Stephanie Hall, Dennis Fischer, Leigh Hughes, and others, have been talking
on this list in suprisingly long postings and for a surprisingly long time
about the abuse female characters took "all in fun" in the entertainments of
the '50s (and maybe the '40s and '60s).
There is one mistake made repeatedly that I feel should be corrected.
"Assault" is defined legally as "creating the fear of battery". "Battery" is
defined legally as "unsolicited, unwanted, or unwelcome touching or other
physical contact".
Threatening to spank someone *might* be assault. It is assault if 1) the
person threatened doesn't want to be spanked by the person making the threat
and 2) the person threatened becomes afraid, partly as a result of the
threat, that the person making the threat might actually try to carry it out.
It is just as much "assault" if committed against a child, as if committed
against a woman. Children are assaulted with impunity because they don't
have money to hire lawyers, don't know any lawyers to hire, and don't know
the assault is illegal.
"Hey, it was just a joke!" *might* not be a defense. It is a defense only if
the person making the "joke" reasonably believes, and has taken reasonable
steps to ensure, that the person being threatened will know it is only a
joke. Otherwise, saying it is a joke after the fact is not a defense, even
if it's true; it's too late.
I'm not a liberal, and I'm not just saying what I think; I asked a lawyer
about this.
_____
Tom
(Thomas Hart Chappell
[log in to unmask]
Farmington Hills, MI)
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