Helen Mirren: "Jealous" Female Jurors Think Rape Victims Are "Asking For It"

Dame Helen Mirren was accused by the Solicitor General of making ignorant, absurd and dangerous comments yesterday after speaking out again about rape prosecutions.

In an interview, the 63-year-old Oscar-winning actress said that in such cases female jurors are deliberately selected by defence barristers because 'women go against women'.

She suggested that women jurors are less likely to convict a rapist since they tend to think the victim was 'asking for it'.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[JShankel]

I am programmed to agree with anything Helen Mirren says.

It's not always easy to live up to your programming.

[playsindirt]

I'll never forget the day my mother, who I believe is one of the most intelligent, educated, well-read women of my acquaintance, told me that she believed a lot of rape victims were "asking for it." I never looked at her the same way again. I think Dame Helen's choice of the word "jealous" is probably unfortunate but I do think women are really cruel and petty towards their own gender. Is it jealousy?

[rzan1]

Why would a woman be jealous of a victim of violence? Mirren did say "sexual jealousy," didn't she? I think she is wrong.

[heal57]

Women often give a pass to men and are harder on other women, especially if the women are younger and good looking. I would like to think that this has changed, but I'm not sure it has. Everytime a woman's husband is caught cheating, she blames the other woman. I will assume that younger women today are not of the same mindset. Years ago men were always considered 'more valuable' and 'better' than women. I am Helen Mirren's age so I know. I'd like to think women would never judge another woman as 'asking for it' unless they're much older and not 'educated'. I'd like to think women have come a long way from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. God, let's hope so. 'NO means 'NO'!

[CKieffer]

Take a look at the double standards applied to Jolie and Aniston... and Pitt. Read some of the cruel comments directed Aniston's way while Jolie (who slept with the married man) somehow is held up in high regard and it is all Aniston's fault that Pitt strayed.

The more things "change'; the more they stay the same.

[GirlsRule]

This is an opinion from a Women who's had first hand experience of rape which happened 30 or 40 years ago. Perhaps that's why HM opinions seem so dated. And maybe she has never fully worked through that experience. I personally don't have a first hand account of this subject. But while not perfect I think the perception of rape has progressed over the years. When a women or man say's no that means no. Period! It is not the fault of the victim including HM.

[Scandalouscandice5]

Yeah but Mirren also thinks women who lay down with men and get raped deserve it. It's hard to take anything she says seriously or with any real substance.

[tiger313]

I absolutely agree with Mirren. As a victim of a rape that went to trial, I can tell you I felt more judgement from women than men. This was 1967 and I hope that attitudes have changed. Reading these comments, no so much.

[Curmudgette]

Dame Helen is correct and it's something rape prosecutors have known and used for years. Linda Fairstein, among others, has said she stacks her juries with men, whenever possible, during selection. Women jurors are simply less likely to convict rapists for a host of psychological reasons. I have more on this on my blog.

http://thebloggingcurmudgeon.blogspot.com

[Lucille]

I agree with Helen, but I think many youger women look at things more pragmatically, like if we don't get him now, he will do it to someone else.

Where it gets tricky is if the woman iknows the man who she's accused of raping her. Even with DNA evidence, women jurors can come to strange conclusions, especially if they envy the vicitims, looks, financial status, etc.

[Lucille]

I agree with her.

[whoknew---]

While it is true that women have a tendency to scrutinize, compete, and criticize another woman's perceived attributes this goes beyond the pale....

When another person (male/female) is harmed especially sexually the vast majority of women would take extreme offense of the crime and wouldn't take what the victim was wearing as an excuse for the terrible act...

[RachelMc]

I don't see how people commenting on here can be so closed minded on this lady's point of view. regardless of how any of u feel the truth remains that some females do think it may be the victims fault. i dunno if its out of pure jealousy or stupidity it remains the same. I was attacked b4 but i fought and i was not raped but when i told some of my female family member, for example my granny.. her first question was what was i wearing. like wtf does it really matter? no it doesn't. besides i had on an over sized hoodie, some jeans and some Air Forces. but the question of what i was wearing should not have come up. i think older women in particular are more conservative and do think that the way u look or dress may determine for them if the victim "asked for it". so she somewhat right.

[LillianB]

If you read the whole interview, you can see what she said is not as misogynist as it can sound. She claims female jurors are harder towards women victims than male jurors. She says she doesn't know why, lists several possible reasons, among them, sexual jealousy, which is the one she declares she "unfortunately" believes in the most. In other words, she doesn't say there is reason to feel sexual jealousy towards a rape victim, but she accuses certain female jurors for thinking it is. She may have specific jurors in mind, I don't know.

I, for one, can think an alternative and probably more correct explaination (if one accepts the premise, which I don't know if one can). Women often blame themselves for what happens to them, and it may be easy to blame another woman for what happened to her. There can be also be a certain double-standard set of morals at work here - a "you went home with him, what did you expect" idea paired with "I would never have done THAT" - and oooops, woman gets the blame.

As for the date rape quotes, she doesn't say it isn't rape when a woman changes her mind and he goes through with it. She says it is, but that she doesn't think it's possible to go to court with it. That is unfortunately correct - in such cases proof is absent, and going through a case anyway can increase the woman's pain ("they didn't believe me").

[bubbuh]

Helen Mirren is a fine actress and is considered an excellent addition to any production. She shows up on time, knows her lines, takes direction well and is pleased to strip down any time she thinks so doing furthers the script. Among many other roles, she's received high honors for playing a detective and a queen. She is neither .

Dame Helen is, of course, entitled to her opinions. It is unfortunate that she doesn't have the noblesse oblige to keep these private on matters of which she has no understanding or expertise. A quick perusal of the comments on this report where it originated at the MailOnline indicates that many of her fans can not tell the difference between Dame Helen's make-believe roles and reality,.

[lwaxanatroi]

It's the word "jealous" that sticks in my craw. Of course, she's displaying ignorance of the British criminal justice system, in which the lawyers essentially take the first 12 in the box (unlike in the American, where jury selection is an art and is used by both sides to stack the deck). Of course, she is not entirely wrong about human nature in general, meaning that, yes, women can be harder on other women when they feel a woman has strayed outside the lines of what is acceptable. But to say this is based on "jealousy" is to suggest that there was something pleasurable about being raped. What else would the female jurors be "jealous" of? Unless she is compounding her faux pas by assuming that all rape victims are pretty young women and the female jurors are all old battle axes. Lots of tired old antifeminist assumptions in there.