Today in Rape Culture

[Content Note: Descriptions of sexual assault; victim-blaming.]

On Friday night, two suburban Chicago firefighters were arrested after trying to rape an incapacitated woman at a party. Here is what happened, according to Assistant State's Attorney Bridget O'Brien:

Haas and Buhle were at a party early Friday morning at a home on the 3900 block of West 109th Street in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood. The victim and her boyfriend were visiting from out of town and didn't know Haas or Buhle. The woman had too much to drink and her boyfriend took her upstairs to lie down in a bedroom. He stayed with her for a while then left the bedroom door open and went back to the party. Haas and Buhle allegedly told the other guests they were leaving and went upstairs. Later, the victim's boyfriend went to check on his girlfriend and found Haas standing in front of the now-closed bedroom door.
The boyfriend opened the door and allegedly saw Buhle in a "push-up stance" on top of the victim. Buhle's pants were down and the previously clothed victim was naked from the waist down. The boyfriend screamed and Buhle tried to flee, but he was caught and detained until police arrived and arrested him in the early morning hours Friday.

And here is what happened according to the accused rapist:

Buhle told police the victim "had been making eyes at me," and had invited him upstairs. He also told police she had removed her own pants.

I have previously observed that no one is more intimately familiar with the rape culture, and how to exploit it to his advantage, than a rapist. Here, despite a witness and a party full of people who detained him because they knew he had tried to rape an unconscious woman while his friend stood guard at the door, Buhle still works the same old rape apologia: She was asking for it; she wanted it; she consented with her eyes. And when she asserts otherwise? Just another case of He Said; She Said.

No one works the rape culture like a rapist.

Fortunately, it doesn't sound like Assistant State's Attorney Bridget O'Brien is inclined to let him get away with it.

[H/T to Jordan.]