#98, you mean Tripp, although there is certainly a school of thought that concludes that Trig is actually Bristol's.

And I agree with you -- what she is doing is child abuse. Levi needs better lawyers, that's for sure.

For those that think false accusations are such a huge problem and equivalent to rape.

I've read all the studies. Former cop and current lawyer. The max CREDIBLE number in the US is 4%. The studies that allege higher numbers either don't cover the US or are paid for by people with an agenda.

You know how many rapists that are charged spend even 1 night in jail? 6%. The number of rapists who end up doing serious time is much, much less.

I've worked within the system and seen some pretty vile shit. We throw people in jail for minor offenses on the drug war, but unless you rape a nun or a child, your chances of spending even a day in prison for rape of an adult woman are next to nothing.

I have worked in the system in Los Angeles and I can tell you that even men who rape children often don't see the inside of a jail cell.

When it comes to sex crimes, juries don't want to believe it. Even if the victim is clearly telling the truth and clearly not asking for it.

I'm not saying false reports shouldn't be taken seriously. The Duke accuser deserved the inside of a cell. I'm just saying that the general male fear of it is overblown.

As for Bristol, it is entirely possible it was rape and she stuck by him. I've seen girls do very similar things, but in the small town I grew up in and in L.A. I'm not saying I believe her, just that it's not a crazy as people think.

Having worked with victims of rape and sexual assault, I can tell you that rational behavior very rarely flows from such a trauma. Some rape victims do precisely what you are saying is impossible.

I had two clients who were teenage lesbians who were raped (at the same time) when they were way too drunk to consent. Both minimized what happened and tried to "work it out" with the men. Even though the men were older and had no sexual appeal for the girls. One ended up pregnant and tried to marry the bastard. It may seem irrational to you, but it's what people do when they are societally conditioned to be sex-negative and to view women's bodies as property.

Finally, on the issue of rape. There are three perspectives...One is that their has to be force. (Almost everyone thinks this is too rigid and doesn't give women control over their bodies). The second is that there has to be continuation when there is either no consent possible or an affirmative statement of "NO" from a woman. (i.e. "No means no"). The last is that their has to be affirmative consent by either words or deeds (i.e., yes means yes). What Bristol describes is clearly not #1. It may fit #2. Almost certainly, she did not say to Levi "Let's do it", so it fits #3.

And before I hear how people have to get drunk to do it, is this actually behavior you want to reinforce? Men being predatory and women being victims? I'd much rather people get to the point where we are sexually free to do what we want and women and men have true agency over their bodies.

Oh, and if you think a man would ever see the inside of a jail on a "she was drunk" type...I've seen those trials. Never, ever seen a conviction.

That 6% that end up in jail is overwhelmingly violent rape of an undeniable victim.

"I have a crush on Johnny Weir."

Ah, who doesn't?

I find it hilarious that Bristol was on birth control "for her cramps". She is the very essence of believability, especially on these issues.

I have very little doubt that things *basically* occurred as she said - these type of deflowerings are all too common, as others have pointed out. I doubt she understands that it looks like rape. (She never calls it that.) She probably blamed herself and did the Christian thing - which is agreeing to marry the man-child who took advantage of you, so that your parents won't be humiliated by your teen pregnancy. Why isn't this connecting for anyone else? Why isn't it connecting for Dan? That happens all the time, and I have no doubt it happens in Palin Country.

Thanks for the valuable reality-check, #102.

Is consent while drunk, still consent?

Right, I agree @105. Ockham's razor. One scared kid who is being mind-raped by her own family. (and hopefully only that....)

Oh, utter baloney. She claims she was on birth control "for cramps"? Staying overnight on a tent trip, about which she lied to the parents? And even though she supposedly couldn't remember a thing that happened, she knew enough to knew her "wait for marriage" vow had been broken? How, did one of Levi's friends indicate this? Did she question Levi about it later, to get confirmation? And upon receiving such confirmation, her parents let him move into the house so they could keep doing it?

And I'm to believe that The Very First Time they had sex, she conceived little Tripp? Umm, I don't think that timeline even works with the stated dates of their relationship, and it means they were camping in Alaska in March. Now, I'm not a toughened, hardy type like Bristol, but even down here in the lower 48 where I live, March generally means really cold or even snowy. Is Alaska not like that?

All the pertinent details are blurred right out of this account, and Ockham's razor suggests a different explanation to me: because the whole thing is a lot of bullshit.

I am more inclined to believe someone's indictment of another for rape, if said someone went first and immediately to the police, rather than waiting several years and then making a mint off it by selling the story to a magazine.

Some of you fucking people will believe anything.

Sorry folks, the facts as alleged are NOT rape. She got drunk- voluntarily. She spent the night with her boyfriend in a tent- voluntarily. The reason 6% of rapists go to prison is because that is probably the number of 'true' rapists out there. The other 94% are mostly women who changed their minds, had second thoughts, or didn't have an orgasm. If a girl acts as outlined in this scenario then she has already given voluntary consent to have sex. Let the flames begin!

OF COURSE she can REVOKE that consent any time she damn well pleases and play all the games in the world with her boyfriend which, of course, is standard practice. Several years after the fact and after sleeping with her "fiancee" for a year is a bit late for revocation.

A girl does NOT need to specifically say "no." Similarly, a girl does NOT need to specifically say "yes" if her behavior indicates "yes" then a reasonable guy can take her "yes" to the bank. Where is the force or threat of force in this scene?

BTW: I am a lawyer. I have represented rapists and I have counseled victims of rape. There IS A DIFFERENCE between REAL RAPE and all this bullshit drama that so many women pull. Rape is a serious crime of violence. All that other bullshit is just drama and it diminishes the real victims.

@112: Shitstorm imminent.
But you are kind of an ass for claiming that 94% of all reported rapes are false...

Oh please, 94%. Being a lawyer obviously doesn't spare you from being an idiot.

@98 It seems to me like you might have hit the nail on the head.

@112 While I dispute your numbers, the logic stands.

As a male, my only experience with rape was when an ex-girlfriend accused me or rape a week after I broke up with her, and then the subsequent harassment by her mother, etc. Of course, the rape never happened, for that matter, sex never happened, I broke up with her after two months because I noticed she was going a little psycho, which was proven after I broke it off. So I guess from my unique context, 100% of rape accusations are false. Of course, in the broad spectrum of society, I'm sure that number is significantly lower. I am, however, a firm believer that regretting it the next morning, does not constitute rape.

Also, if she cannot remember what happened, then how can she say for sure that she did not rape him? I will await Dan's column commenting on Levi's book where he is sure to talk about the same encounter!

Who cares? Really?

I think if you care enough about this to pass judgment, it's worth reading her actual version of the story in context since it's true that nowhere in the excerpt Dan has linked to does she claim rape.

@59: Unless you've read her book, you don't know that she's described a rape. If you've only read Dan's link, you've just read a journalist's paraphrasing of her story. Either way, the headline "Levi Raped Me" is totally sensationalistic.

@7 Also, saying a rape claim would have made political hay for Palin during her campaign is short-sighted. She would have had to contend with everyone would doesn't believe a scenario like this amounts to rape. Dan and most people on this thread are also operating under the assumption that Palin and her family view this type of event as a rape.

@31 presumably someone gave her a season 1 DVD recently.

The marketing side of my brain would like to point out that wine coolers were essentially a creation of the early 80's tax code, and they pretty much went extinct when it changed in the mid 90's (or around that time). There are plenty of alcopop drinks, very few wine coolers. Maybe I'm parsing it a little too closely.

Even if so. I'd like to point out that 18% of people report drinking prior to their "first coitus". Presumably 82% lie about it, but even if they didn't, it's not exactly an uncommon thing, and I can't believe that I actually looked that up.

This particular claim is predictive of exactly nothing except for the fact that they were horny teenagers who "went camping" to get away from their parents, drink alcohol, and have sex. This can't be a news flash to any parents out there. Or anyone older than 12 and younger than 60. Can it?

Please, we DO NOT have to debate whether Bristol's ghost writer's account of how she lost her virginity are accurate or not, and what was her mindset at the time, and how only Levi and her know the really real truth. Just read Bristol Palin's own words in 2007 (and those were not to her boyfriend Levi, but to another heartbreaker Johnny C.) :

"haha I'm a slut"
"tracks little bitch ass decided to tell my parents im a stoner.. hes so tight.."
"haha, my mom was asking me who i was on the phone with last night, and she said she had heard everything i was saying.. now she thinks im pregnant".

http://politicalgates.blogspot.com/2011/…

I've read elsewhere that, among Alaskan teenagers, she was considered as an "easy girl" with multiple partners. That's a better explanation for the pill, right ? And she did disappear for 6 months while in highschool, before her so-called "little brother"'s birth. Of whom we now have a picture in Levi's arms, dated May 2008, though Levi looks younger in it... So the rapist boyfriend of the eldest daughter was in the delivery room of Sarah Palin, holding in his arms, all by himself, a premature baby with a hole in his heart ? Please !

Many things are murky in the Palin sex and birth tales ; adding a rape account to it sounds like a desesperate attempt to lead curious minds elsewhere. Props to Dan for pointing out that this here rape story is a sham.

Bristol's story reminds me of something written in the mid-1970s by the wonderful essayist Florence King. A chapter of her book "Southern Ladies and Gentlemen" was titled (something like) "The Self-Rejuvenating Virgin," featuring the range of rationalizations that the unmarried, sexually-repressed Southern Good Girl used to deny the loss of her virginity, no matter how many times the event occurred. I think the very first rationale on the list was "It didn't really happen, because I was drunk at the time."

Dan, you don't have to believe Bristol. Nobody has to. But publicly "explaining" to us why her story is a lie is several steps further than not believing her. I've admired your willingness to speak out and call things as you see them, but as good as I usually find your take on a situation, you're not capable of telling who is a "real" rape survivor and who isn't based on a couple of news stories and Bristol Palin's past (hmmmm...sounds familiar...). This is really inappropriate.

It's hard enough to tolerate the hatred for women spewing from the far right of our political spectrum; we shouldn't have to tolerate it from you, too. Seriously inappropriate.

Not sure if this has been said upthread, but I didn't have the stomach to read the entire thing.