A question of consent

In 1993, a fascinating courtroom drama unfolded in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, as defense attorneys portrayed a mentally retarded rape victim as a seductress and her four rapists as regular all-American boys. The lawyers went on to explain how the teenagers had made an excusable mistake in sexually assaulting the young woman with a succession of foreign objects. Among those who witnessed this drama unfold was author Peter Laufer, whose A Question of Consent provides a full account of the case and the troubling questions it raises. Laufer complements his personal observation with extensive interviews, deep examination of documents and accounts related to the crime, and wide-ranging exploration of the issues that surround it. The Glen Ridge case is symptomatic of ills that plague our society. By exposing the ways mainstream mentality enables rationalization of sex crimes, A Question of Consent raises chilling questions about the sexual mores of late twentieth-century America.