Trudeau-appointed Supreme Court justice opts for 'person with a vagina' rather than 'woman' in rape case

Leftists captive to radical gender ideology routinely engage in mental gymnastics in order to reference the very immutable realities they seek to undermine.

The Biden administration replaced the term "mother" with "birthing person" in a public health section of a 2022 budget. Rather than use the word "woman," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) opted instead for "menstruating people."

It appears social constructivism has had a similar impact north of the border.

A Trudeau appointee on the Supreme Court of Canada recently took issue with a lower court's use of the word "woman." According to Justice Sheilah Martin, it would have been less confusing for an officer of the court to refer to a female rape victim — in a case that was not involving transvestites or non-straights — as a "person with a vagina."

Critics have roundly ridiculed the Canadian high court over its embrace of woke language conventions, especially when dealing with a case as serious as rape.

Background

The court took up two separate and unrelated rape cases linked only because the "Court of Appeals overturned the convictions on the basis of alleged errors of law in the trial judges' credibility and reliability assessments."

According to the Court of Appeals, the "trial judges erred in law by making assumptions about human behavior not grounded in the evidence."

One of the cases concerned Christopher James Kruk's rape conviction. Kruk reportedly found a woman "intoxicated, lost, and distressed one night in downtown Vancouver." He took her to his house where he claimed she spilled water on herself then passed out with her pants around her ankles. The victim testified that she woke up to find herself in a state of undress with Kruk actively violating her.

The trial judge stated, "[The complainant's] evidence is devoid of detail, yet she claims to be certain that she was not mistaken. She said she felt [Mr. Kruk's] penis inside her and she knew what she was feeling. In short, her tactile sense was engaged. It is extremely unlikely that a woman would be mistaken about that feeling."

The Court of Appeals indicated that the trial judge in Kruk's case erred in concluding that it would be unlikely a woman would be mistaken about the feeling of being raped.

'Engender[ing] confusion'

The Canadian Supreme Court overrode the Court of Appeals and upheld the original conviction at trial in its Friday ruling.

While Justice Martin agreed the trial judge's "conclusion was grounded in his assessment of the complainant's testimony," she took issue with his language.

Martin wrote that the trial judge's choice "to use the words 'a woman' may have been unfortunate and engendered confusion."

The judge, a former recipient of the YWCA's Advancement of Women Award, made sure to use her preferred turn of phrase in the same section, writing, "Where a person with a vagina testifies credibly and with certainty that they felt penile‑vaginal penetration, a trial judge must be entitled to conclude that they are unlikely to be mistaken."

The female justice did not appear to provide any explanation for why the word "woman" might create confusion in a case concerning a man's alleged rape of a woman. However, it has been suggested she may have been attempting to address what she called "an improper generalization" between women in general and the victim.

Nevertheless, the Trudeau appointee's use of the term "person with a vagina" is the first such usage in a Canadian judicial decision, reported the National Post.

Following the Friday decision, the high court and Martin, a "person with a vagina," were roundly ridiculed.

Conservative parliamentarian Melissa Lantsman responded to the ruling, writing, "No, there is nothing confusing about the word 'woman,' it's common sense. It's not hateful, bigoted, wrong or unfair in anyway. This is just complete nonsense that moves nothing forward. It's not 'progress.'"

The X user Wall Street Silver wrote, "Everything ok up there Canada? We are sort of worried about you guys."

Libs of TikTok tweeted, "RIP Canada."

The Toronto Sun highlighted that two days after the ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada posted a possibly confusing message to social media honoring female judges.

"March 10, we celebrate International Day of Women Judges, which recognized the importance of the full and equal participation of women at all levels of the judiciary," said the post, which featured an image of Martin.

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