Posted on 01/19/2005 10:39:33 AM PST by presidio9
An Italian man who slapped a young woman on the bottom while she was making a telephone call has been handed a 14-month suspended jail term by the Supreme Court.
The tough sentence made headlines in Italy where judges have been cracking down on sexual harassment with a string of ground-breaking verdicts against unsolicited advances.
A man in northern Italy was fined 300 euros ($392.5) last year for sending a flirtatious text message to a woman.
In the past such cases would rarely have made their way into the courts of a country renowned for its macho society.
Italy's high court ruled that the slap was an act of sexual aggression, which belittled the woman and caused her "duress."
The aggressor, identified only as Ivan P., told the court that the victim was a relative, who had invented the story to get revenge in a family feud.
"I don't believe in justice anymore. The sentence has ruined my life," he told Il Messaggero newspaper. His prison term was suspended because he was a first time offender.
Yikes.
Dan
oh my
this should be an interesting thread . . .
Clinto has just crossed Italy off his places to visit.
How is the poor woman doing?
Has she recovered?
Has she stopped giggling yet?
Have her buttocks stopped jiggling yet?
CB^)
This title is misleading...I thought this was going to be a story about a parent who DIDN'T get in trouble for spanking their kid.
"How is the poor woman doing? Has she recovered? Has she stopped giggling yet? Have her buttocks stopped jiggling yet?"
I hear she IS recovering, but she will need YEARS of emotional trauma counseling.
When I was in High School a guy smacked me on the butt so hard that I couldn't walk straight for about 5 minutes. He actually got a running start across the gymnasium and several witnesses informed me later that there was an actual "winding up" that ocurred. My reaction? I found it funny. Turns out I should have been suing him, his parents, and the entire school district, and perhaps the whole state of Georgia. Man...I could have cashed in.
Ahhh.. the pussification of Europe continues.
We also need some more information:
Did she know the man?
Does she have a tendency to go out in public with no clothes on and think that somehow every man who sees her as a sexual being is a pervert (like those women who get boob jobs and then slap men for looking at them).
These things are all important to determining guilt or innocence.
Brad Pitt never needs to worry about being prosecuted for this kind of thing. ;)
Okay, what if he slapped her on the face instead? Would you condone that? There's no difference, you know, except that some men think they should have the right to slap a woman on the ass, whether it's welcome or not.
The aggressor, identified only as Ivan P., told the court that the victim was a relative...
"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"
A classic, no doubt, but it must not translate well.
I have to agree. What the guy did was simple battery and would be a crime in the states as well. My only question, which the article doesn't answer, was did he get a greater sentence because the court found this was sexual harassment? I would have a problem with that for the same reason I have a problem with all these hate crime statutes.
While that may be true in your case ... ;^)
Bummer!
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