NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY OFFICE OF ASSEMBLYMEMBER ARAVELLA SIMOTAS For Immediate Release February 14, 2013 Contact:

Jim McFadden or Samantha Darche, 718-545-3889, 917-763-7694

Simotas Statement on Rape is Rape Bill

I have been working with Lydia Cuomo and other survivors, the District Attorneys Association and victims service providers over the past 8 months to enact sensible legislation that makes it easier to punish the guilty and give survivors a sense of justice. By calling rape, rape, this legislation and Lydias advocacy have exposed an inequity in the law. While changing the standard of proof for sexual intercourse to mirror the standards for anal and oral sexual conduct is important, the language we use to discuss rape must accompany it. There is no good reason for these necessary changes to occur in a vacuum. Survivors should not be forced into a choice between healing and lowered standards of conviction. They deserve both. That is why I am amending my bill to include the standardized elements of forcible sexual conduct. Not only does the legislation proposed in the Senate ignore Lydias impassioned and eloquent plea to validate her ordeal and eviscerate the gender neutrality we have worked so hard to achieve, it actually makes it more difficult to prove a charge of forcible sexual intercourse. As Lydia has explained, semantics matter. Semantics never matter more than when we are talking about anatomy. The Senate legislation defines sexual intercourse as contact between the penis and the vagina. The anatomical definition of vagina is the fibromuscular tubular tract. It is internal. Thus, the standard of proof in a rape case is actually increased beyond the current standard of penetration, however slight, by requiring contact with the internal tract of a womans genitals rather than penetration of the labia or outer lips of the vulva. The vulva is the proper term to describe the entire sex organ or genitalia of a woman. The amended Assembly bill will answer the call of survivors to call rape by its name and use the proper terminology to standardize the elements of forced vulvar, oral and anal rape. Additionally, some sources have expressed concerns about whether forced oral sex is rape. I say ask a survivor what forced oral sex is called. Picture for yourself a man

forcing his penis into your mouth, your brother or your sisters mouth, your daughter or your sons mouth. Is this a criminal sexual act? The clear answer is-no, this is rape. The colloquial language that people use is the language that jurors use. Describing these acts in a way that people actually understand, that jurors actually understand will only ease the way for convictions of sex offenders. Concerns about consecutive sentencing are similarly misplaced. As the law stands now, sex offenders are regularly tried, convicted and receive consecutive sentences on the Criminal Sexual Act statute which includes both oral and anal sexual conduct. Michael Pena did. A simple specific pleading is enough to overcome this legal red herring. Concerns about survivors of rape must trump knee jerk political reactions. We must always speak carefully and knowledgably about a subject as charged as rape. That is why it is important to call forced vulvar, anal and oral sex what they are- rape.