 30g of fat in there, something is wrong. How much guacamole are they putting in there, anyway? Are they putting butter in the rice? Are they frying the lettuce?!?

Mmmm...fatlicious...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to eat well, especially on the run and inexpensively. We have become accustomed to eating over 2,000 calories in one meal, and it really needs to stop.