He Held Her Down, Choked Her, And Masturbated Onto Her. The Law Said It Wasn’t Sexual Assault.

A shocking case in Alaska has highlighted a loophole in sexual assault statutes nationwide. Now the survivor of the attack is sharing her story for the very first time.

 THIS IS A VERY LONG READ - BUT SHOULD BE READ:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/alaska-sexual-assault-loophole-masturbate-ejaculate-semen

EXCERPTS:

But out of 54 US states and territories, 44 of these jurisdictions, including Alaska, do not have a legislated definition of sexual contact that explicitly mentions contact with semen, according to research by BuzzFeed News and AEquitas, a DC-based nonprofit group of former specialized prosecutors who focus on issues of gender-based violence and human trafficking. In Delaware, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Texas, to name just a few, Schneider might still slip through the same loophole.
US jurisdictions where the law regards ejaculating on another person as "sexual contact" or "sexual acts."

 In Alaska, sexual assault has a very narrow definition: It has to involve either “knowingly touching, directly or through clothing, the victim’s genitals, anus, or female breast,”  or knowingly causing the victim to touch either the defendant’s, or the victim’s own, genitals.
Women in Alaska are in more danger of being murdered by a man than women in any other state. A 2016 study by the Violence Policy Center found the rate was nearly three times the national average. And one-third of Alaskan adult women have experienced sexual violence, according to a 2015 survey from the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center.
In most states where contact with ejaculate isn’t expressly defined as “sexual contact,” thus allowing prosecutors to pursue sexual assault charges, these assaults are likely to be prosecuted under indecent exposure laws, which are usually misdemeanor offenses with much lower penalties.

 “Just because a penis or vagina hasn’t physically touched someone but ejaculate has, it doesn’t lessen the crime or its impact on the victim.”
posted by Snowflake 

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