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"\n\tAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\t\n\n\n\nRemember that first sex scene in The Way We Were during which a passed-out Hubbell Gardner has brief sleep sex with K-K-K-Katie Morosky? Yeahhh, this brand of \"sexsomnia\" (spoiler alert: in real life it's not so romantic) has been an increasingly prominent defense for rape cases in Europe since 2007.  Is there such a thing as \"sexsomnia,\" and if so, how many of the so-called cases are actual examples of the condition versus excuses to get away with sexual assault scot-free? It's hard to know, since so little is still known about it... and we're not learning more with any kind of intensive research, but we keep acquitting anyway.Over in Denmark, a 31-year-old man has just been acquitted of molesting two 17-year-old girls after a house party by virtue of his previously \"unrecorded\" sexsomnia. While doctors later officially diagnosed him, his unblemished history with the condition sounds a little fishy to me.The other sexsomnia-based acquittals are also rather unsavory: Back in 2007, a man was acquitted for molesting an 8-year-old girl, and in 2011 a man was acquitted for raping a sleeping woman. That same year, a neurology professor spoke to the Daily Mail about the very real circumstances of the condition: \"At this time, the cortex \u2014 the thinking, planning, awareness part of the brain \u2014 gets switched off. But the brain stem, the part responsible for the basic urges like the drive to eat or have sex, is still working.\" It mostly affects men.The neurologist adds that from a legal standpoint, sexsomnia is (ostensibly) hard to fake in court: \"'To convince a jury, there usually has to be evidence of three things... First, that the defendant has previously suffered from parasomnias. Second, the act hasn't been planned or sought out. And finally, there is no covering of tracks afterwards, because if they're truly a sexsomniac, they will have no recollection of the incident and won't need to come up with excuses.\" But as you can see above, the whole \"previous parasomnias\" clause doesn't seem to be pertinent in many of these acquittals. Plus, as a sexsomniac who's aware of his condition, wouldn't you think to give people you're sleeping near, oh, I don't know, a heads-up? The same way the husband in this Daily Mail piece did? So your bedmates know there's a possibility of getting violated while catching some Zs next to you? Just saying, a reallllly convenient way to avoid prosecution is to inform everyone of the risks.Follow Anna on Twitter: @annabreslawPhoto via Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a12420/sexsomnia-real-or-rape-excuse/>