By NewsOne
Staff
Roxanne
Jones, a former executive at ESPN, writes that men should get a girl to text
“yes” before having sex. Is she right or is her advice too extreme? Should
mothers be encouraging their sons to get a woman to text consent before they
engage in sexual intercourse?
Take our
poll below!
Sounds
extreme, but not for Roxanne Jones, a former executive at ESPN, who says
such motherly advice can potentially help save her son from a false rape
accusation. In an op-ed published on CNN,
Jones encourages other moms to follow her lead, arguing, in part, that sex has
evolved over the years to such a degree that parents “still fail to discuss sex
and evolving sexual mores frankly with our sons and daughters, all this freedom
has led to confusion about the ever-changing rules of engagement when it comes
to sex.”
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| Roxanne Jones |
To be sure,
she makes it clear in her piece that “no” means “no” and that no woman asks to
be rape. However, Jones highlights statistics from the
National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism which reveal that about
97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related
sexual assault or date rape. Such circumstances further complicates the meaning
of consent, Jones argues.
So, in order
to remove any doubt about consent, Jones recommends the following: Never have
sex with a girl unless she’s sent you a text that proves the sexual
relationship is consensual beforehand. And it’s a good idea to even follow up
any sexual encounter with a tasteful text message saying how you both enjoyed
being with one another — even if you never plan on hooking up again.
Crazy, I
know, but I’ve actually been encouraging my son and his friends to use sexting
— minus the lewd photos — to protect themselves from being wrongly accused of
rape. Because just as damning text messages and Facebook posts helped
convict the high-schoolers in Steubenville of rape, technology can also be used
to prove innocence.
How to
protect yourself from false rape allegations is a constant conversation among
professional athletes. I’ve covered many rape cases over my career, including
those of Kobe Bryant, the Duke lacrosse team, and many others that never made
the headlines. Sports agents and athletes have tried everything from openly or
secretly recording their sexual encounters, which is illegal in some states, to
asking all women they have sex with to sign a pre-consent form. And though the
public may scoff at stories of athletes who frequent strip clubs or solicit
prostitutes, many athletes say they do this to avoid unwarranted sex assault
charges.
To be sure,
Jones has plenty of critics:
Imagine a
guy saying to you — "Hey, I'll sleep with you, but I need you to TEXT ME
consent first." Hmmm. Read: cnn.com/2013/11/26/opi… #CNN—
Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) November 26, 2013
Roxanne
Jones wants to invalidate the rapes of many, many people because they said yes
to something that one time cnn.com/2013/11/26/opi…—
Fiddler (@cFidd) November 26, 2013
instead of
teaching your son to respect women tell him they're all whores who just want to
wrongly accuse him of rape cnn.com/2013/11/26/opi…—
Jessica Roy (@JessicaKRoy) November 26, 2013
If you ever
write "Make no mistake, no woman..is asking to be raped. But…" maybe
just step away from the keybord. cnn.it/1c7ilS7—
Jake Grovum (@jgrovum) November 26, 2013
Indeed,
Jones is suggesting a very unconventional way of protecting one’s self against
false rape allegations, but is it extreme or is she on point?
Sound off!
YesNoOther:
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