When does "no" mean "no"?

This is wholesale copying. I need to think about both sides for a bit, so I'm sticking it here. I'm on the look out for a far left and a far right argument largely free of ad hominem attacks, so if anyone reading this knows of one please leave a comment.

From New Republic Online
"NO" DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN NO; TIME TO AGREE ON A PHRASE THAT DOES: Right now there are only two people in the world who know if Kobe Bryant is guilty; will there always be only two people who know?

( Because rapes happen in private )

From Dahlia Lithwick:
"No means no" is still a pretty good rule.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Friday, October 10, 2003, at 3:12 PM PT

In a preliminary hearing this week in Eagle, Colo., the details of Kobe Bryant's alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman were recounted on the stand. Bryant's accuser, speaking through the police detective who met with her after the alleged assault, indicated that she said "no" at least twice over the course of the encounter. Today, Gregg Easterbrook suggests that the problem is that the word "no" is just not strong enough to signal that a rape has taken place. Why? Because, according to Easterbrook, "no" has come to mean "yes." As he observes (doubtless with the empirical evidence to back it up), "Maybe half the sex in world history has followed an initial 'no.'"

( I'm guessing it's closer to 80 percent, but that still makes it rape, doesn't it? )

From Eugene Volokh:
[Eugene Volokh, 10:55 AM]
What does "no means no" mean? Gregg Easterbrook and Dahlia Lithwick debate the "no means no" question in rape. I think that Dahlia's piece is closer to the mark; but what puzzles me in a lot of these discussions is the ambiguity in what the discussants themselves mean by "no" (and thus "no means no"), which can lead either to the parties talking past each other, or sometimes to inconsistency in a party's own argument.

( I would think that both Lithwick and Easterbrook would agree  )

Teh Gay vs. Teh Sex

Today constitutes an experiment. A few days ago I posted about teh gay and teh sex; I realized afterward that it could be teh sex that attracted all of the quick comments, so today I have a long treatise on teh sex in order to test this hypothesis. If you all post a lot, I will erroneously conclude that teh sex causes you all to write on the internet. Since we all know this is true, post soon and post often!

Single Skeptics: "While many do dream of the perfect white dress, lots of women have other things on their mind. With their own wage packets, wide circle of friends and hectic social lives, for women the single life has never been more attractive."

This whole thing taps into a pet peeve or mine, so I'm going to indulge a little. What's wrong with wanting to stay single??? Did I miss the day when girls had to sign the "I want a fairytale wedding with a huge white dress, a twenty carat diamond engagement ring, 2.4 kids, and a good provider" contract? Now I will admit to several wistful dreams of future marriage and love, not to mention future children, but I'm not living my life geared toward picking up the things "necessary" to do so - namely, a husband. ( Read the rest of the rant )

--On a similar note, Queen's University in Belfast replicated a 1997 British longitudinal study that correlated number of orgasms with health in men. The population studied is middle aged men; one hopes studies on other populations will be forthcoming (including, oh I don't know, women?). However, men, don't get too excited; unlike women, other studies have found you can have too much sex.

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The Other People, an anti-Chick tract. And since I'm linking to tracts, here are Chick's Tracts. Interestingly, Chick encourages you to print out his tracts and spread them far and wide, but the pagans want to get paid for making the tracts. Eeeeeeeenteresting.

Jet Blue may pimp out their customers to the government, but at least their hold music is nice. Unfortunately, their hold "pithy comments" are annoying. Being on hold is like being held by a significant other my ass.

The government is sending out official letters about how well things are going in Iraq. Unfortunately, they decided to sign them with the names and signatures of actual soldiers, hoping no one would notice that the content is the same. Are they smart enough to be leading us? They're getting pretty damn dumb.

My co-worker came past an attempted to tape me to my desk and the phone while I was trying to transfer someone to the person they called for. I was hard pressed to not laugh aloud over the phone. G.!!! I hate you! If only you didn't make me laugh so much!

This is oddly appropriate.

Jane Eyre from Charlotte Bronte's novel of the same
name.


Which Heroine of Victorian Fiction Are You?
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