Overturning a previous rape conviction, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Rome, Italy decided that “Carmine,” a 45 year-old driving instructor, could not have raped his 18-year-old student… because she wore jeans.

Yeah, we are being serious here.

Carmine had originally been convicted in Potenza for a term of 34 months (or nearly 3 years) in jail, but appealed the ruling stating that the sex was consensual. Rosa, the 18-year-old woman who brought the charges against him, denied that the sex was consensual. Surprisingly it Rosa’s jeans were the turning point of the case.

The Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to remove a pair of jeans “without the collaboration of the person wearing them”, and that the young woman must therefore have consented to sex.

Perhaps the sex was consensual and Rosa simply felt regret or remorse. The fact that she was wearing jeans should not even play a role in the case, particularly in these circumstances. He was her driving instructor, and he could have abused his power of authority or used threats and coercion to have what he wanted. Lastly, we are not so sure that you need to either a) take off a person’s jeans entirely to rape them or b) have their help to take off said jeans. Neither of those statements ring true, and the Italian Supreme Court’s basis for their ruling seems tenuous at best.

The most frightening part of the news piece is the fact that driving instructors in Italy apparently have a reputation for molesting young female pupils. Whether or not this stereotype is deserved is not easy to be determined, but cases like this surely do not help their case. This ruling reminds us a ruling passed by the Italian courts just a few weeks ago, in which a man’s sentence for engaging in sexual relations with an underage girl was dramatically lessened because of the perceived existences of “real love.”

As Jerry Seinfeld would eloquently state, “What is the deal with Italian judges and females?”

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