Is This Rape? Sex on Trial

Every weekend, parties are happening across the UK.

THEY CHEER

But how many of them end up like this?

Emergency. Which service?

I want to speak to the police.

This guy I know, he did something to me.

But what are the rules around sexual consent,

and how much do you know?

Just like old times, yeah?

To find out, we've made a drama.

And we've asked 24 young people to watch it and decide -

is this rape?

His life is going to be ruined for a misunderstanding.

Friends have used those exact words - "She was into it."

He shoved his penis in her mouth.

That is close to rape.

What the actual hell are you people talking about?

It is rape, OK?

It's a unique event and, at the end of it,

we'll know what they think you can and can't do when it comes to sex.

Oh. Shit.

-Keep them coming, guys. Don't be shy.

-Thank you!

This group of 16- to 18-year-olds are on their way

to an undisclosed location,

where they'll watch the drama and debate - is this rape?

We're here, guys!

For the next few days, all their electronics are being taken off them.

They will have no communication with the outside world.

So, what are the rules when it comes to sex,

and what happens when you go to parties?

Every one of your friends has slept with someone,

or done something by this age.

It's the main reason a lot of people have house parties.

That's what a lot of people... That's the reason they go.

It's not to have a drink, enjoy the music, see people.

It's to see if they can pull, take them home

and then tell everyone about it the next day.

It's very common - young men taking advantage of women

while they're drunk and things like that.

I don't think people talk about having un-consensual relations.

If you're friends with someone that has done that sort of thing to

a girl, you don't want to spread it around because you're their

friend, but it doesn't make what they did any less wrong.

I think a lot of guys think it's almost a game.

I don't see it as that, myself. I think that's so wrong.

So, what you're about to see

is the first part of a three-part drama.

It's been created, filmed, written, specially for this show.

So, just to be clear, the drama will be shown in three sections

and after each part, a question will be asked

and the group will get a chance to vote.

In order to find out how differently they react,

the boys and girls are being shown it separately.

-That make sense?

-Yeah.

-Let's watch it.

I thought that! I thought I recognised it!

-What are you drinking?

-MURMUR OF CONVERSATION

I'm not really drinking tonight. I'm just taking it easy.

-Oh, Ali's here. I'm going to see him.

-Oh, sure.

-Finally!

-What's up?

-Oh, you decided to make an appearance.

-Hey! How you doing?

Sorry, I had a few things to do before I got here tonight.

Argh! Bailey's!

Not everyone is a perv like you.

Uh, yeah.

-Hey!

-Hey! Want one?

-Thank you.

-No worries.

-Thanks, Tom.

-I owe you!

-Sorry?

I said I owe you for being late getting here.

We'll call it even.

LOUD MUSIC PLAYS

Oh. Shit.

Sorry.

SHE GIGGLES

Oh, um...

Give us a text, yeah? If you're still on for seeing that movie.

Laters, yeah?

Laters, yeah?

SHE LAUGHS

-All right.

-J is actually upstairs so are you OK on the sofa?

-Fine.

-Love you.

-Love you, too.

-Hey.

-Oh! You still here?

-Yeah, what happened to the music?

-Everyone left.

-Oh.

-What, you fall asleep in the kitchen or something?

-I must have.

Waster.

Hey, Gemma?

Gem?

I'm freezing. Can you budge up?

Gemma?

Get a blanket.

I've checked. I can't find any.

-Gemma? Come on, budge up.

-Fine, just...

..be quiet.

You have fun at the party tonight?

SHE MURMURS

You looked gorgeous.

Thanks.

Do you remember that time? J's Christmas party?

We got off in his little brother's room.

Do you remember that?

Hmm?

Babe, I really need to sleep.

Gem?

Gem?

You looked so good dancing tonight.

Just like old times, yeah?

OK, so, what we're going to be asking the group now is about

whether Gemma agreed to what just happened - the oral sex.

So, the question we're going to be asking is, did Gemma consent?

We're going to go through now to another room.

My role is to be devil's advocate,

to make the group really think about the implications

of the decision they're going to take on whether Gemma consented.

Let's take it from the beginning. So, what happened between them?

-It looked like he put his dick in her mouth.

-OK.

So, at any point, did she say "no"?

-No.

-No, not at any point, no.

-Did she use her hands in any way to push him away?

-No.

-Did she show any signs of any kind of struggle, or anything like that?

-No.

-Did she have her eyes open at one point?

-Yeah.

-She did at one point.

-She had her eyes open?

-Yeah, she did open her eyes.

-Yeah.

-What did you see?

-He raped her.

-Wow.

-Yeah, he did.

There was absolutely no consent,

so it definitely, really, is just single word - "rape".

How do you know there was no consent?

Well, because she was unconscious!

Completely unresponsive.

Just because someone hasn't said

"no", doesn't mean they said "yes" either.

So, you shouldn't just assume they've gone for "yes".

They all instantly presumed he was some kind of weird, psycho predator.

Because I think he was just, I think,

to an extent, he was being led on, wasn't he?

She didn't push him off. She didn't say "no",

and I'm not being funny, but if I had a guy putting his dick in my mouth,

I'd say "no" if I didn't want there!

But isn't there a difference between instigating

the process of having sex, and starting to have sex,

and actually forcing somebody to do something against their will?

And which one did we just see?

From them having something in the past, that does make a lot

of an effect on that because that gives him

the sign to say "we've had something in the past", like,

"if she's smiling at me, then clearly she does like me."

But then, at the same time, it's still wrong.

It's a horrible case of miscommunication.

If she definitely did not want to, she would have pushed him away.

If we're going on percentages, maybe it's like 80-20 or something,

because she's obviously, at some point, allowed him to do this

because she let him into the bed in the end, and she let him

kiss her in the end, and she let him put his dick in her mouth in the end.

So, I suppose, the conclusion,

she's allowed him.

One of the main things I was thinking, Tom,

he seemed just like a normal guy at a party.

That's why I'm thinking... it could have been anyone.

He could have been anyone. Just intoxicated,

at that moment.

Heat of the moment. And he just went for it.

That's the scary thing about it.

I interpreted the fact that she was afraid of him

and afraid of what he would do if she started to resist.

And, like, this submission, it's not a sign of consent, it's just

a sign of weakness and that's perfectly fine.

Like, you're allowed to be weak and, I...

That's just my opinion on it.

Yes, it can be classified as rape, but it's not as, almost,

as bad, or...as some other cases where, for example,

this was only oral sex, not penetration,

but I think because we don't know the whole story,

we don't know what she did to instigate this incident,

but I don't think she's completely innocent.

She did make some signs that could be interpreted as consent.

Do you think, in his view,

he could reasonably take consent from the way she carried on with him?

Yeah, I think so.

Do you feel like what you saw constituted zero consent from her?

-This guy, he needs to go down?

-I wouldn't say zero consent.

I'd say about 80-20.

-Yeah.

-Because she didn't, like, push him away.

Do you think rape would be too strong a term to put on what he did?

-Yeah, I do. It's quite harsh.

-It's harsh.

-But it's close to rape.

-Close to rape?

-Yeah.

At first, I thought, when I watched the video,

I thought "definite rape."

But, then, listening to everyone's opinions,

they just changed my mind,

definitely, because rape's such a harsh word.

I don't really know about all these percentages.

-I just think it's either rape or it's not.

-Yeah.

He put his, like, he put his penis in her mouth and she didn't say,

-"Oh, yeah, go on." I just think that it's rape.

-Yeah.

The guy saw an opportunity and he took it. I mean, it's morally wrong.

-That is wrong.

-Yeah.

I wouldn't want to say rape because that is a strong word.

We can't say this is rape, but we can't say this is 95% rape.

I mean, how horrible is that?

-Seriously, how would you feel...?

-"You haven't been raped enough."

You haven't been raped enough to say that you're raped.

That's an awful thing to say.

No, not at that very moment where he actually went for the sex.

I don't think, at any moment there, there was any consent which he could have thought.

I think he knew that what he was doing was wrong.

At the end of the day, she was awake and she allowed him to do that.

To an extent.

Just like old times, yeah?

The girls get their chance to watch the first part of the drama.

And, remember, the question being asked is, did Gemma consent?

OK, so, we just watched the first part,

the first bit of the drama. What happened? What do you guys think?

-Rape.

-Yeah.

-He shoved his penis in her mouth.

-Did he?!

-Yeah.

-OK.

I don't know whether she wanted it...

but it didn't look like she wanted it.

If she wanted it, she should have given something back.

He was kissing her face, she didn't kiss him back.

She was just lying there like a plank.

-I think that he forced it into her mouth.

-Yeah.

You think he forced his penis into her mouth? OK.

Being awake isn't consent.

Yeah, that's true. You're not going to just shut your eyes and think "It's not going to happen."

Unwanted sexual contact is unwanted sexual contact.

By her not saying no, he then, obviously,

took that as a yes, which is wrong.

-But in his mind, the point is that she didn't say no.

-Yep.

She didn't actually say anything.

Like, she didn't show that she was up for it, but, at the same time,

she didn't do anything to stop it.

So, I think, for that, like, it is,

like, it could be taken as consent.

I personally think it was one of the moments where you're like,

-"Oh, I can't be arsed" but you do it anyway.

-Yeah.

It's wrong, it is wrong, but it's one of those moments where

you're like, "I can't be arsed" but you just do it anyway.

She was giving him mixed signals.

That doesn't give him any right to have done what he did,

but he just got a little bit confused.

He was drunk

and he thought, like, something different of the situation.

It was essentially a girl at a party, after the party,

a man essentially semi-raping her

when she was half asleep.

And, yeah, it was, um...

It's quite disturbing, really.

She didn't say no and, like you said before, it was probably,

it could have just been because she couldn't be bothered to say

"No", which, we've all been in, like, a situation with a boy trying

to force himself on us and you just,

in the end, you just go, "OK, fine, whatever."

They were throwing around really harsh accusations

straightaway that he was raping her and it was all morally wrong,

but, then, if you actually took that into a real-life scenario

and someone gave someone else a blow job at a party,

it's not unheard of, and the fact that they had history together

and they've been seeing in the past,

like, it just, to me, didn't seem bad.

Like, she was just waking up, but it's not hard to just go like that.

It's not hard. Yeah!

You could laugh it off and just be like, "Uh, get off me."

-Like that.

-How can you speak if you've got it in your mouth as well?

-I mean, come on.

-OK, I think we've touched on something important there.

'Looking at the video straightaway, it looked forced to me.'

I'm pretty adamant that that's how it was.

What should she have done, then, to give consent?

-Put her arms around him.

-Yeah.

-Or move. She just lay...

There's a fine line and it was not crossed.

So, yes, it can be perceived by some people as sexual assault.

I'm not saying it was right what, happened,

but I do not think it's sexual assault.

The girl was awake and she didn't exactly consent,

but she didn't say no and it...

I don't think he would even end up in court.

-It was a misunderstanding.

-I think the line was crossed obviously.

No, I'm saying there's a thin line between...

She didn't hold his penis and put it in her mouth, it was pushed.

-It was a thin line between...

-I don't think it was sexual assault,

I think she went along with it, so it's fine.

It has been really interesting hearing what you've all got to say

and it's great that there is a range of opinions.

There's a ballot paper over there, so if you could come up,

one at a time...

'The question they have to vote on is, did Gemma consent?

I was very surprised coming from a female point of view

that they couldn't see the fact that she was a victim in the situation.

Some of the girls were straight up saying,

"He was drunk, you know, she'd kind of led him on,"

and I don't think kind of being friendly

or letting him sleep in her bed was her giving consent or saying,

"Yes, this sexual act can happen."

I felt like a lot of people were a little bit worried,

you know, if they said it wasn't rape, they're going to be shunned

and that's what I felt like people were doing.

That, to me, is an issue because we're here

and we're supposed to be telling people what we think

and if you're going to cover it up, what's the point of being here?

-You write your name...

-Oh, right.

'And here's how the group voted on the question - did Gemma consent?

'13% voted yes.

'54% voted no

'and 33% voted don't know.'

I said that she did consent

because she didn't make any action to move away or to...

She could've laughed it off, she could've been like,

"Stop it, I don't want to." But she didn't, and...

..a lot of people, we all said the same thing,

we all said she didn't give consent

but she didn't NOT give consent, but I came to the conclusion that

that therefore meant that she had consented.

I don't think she consented, so I see it as rape or sexual abuse

because he forced himself upon her.

Even if he misconstrued what she said,

he's still forcing himself upon her, so he's in the wrong.

I don't think she did give any consent,

either verbal or physical, but, at the same time,

I was on the verge of saying I don't know because she didn't...

Equally she didn't give any objection.

Gemma...

Right, now we know how the group have reacted to the first part

of Gemma and Tom's story,

but things are about to get a little more complicated.

We're going to watch the next bit of the drama now, OK?

I'm bringing the whole group together now to watch the second part

of the drama about the sexual encounter between Gemma and Tom.

After watching it, the group will vote on the next question.

-PHONE RINGING

-'Emergency, which service?

-'Hello?

-I want to speak to the police.'

This guy I know, he...

Did something to me.

Mr Morris, tell me about the night of the party.

I wasn't even going out and then I got a text from Gemma asking

if I was heading down so I thought, "Yeah, why not?"

Text retrieved from Ms Selby's phone.

"Hey, party at Amy's, you coming? Gem. Kiss, kiss, kiss."

The two of you had a previous relationship, is that correct?

Yeah, we went out for about three months or something.

Honestly, that's why when I got the text...

I thought she was still interested.

What happened at the party?

Erm... She kept looking over.

My mate Phil, he told me that he'd got with her.

Been bombarding me with texts ever since, though. Proper stalker.

You know what she's like, though.

'I just remember her looking over all night.'

Any time we spoke, our faces were...

..so close, practically touching.

I just kept thinking she wanted to get back together or something.

Ms Selby.

Do you deny Mr Morris' version of events?

I was just having a laugh.

It was a party.

Now, Mr Morris claims that you were close with him all night, intimate.

It was loud. You had to get close to hear anyone.

-But you deny flirting with him.

-Yes.

I don't know. Maybe.

I just flirt, the same as most people.

Just mates, just chatting.

But you did have a previous relationship with Mr Morris.

Well, not a relationship.

We went for a few drinks.

Do you send intimate photos of yourself to everyone you drink with?

This image from Ms Selby's phone sent to Mr Morris via Snapchat.

It was proper early on, it was a joke.

OK. Was this one a joke too?

-It didn't mean anything.

-With images like these,

is it any wonder Mr Morris was under the impression that you liked him?

Now tell me about the previous relationship with Mr Morris.

We never slept together.

There was some, like, touching, I guess.

Kissing.

All the times we ever did stuff...

By stuff you mean sexual.

..I was never into it.

I just... I didn't really fancy him.

It's why I finished it.

Tell me about Mr Morris' friend, Phil.

'Just had a snog, you know.

-'We were both pretty drunk.

-Did you give him oral sex?'

No.

Had the two of you ever had sexual contact prior to that encounter?

Please answer the question.

Had the two of you ever had sexual contact before?

Week before.

We...

Yes.

When he left the party, you must've been very disappointed

and then when he just left, you felt used, angry.

It's not nice being humiliated, is it?

What do you mean?

And then when you saw Mr Morris come out of that kitchen drunk,

you spotted your chance.

Chance, chance for what?

-To pay Phil back for rejecting you.

-No!

You were very happy when Mr Morris came out of that kitchen,

-you were very happy to give him oral sex.

-He made me.

Then why didn't you put a stop to it?

All you needed to say was no, it all would've been very simple.

You could've called out to your friend in the upstairs room.

I don't know...

I just couldn't. I...

I just froze.

Maybe the next day you got worried that when it got around college

that you had been intimate with Mr Morris and his best friend

in a single night, you regretted it.

No, that's not what happened.

Then why did it take so long to report the alleged crime?

It was almost two weeks.

Hasn't this gone on far enough?

You do realise Mr Morris could get a custodial sentence for this.

All over a misunderstanding at a party.

I knew it!

THEY ALL TALK OVER EACH OTHER

The group will vote on the next question...

-First of all, has that changed anyone's mind?

-Nope.

-Yeah.

Or has that reinforced anyone's opinions that they previously had?

-Reinforced it.

-Yeah, I've completely changed my mind.

So, I said that I thought she gave consent and, like,

seeing that, she did not give consent at all.

What are you basing that on?

Well, the fact that she phoned the police, didn't she?

-OK, two weeks later.

-Two weeks...

-Yeah, but she still, like, obviously...

-In shock.

-Yeah.

-Some people...

-So you think...?

It took a year for me to tell anybody.

Pretty much an entire year for me to tell anybody what happened.

-So, two weeks is not that bad.

-OK.

-Like, two weeks is acceptable.

'I've just realised what I've said and it's OK

because I'm willing to open up about what has happened to me

and I'm not afraid to say that I was sexually abused and I was raped.

So, do any of you now feel like, in his head,

he wasn't doing anything wrong?

-Flirting's one thing, but when you put your...

-Member!

..your member in someone's mouth, that's a little bit weird, innit?

No, I think it's just too far. She... You can flirt

and you can flirt and you can flirt, it's not an invitation.

'If it was my friend, I wouldn't call the police.'

But he would be shunned. He'd be gone.

I wouldn't like him as a person, but I wouldn't call the police

because I think...

I think that's the same with everyone, though.

His life is going to be ruined from a misunderstanding.

He didn't set out... Like, if you're a murderer,

if you get prosecuted for murder,

you had the intent to kill someone and you did that.

He didn't have the intent...

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

-You could look at it either way.

-So, what is rape, yeah?

Rape is usually you're intending to actually sexually assault them,

-yeah?

-But he didn't intend to.

He didn't intend, so rape is a big word for it, but it is still rape.

He's not innocent in this case.

There is still a line that's been crossed

whether or not you take it to the extent that he is a rapist.

Now I've realised that she really didn't want that to happen.

I kind of look back to the actual situation and think,

if you really didn't want it to happen that bad,

then you should've said no. And I know that's hard sometimes,

and I know people are going to argue with me,

but the thing is, she's taken it this far when she could've

stopped it right there instead of, like, taking it as far as it's gone.

So, subject of responsibility,

this comes back to the idea of responsibility and blame.

Some of that responsibility you feel does still lie with the girl.

-I think it's responsibility...

-In this case.

-..on both sides.

He thinks that she flirted with him.

That's one side of this story.

She thinks that she was just being friendly,

it was loud so they had to be close.

That's one part of it. But the...

So, that is the misunderstanding bit,

but he did what he did by putting his penis in her mouth, that it is.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

We're going to wrap that up for this session now,

but that was really good again.

You can be at a party and there can be people upstairs having sex

or there can be someone on the sofa, like, kissing and it's just...

You can be kissing someone on the sofa

and I think personally that's saying, "Do you want to have sex?"

Well, not sex but, like, that you're interested in them

and, like, in today's generation that can be a misunderstanding

because just because you're kissing someone doesn't mean that

actually you do want to have sex with them or, like,

a sexual encounter with them just because you're kissing them.

He chose to get in her bed. He chose to start kissing her.

He chose to wake her up

and he chose to sort of unzip himself

and put her in that situation so that is his fault,

it's not her fault.

She'd invited him to the party, they'd been in a relationship before

so they obviously still had a friendship

so I think to that extent...

I just think that...

I don't think it was all him.

The group is obviously really divided about what they think happened

between Gemma and Tom, so what we're going to do now

is bring in some real people to talk about their real life experiences.

We're going to hear from somebody who was accused of rape, OK?

So, I'm going to go and get him and we're going to hear him speak.

'But one of the girls has a problem with being brought face-to-face

'with a man who's been accused of rape.'

He'll tell you all about it.

No, that makes me feel kind of wary because he was accused...

Just the fact that I'm going to bring a guy into the room

who has been accused of rape,

-that's making you feel slightly uncomfortable?

-Yeah.

-Mm-hm.

I didn't know what to do, I don't know where to look.

I felt a bit like, "Oh, my God." That is actually serious.

It's actually like a big thing that has happened,

I didn't think it was like that.

How you doing? Will.

-Yeah, good, nice to meet you, man.

-You too.

-Thanks for...

'Kayode is a businessman who spent three weeks in jail on remand

'after being accused of rape by a woman he met on the internet.

'It went to court, but was thrown out by the judge.

'Even though incidents of false accusations of rape

'are not that common, we've called Kayode to force the group

'to think carefully about the decision they have to make.'

What happened? What were you accused of and how?

Er, 2013, I was accused of...

Falsely accused of rape and kidnap.

'He's been actually accused of something like rape.'

That's massive, that's like...

To me, that's like the worst thing you could ever be accused of -

worse than murder, in my eyes.

So, yeah, I didn't like him at first.

My nightmare started after they charged me

and then they kept me on remand.

So for a brief period, for about three weeks, I was put in prison.

I had to pay £10,000, I was on a tag,

electronic tag, my passport was seized

and I was monitored, you know, I was restricted.

But meanwhile, your whole life starts collapsing around you.

I was subject to media attention, as well,

and my name was out there

and it was very difficult for my family, it was difficult for me.

I had to sort of go into hiding and finances ran dry,

business, it collapsed, you know,

went as far as the banks closed my accounts down, it was just...

It was... I was thrown into the dark age.

I couldn't really focus on my personal life

because I had to focus on my trial,

you know, I was looking at life behind bars.

I would've come out in my 60s, you know, when I got released.

So, it was the focus...

I felt sorry for him.

I felt a bit, like, taken aback.

I didn't think he was going to start crying.

It was really sad and I actually understood what happened,

I actually felt sorry for him,

even though I was totally against him at first. Yeah.

-It clearly doesn't get any easier.

-No.

-I would rather have been accused of murder.

-Yeah.

The trial happened and everything was coming out,

-the truth was coming out.

-The judge literally put a stop to the trial.

Yeah, yeah, it got to the point it was laughable. I didn't rape her.

-Do you understand what I'm saying?

-Yeah, yeah.

Rape is a horrible thing.

I'm all for rapists being punished, I'm all for that -

I'll be the first in line punishing them myself.

But when someone's not done it, why am I being punished?

What would you say was harder, the fact that you might have

faced prison time or that your reputation would be ruined?

Reputation.

It sticks with you, bro. It sticks with you.

Everything that he went through, his business collapsing,

women being afraid to talk to him, him being questioned all the time.

It's very raw stuff.

With something like that, automatically guilty.

Automatically.

I think, naturally, you would just side with the woman,

but hearing it from his side and how it actually impacted on his life,

it was just completely shocking.

When it comes to consent,

do you actively seek some kind of proof of consent?

100%. 100%. I record things, I ask clear questions.

I ask your name, your age, where you live, are you comfortable?

-Are you drunk?

-You record this?

-I record it.

-Right.

I don't want to be like this, but I've been forced to.

-Based on my experience.

-Thank you so much for coming and...

-No, thank you.

..sharing that.

Society tells you that men accused of rape, OK, they've done it.

There's a lot about that, but he showed a different side that's

kind of made me think, then, if I'm making a decision,

if it was a real person, I could ruin their life, basically.

And it really opened up my eyes, yeah.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So has that affected their thinking as they struggle with

the question, "Did Tom believe he had consent?"?

I believe that Tom should be tried for rape.

That man was very unfortunate.

He was accused wrongly of rape, that's terrible. It's terrible.

But Tom, Tom raped.

I think if we could say that Tom could be charged with a sex offence

rather than rape, we would prefer that.

But because it comes under rape, although it is such a strong word,

-it is classed as that.

-OK, OK.

Yeah, I agree with that, but, at the same time, he's going

to be convicted for rape.

Is it fair that he would get the same sentence as someone who

randomly approached a woman, attacked her

and, like, violently raped her?

With the current justice system, the whole thing would fall apart

if you make excuses.

You can't say, "It's not that bad,"

because the next thing's not that bad. You have to draw a line.

If it comes under rape, it comes under rape.

At first I was saying, yeah, 100% rape,

but I would still have to look at both sides.

I'm more understanding to Tom that he would see

it, in his eyes, that he was led on, but it still isn't acceptable,

so I'm still with my point, but it's made me

accept it and understand it more.

We've seen how much it ruined Kayode's life just being accused,

and this Tom, he's only really young and, yeah,

he has done something I believe is morally wrong,

but we've all done things which are bad,

morally wrong, in some situations, and also legally wrong.

OK, OK.

A few people saying beforehand, "Oh, watching the video

"he looked a bit shifty, he looked like he was premeditating it," but

I don't think that at all, he seemed perfectly normal, nice kind of guy.

That's why I would not expect him to have done that at all.

-OK, one at a time.

-I'll go first.

They now have to put themselves inside Tom's head to answer

this question.

And here's how they voted.

I said yes because they'd been in a relationship in the past,

they'd done sexual activity in the past.

He thought that they'd been flirting throughout the night

and she let him into her bed, which, he could think, like,

"Oh, she's letting me in her bed, best make a move,

"don't want to waste an opportunity."

Consent itself is very subjective.

In the way that Tom, the main character,

he didn't fully understand that she was not into it,

she was not up for it and she did not give consent.

I straightaway ticked no.

I don't believe he thought he had consent

because he wasn't completely drunk, he had passed out and woken up.

He looked pretty sober to me.

He'd gone out of his way to wake up the girl,

get in her bed and then start trying to touch her.

For me, as far as I'm concerned,

he knew that there was no consent given.

I said I don't know, because I think that it is there.

I think that things are there for him to think that, but I don't

think he has enough reasons to be completely,

"Yes, she wanted it."

So, on the one hand,

most of the group thought that Gemma didn't consent, which means rape.

But now it's much more confusing for the group because more than

half of them have voted that Tom believed he did have consent.

So where does that leave us?

It's the end of day one.

Tomorrow the group will watch the final part of the story

of Gemma and Tom

and they will vote on the final

question, "Is this rape?"

Sit where you were sitting before.

I've brought the group back to the viewing room to see the last

part of the story.

And, remember, after that, they will be voting on the final

and most crucial question, "Is this rape?"

And now we're going to see the rest, OK?

Mr Morris, I'd like to talk a little bit about the text

inviting you to the party.

Why do you say that it indicated Ms Selby was still into you?

Because of how it was put.

All flirty with three kisses.

Just the same as when we were going out.

You are aware that it was a group text?

Now, I'd like to discuss Ms Selby's flirting.

Isn't it possible that you just misread the signals?

What you perceived as flirting was nothing more than

a young woman enjoying herself?

Perhaps you were upset.

Of what?

About the fact Ms Selby had rejected you.

Is that why you kept on drinking?

No, no, everyone was drinking.

After the party was finished,

what gave the impression that Ms Selby wanted you to sleep over?

Well, because she was fine with me being there.

We had slept in the same bed loads before,

so I just climbed up on the sofa bed.

-Then what happened?

-Erm...

I don't know, we kissed.

Did she kiss you back?

I don't know, I can't remember.

-Did she say anything?

-She didn't say anything like "stop" or anything.

But she didn't do anything to indicate that she wanted you

-to continue?

-She would definitely have said if she wasn't into it.

-What happened after that?

-We moved on.

You moved to get on top of her?

Yeah.

At first, it was awkward, embarrassing.

I thought maybe if I didn't respond, he'd like...

get the message.

Did she say anything?

I don't know, I can't remember.

-Mr Morris, did she respond in any way at all?

-Yeah, maybe.

I don't know. She wasn't upset or anything.

It was all fine.

-She was into it.

-Really?

If she didn't say anything, didn't respond,

how do you know she wanted you to continue?

-Because I was there. I could tell.

-How?

Mr Morris, weren't you still drunk at this point?

Yeah, but not so much so that...

That's when he...

..moved.

She started, you know...

..sucking.

Where were your hands during this oral sex?

Erm, maybe one...

On the back of her neck, yeah?

Where were her hands?

I don't remember. Like, all over me. She was into it.

Again, how did you know?

You know, she didn't exactly stop.

-SHE WHIMPERS

-I just froze.

I wanted it to stop.

How could I make her? It was her mouth, she was the one doing it.

No, she would have stopped.

Mr Morris, one more thing.

You claim that throughout the evening

Ms Selby gave a strong indication that she was still

interested in you and that at no point did you have any reason

to think what occurred was against Miss Selby's wishes.

Hmm?

And yet you sent two text messages to a friend later that morning.

"Mate, got it on with Gem last night. Had better.

"She didn't even do anything."

And an hour later, to the same recipient,

"She wasn't that into it but, hey, party's a party."

Don't these messages show that you knew full well that

Ms Selby did not give her consent?

But you carried on with that sexual act.

Just to please yourself.

Didn't you?

Because you raped her.

Didn't you, Mr Morris?

Now, they will be voting on the final and most crucial question.

As the group tackles the question, it's becoming clear

they think miscommunication lies at the heart of this story.

In that video, he used the words, what was it? "She was into it."

I know friends of mine who have used those exact words.

"She was into it," and the girl's side of the story saying,

"He was all over me, I didn't like it,

"I was trying to push him away,"

but if there are so many guys who are thinking

she was into it when clearly she wasn't, in her opinion,

then how are all the guys supposed to know?

When we were talking about it as girls yesterday,

we're 12 girls, none of us know each other and most of us

said that it had happened to us or we know a girl it's happened to.

-I think that shows how common it is.

-Right.

This is really interesting because if you know people that that's

happened to, then you probably know the people that have done that.

Maybe you've even got guy mates that are all right guys that might

have done similar stuff to that.

Would you say that's true?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Let's just have a general show of hands.

If you've got friends that something similar to that has happened to.

And you know the people that have done it to them...

and those people that have done it to them are maybe your mates.

Some girls don't want to say no

because they don't want to be seen as a prude,

so that's, like, really hard-hitting because you should be able to

say no and not care what other people think about it.

But then, at the same time, boys are like,

"Oh, you're just playing hard to get,"

when really you're like,

"No, I don't want to," and boys think it's a game.

I know people that have been in situations where

they haven't given consent to their boyfriend, even,

for sex for that particular time, but their boyfriend's

gone ahead with it anyway.

And body language, as we've seen in that video,

is not enough consent,

I don't think.

I think, from personal experience, saying no is a really big thing.

Especially if you've got a relationship with someone already.

If it's a friend or if you have had a past relationship with them.

Saying no to someone...

..isn't a must.

But I personally think that if you were with someone, if you were

laid next to someone you cared about and who cared about you...

they would know from your body reactions, how you would sit,

how you would lay, that you wouldn't want it.

You know how we were all saying that we've heard of someone

or we know someone that this has happened to?

As a girl, I don't know about the rest of you, but after watching that

I don't think I'd report it because, like, as soon as a girl is raped

she's asked, like, "What were you wearing, then? You deserved it."

And that's so bad that we live in a society where it's the girl's fault.

Yeah.

It's an interesting point.

Beth, hello, how are you?

'And I'm about to bring in someone with personal experience of this.'

-Thank you so much for coming. You all right?

-You all right?

'Beth was a university student when she says she was raped.'

This is Beth.

-Hi.

-This is everyone.

She went home with a man who she met in a bar on a night out.

She had been drinking heavily with him.

I remember sitting down on his bed, him putting the movie on

and then I passed out and then I remember him on top of me

and I remember saying,

"No, get off me," and trying to move my head away as he tried to kiss me.

Then I passed out again.

And then when I woke up in the morning,

my clothes are on the floor and I just immediately felt sick

and wanted to get out of there.

I sat up, he grabbed my arm, "Where do you think you're going?"

I said, "I'm just going to the loo."

I grabbed my stuff and ran out of the house.

But because everyone had told me before

if you let the guy buy you drinks,

if you're friendly, if you're willing go back to theirs,

it's your fault. You asked for it.

So...I didn't tell anybody.

Eventually...

after a few years, I broke down because I couldn't hold the guilt in any more

and I've had friends say they don't believe me.

Um...

When, eventually, I did tell the police,

they were very kind to me,

but they were very honest about the fact that

I was wearing a short skirt, and I'd been drunk

and I'd gone back to the house willingly -

that's all stuff the defence uses.

They were very honest that that would that mean it probably

wouldn't even go to trial.

And do you think that maybe your attacker...

..he was somebody who was of the opinion that

because you had drinks and stuff

what he was doing was OK?

Undoubtedly. Yeah, um...

He contacted me about a week after to see

if I would go out on a date with him.

Um...

So he had absolutely no idea, really, I don't think,

what he'd done. So...

-Are you all right?

-No.

Are you OK?

I didn't tell anyone...

A lot of it was because I thought it was my fault.

I'm not ashamed of what happened to me.

I know too many girls who this has happened to -

that's why I want to tell people.

-Yeah.

-What happened to me happened quite a long time ago

and the way I see it now is if I can tell my story and not cry,

then I'm definitely closer to being healed.

Does anyone have any questions for Beth?

Would you say you was more embarrassed or scared to tell

the truth to people?

Both. Um...

It was sort of a mixture of the two.

I was ashamed. I was scared that people were going to judge me

and I was embarrassed that I'd let myself get into that position

and that all I was going to hear from people was,

"You shouldn't have done this, you shouldn't have done that."

Um, and I just felt really, really ashamed, like I should have known better.

As the victim, you're being blamed for something that was

out of your control - what does that feel like?

Um... Well, it's been six years now and it doesn't get easier.

Every time someone says to me, "It was your fault,"

or, "You shouldn't have done this,"

it feels like it just happened all over again

and I blame myself all over again and I get upset.

Hopefully, one day, I'll stop feeling ashamed.

Well, thank you so much for coming in and talking to us.

Even though she was raped, and even though other people will try

to say to her, "You shouldn't have been wearing that,

"you shouldn't have been drinking alcohol,

"you shouldn't have gone back to his house," she understands now

that it was not her fault.

-Thank you so much for that.

-That's all right. It's hot in there.

-It's hot in there, yeah.

What was even more disgusting, he didn't seem to think that

it was rape because he tried to contact her,

like, a day after and that made no sense to me

because that is a disturbing thing to do.

Very disturbing.

-Yeah.

-Listen, thank you so much.

-Thank you.

I was holding back tears.

That lady in that room was really brave and I'm glad I met her

because I think what she did today

is going to help a lot of people.

In this case that we've seen...

Emotions are running high as the group struggles with the question,

"Is this rape?"

Some have a serious problem with the term "rapist"

being applied to Tom.

Calling this person a rapist implies that they did it with intent and

they did it with the worst emotions

and I don't think that's what Tom did.

Even though he did rape her, I don't consider him to be a rapist.

If you looked at it as your sister, if they say they've been raped,

you're not going to say to them the person who raped them is not a rapist, because they are.

So we're talking, if he raped her, is he a rapist? The answer is yes.

As much as that is the answer.

Tom is a rapist.

He committed rape, he is a rapist.

But you say the word "rapist" to someone and they think of a vile,

monster of a person and Tom isn't a monster,

he is a boy who did a bad thing,

but he's a boy. He's human.

He's a person, he didn't have evil in his heart.

He wasn't there to debase and devalue Gemma.

Whether or not we need a complete cultural shift of the word "rapist."

What the actual hell are you people talking about?

If someone said to me the person who abused me was not a rapist...

With murder there's manslaughter and things like that,

but rape is different.

Rape is torture.

You're actually torturing someone.

I don't understand how anyone can

verbalise this isn't that bad.

It is... What it is, is, it is rape, OK?

It's time for the group to cast their final vote.

The question, "Is this rape?"

The story of Gemma and Tom, it's all about consent -

did she consent to what happened?

Did he believe she consented?

The group have debated, they've fought with each other,

but now it's time to bring in somebody who can tell them

what the actual legal position is on everything

they've been discussing and voting on.

-How are you doing?

-Yeah, good.

Abigail Husbands is the barrister who helped us devise our drama.

It's based on real-life cases she has prosecuted and defended.

OK, guys. This is Abigail.

So what exactly does a jury have to consider when deciding

whether to convict someone of rape?

Let's go through the case.

Legally, what is the definition of rape?

Well, rape, there are three questions that the jury

would have to...would be told they've got to answer.

Those questions are, firstly,

are you sure in this case that Tom penetrated either Gemma's mouth,

vagina or anus? We know it was mouth in this case.

Tom's not disputing that, he's saying all along,

"Yes, that did happen," so that's not an issue in this case.

Secondly, are you sure that Gemma did not consent?

OK. The idea of consent.

What's important is whether she consented that night to that act.

It doesn't matter how much they've been together beforehand,

it doesn't matter whether she sent pictures on Snapchat,

none of that has a bearing on consent

and whether Gemma consented.

Then, finally, are you sure that Tom did not reasonably believe

that she was consenting?

Essentially, that he didn't believe she was consenting,

just went ahead and did it anyway.

What you've got to look at is what she was doing.

She was doing nothing.

She wasn't responding, she had her arms down by her side,

she wasn't kissing him. She wasn't inviting any of that.

Looking at that, I'd say, no, there was no reasonable belief in consent.

Is there anything that you think conclusively convicts him?

The text messages are pretty damning evidence.

"She wasn't that into it but, hey, a party's a party."

There, he knows when he's writing that text message to his mate.

It might be a bit of bravado, but it goes further than that,

I'd say those text messages,

because it shows exactly what was in his brain straight after that act.

Based on all of that, you think Tom would be convicted of rape?

Yes. Yes.

So they finally learnt that, under the law,

Tom did rape Gemma.

We didn't realise that what happened between Tom and Gemma

would be classed as rape.

A lot of us thought it only applied if there was actual sex going on.

I find him really similar to boys at home that I know,

that have done things like this, and I don't see it as rape.

It's wrong what he'd done and, if there was a different criminal justice system,

then I would say, yes, convict him of rape,

but because of the consequences on a young person's life,

I don't think he should be convicted of rape.

And this is how the group voted on the final question,

"Is this rape?"

So the group has decided that Tom raped Gemma.

Under the law, he automatically faces a seven-year jail sentence,

but some of them are arguing that his punishment is too severe.

I think what he did was wrong.

And I think it was rape, but I still feel sympathy for him

and I agree with the law in calling him guilty,

but, if I'm honest, I don't think he should go to prison.

He deserves a long jail sentence to serve his time.

I don't think it's fair to give them giant jail sentences.

I think it would be counter-productive.

I think he will learn his lesson and he's not likely to reoffend.

So that's why I didn't think he deserves a giant sentence.

You can't brush things off, it's not a case of he's quite nice,

so he can go. He's done this and he has to pay for it.

He's a young boy, it was a mistake,

things like this do happen.

He shouldn't have his life ruined for it.

He could, like, be helped, rather than being shoved in a prison

with murderers.

It is probably one of the most painful things

someone can go through.

Not of it happening, but the after effects.

The years and years of emotional turmoil, that you don't trust

yourself and you don't trust people around you.

That you flinch every time someone comes near you,

it's all of those different things that you need to listen

and understand that it's not fair

what a rapist will do to anybody.

The last few days have seen this group make crucial decisions

around the controversial issues of what is consent and what is rape.

Now we've actually seen it can be normal people,

it can be your friends, it can be people you trust.

That is the main thing which I really think I've learnt.

It is a worry that it's everyday people who can end up doing

what is classed as rape.

I want to tell all my friends to make sure every single person

I know, especially for lads, that, you know, even something

as simple as a misunderstanding can lead to seven years in jail.

Boys AND girls have responsibility to ask each other

constantly, are you sure you want to have sex? Are you sure?

Are you still sure ten minutes in,

are you still sure you want to carry on with this?

I've already questioned myself, have I actually done something

and not known that I've done it?

That boy Tom, he knew what he was doing was wrong,

but he didn't know it was rape.

In the same way that something that we could have done, is it wrong?

Cos...

Hundreds of different possibilities,

what are the chances that 24 people haven't done one of them?