A man in New Zealand, Jesse Kempson, has just been found guilty of the murder of a 21 year old British woman, Grace Millane, backpacking around the world. As part of his defence his lawyers claimed she had died accidently while he choked her during a consensual sex act. I won't post the story, as it is pretty sordid, but here are the essential facts presented to the court and not in dispute.
- Grace Millane (the murdered party) was travelling alone around the world on a "gap year".
- She was hooking up with men for casual sex using aps such as Tinder and even BDSM dating websites.
- There was a history of text-traffic on her mobile and laptop with a number of men she had fornicated with as she travelled.
- There was a witness called for the defence who testified she had had consensual sex with him shortly before and asked to be choked.
- On the BDSM website in New Zealand she met her murderer.
- She hooked up shortly thereafter, went to dinner, had a lot of drinks, went to bed with him in his hotel room and was dead the same evening.
- He put her body in a suitcase and buried it.
The interesting part is the
overwhelming number of people who suggest that the media revealing her sɛҳuąƖ proclivities is "slut shaming". In fact, her proclivities were revealed in court as part of the accused's defence suggesting that the killing was not deliberate but part of a sex-game gone wrong.
What I found interesting is that any suggestion that her promiscuous behaviour contributed to her own sticky end is labelled as
slut shaming and
blaming the victim and it is almost impossible to find an article or comment by anyone who suggests she could have avoided this. The OVERWHELMING number of comments are suggesting that women should be entitled to be rapaciously promiscuous and not suffer any of the consequences. Or that her promiscuous behaviour is completely irrelevant to the murder and that bringing it up in court is an insult to her memory and an insult to her parents.
Points of discussion. I'd find your thoughts on this interesting.
- Religious conservatives have not set the moral agenda for 40-50 years. Both the murder victim and the murderer are perverted products of a liberal culture that says "do what thou wilt". At what point in time will liberals own the problems of the society that their fuzzy "morals" screwed up.
- Where have the people with basic moral common sense gone who would comment that the murder victim contributed to her own demise and that fornicating with strangers into violent forms of sex is putting oneself at risk of meeting murderous men.
- Is it even worth pointing this out now in a public forum and standing for old moral values or should we just wipe the dust from our sandals and watch the whole thing burn down? Are such people with liberal values worth saving now? It appears to me to be an impossible task.