Getting Off Podcast book club discussion

The Hale warning! Has this been completely eliminated?

*****SPOILER BELOW*****




And to find out the case Hale became famous for was actually a false confession!

I believe so, because of what they say here...

"While Marty Goddard and Susan Irion helped institute rape kits and trauma training, legislatures adopted rape-shield statutes—restricting evidence about a rape accuser’s sexual history—as courts abandoned jury instructions that used the language of Sir Matthew Hale. As some legal commentators have noted, the repudiation of Hale was about three centuries late."

But it's a good question to ask, because I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this:

"Ten years later, when state delegate Kathleen Dumais tried for the ninth time to push the measure through, an all-male panel drawn from both houses of the legislature let the bill die, leaving Maryland as one of sixteen states that does not allow a rape victim to terminate the parental rights of her attacker."

Is this still real??? 16 states?!

But I loved this aspect of the book--the historical context. Seeing the roots and origins of these ideas is incredibly telling. As I understand it, the Biblical take on witchcraft is tied to the sin of manipulation--which is linked to the idea of false accusations of rape. The fact that one of his beliefs faded over time, while the other remained, when they were essentially both aspects of the same thing (woman = manipulator), shows how misogyny has always been deeply embedded in general perceptions about women throughout history. ("Hale’s influence upon witchcraft trials would expire as belief in witches waned. But his influence on rape cases would endure. As long as three hundred years after Hale’s death in 1676, many a jury in the United States would be cautioned with his words.")