Trigger Warning for rape, misogyny, pedophilia, attempted murder and just about everything else.
I just read about one Xavier Robert Bissonnette, a fifty-six year old Calgary man who raped a seventeen year old girl he was corresponding with over the internet. The story apparently is newsworthy only because Bissonnette is HIV positive. He was diagnosed in 1998. He has most likely signed the death warrant of the child he raped. The charges he is facing in a court of law?
Aggravated sexual assault.
That's it. That's all. The only charge.
There seems to be nothing about statutory rape, even though the victim is a minor. The Child, Youth, and Family Enhancement Act clearly defines child sexual abuse as follows: “A child under 18 years of age is sexually abused if he/she is inappropriately exposed or subjected to sexual contact, activity or behavior, including prostitution related activities.” I found this information here, on the Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse website, just to show the direct correlation between the definition of child sexual abuse and the province it happened in. So don't anybody give me any age of consent bullshit. This guy raped a minor, a child. Yet, he doesn't seem to be charged with that crime.
As stated, Bissonnette is HIV positive. Police allege that he did not reveal this information to the victim before "allegedly having unprotected sex with her" (read: raping her without using a condom). He knew since 1998 that he was HIV positive. I think he should be charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon (which, I know aggravated assault is supposed to convey, but still) or some other charge that better defines what he did. He very likely gave this child an incurable, fatal, debilitating auto-immune disease. If the lives of rape victims are irreparably shattered by rape even without contracting the deadliest disease humankind has ever known, then what is done to the psyche of the victim that does contract said disease? The unimaginable psychological torture this child must be going through at this point is staggering to even consider. But, for whatever reason, none of that is being taken into account.
The other detail that the news sites are quick to point out is that Bissonnette met his victim on an online dating site. After apparently communicating with her several times, he made arrangements to pick her up at the summer camp she was staying at and subsequently took her to a home in Calgary, where he raped her. Details about this detail are scarce. But something sounds fishy. What seventeen year old girl would go anywhere with a disheveled fifty-something year old man? What dating site? Have police read the transcripts of their conversations? Why did the camp allow her to leave with this man who was not a relation? I ask these questions because the tone of the news sites seems to be that since they met on a dating site, the victim shares some of the responsibility for the rape. Ah, the victim blame. There it is, if you were wondering. Since commenting on the story is closed (at least on the sites I visited) the victim-blaming is kept on the low, but you can spot it if you look hard enough. This is in no way the fault of this kid. I'd like to know why no one else was looking out for her, but I don't think any of the onus can be put on her. This guy must've pulled more than a few fast ones to fool this kid and if that's the case, he's probably done or at least tried this before. But no one seems to be talking about that, either.
Why only one charge in a case so serious, so heinous? Why is all this guy getting charged with is aggravated sexual assault? How can that one charge adequately convey what he's done? It can't. But he's a dude. So, in the same way his crimes are "alleged" until the day his butt hits jail, even with a mountain of DNA and other evidence piled against him, so too is the nature of the crime smoothed over so by the sounds of it, he's not such a bad fella. The one charge just isn't enough. This guy needs to be nailed to the wall. One of these fucking child-rapists has to be made an example of. Younger and younger girls are being targeted every day, and all dudes seem to care about is whether or not they'll be able to jack off to porn in their prison cells if and when they do get caught. I'm just going to come out and say it: the law is too soft on men. All you MRA's out there can deny it, but when I see some fucking sicko like Bissonnette do what he did to a child; yes a girl-child, because if it had been a boy, you can bet the charges would be more severe; and face one, measly charge of aggravated sexual assault, I know for a fact that this man won't be punished as severely as he deserves. No dude that commits a crime against a woman or girl ever is. The laws are written and upheld by men who enjoy profiting off of and trading in womens' bodies and lives. That is the currency of the rich, powerful and evil. And as long as you're one or more of those things (being a white male, basically) you can be sure that the court will side with you over the woman or girl you've just abused, raped or killed.
If there's a chance that his victim has not contracted HIV from Bissonnette, I pray for that. AIDS research seems to be making some headway these days, but I don't trust Big Pharma as far as I can throw them. The victim doesn't deserve to have her life stolen in this way. Not by a piece of shit like Bissonnette. He's stolen the rest of her life, even if she doesn't die of AIDS. He deserves to be punished accordingly.
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