Court acquits 2 men, says rape victim 'looks like a man'

WASHINGTON POST: An Italian appeals court — a panel of three female jurists — acquitted two men of rape in 2017, in part because the judges agreed with the defendants’ argument that the victim LOOKED LIKE A MAN and therefore they COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ATTRACTED to her. Now that ruling has been overturned and a retrial has been ordered.

The reasoning behind the appeals court’s ruling, revealed Friday through the Italian Supreme Court’s retrial order, triggered outrage over the weekend. Hundreds of people on Monday protested outside the appeals court in Ancona, the city of 100,000 on Italy’s Adriatic coast, where the alleged rape occurred.

The case dates to 2015, when a 22-year-old woman reported that she had been attacked. Her injuries were, according to doctors, consistent with rape, and that her blood showed a high level of benzodiazepines, a type of tranquilizer, seemingly backing up her lawyer’s claim that her drinks had been spiked at a bar after an evening class. In 2016, the men were convicted.

READ MORE AT: Emily Tamkin (2019). A female panel of judges in Italy decided a woman was too ‘masculine’ to be raped. March 12 at 10:51 AM. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/03/12/female-panel-judges-italy-decided-woman-was-too-masculine-be-raped/