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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2021 2:09:13 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2021 2:09:33 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2021 2:10:44 GMT -5
QUESTION Why was a woman required to scream if she were threatened with rape Under the mosaic law?
This law had many positive aspects. Firstly, even today, screaming is woman's first defence, as one authority states "Screaming may not stop you from being raped but it could let others know you are being raped". Not only might knowledge that this was a legal requirement give someone planning an attack reason to pause and possibly deter some potential assailents, but a womans screams could alert nearby sources of help frighten off her assailant and save her, even though he threatened her life for not quietly complying. This was especially the case in bible times were women did not often travel independently or alone and girls lived in close knit communities were family and friends were rarely far away. Indeed this law ONLY applied in the city, ie where the womans screams were likely to be heard. It would be her legal protection, since, even if nobody reacted or understood the nature of her cries at the time, any recall would bear testimony that any sexual encounter was non-consensual (especially important if she later fell pregnant).
Screaming could not only potentially destabalize opposers but could also spur an individual's fight instincts, which is one reason solders often give battle cries when going to face their enemies, and this again may well be a determinating factor in whether the attack will continue or not. Finally, screaming was a firm statement of non-compliance, proving she was guilty of no wrong doing, the law discouraged women from seeing themselves as passive victims that could do nothing faced with male aggression, which, if nothing else, reportely helps in the pyscological recovery of some victims.
CONCLUSION: There was nothing "barbaric" about the mosaic law that stipulated someone being sexually attacked should scream if help could be potentially at hand. Indeed it could be the means by which help could be alerted, and if not could be psycologically positive for the victim in her recovery.
What if the victim was terrified and found herself unable to scream?
Critics of this law often seem unaware that the Israelites had a legal system Under which individual cases were judged and the merits of the case appraised. So if a woman claimed to have been raped in the city where her cries could have been heard but could convince the court that this was not possible for whaterever reason, then no doubt clemency would be accorded. The existence of a law did not mean death was not automatically pronounced without judgement of the circumstances. In any case no death penalty could be handed down without witnesses so it is most unlikely that a woman raped in the city that didn't scream (out of terror) would be executed.
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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2021 2:12:48 GMT -5
K'
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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2021 2:13:01 GMT -5
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