The rabbis question whether or not a minor girl can receive the fine if she is raped. Since she is only forbidden as a secondary relative - by rabbinic rather than by Torah law - perhaps she is not entitled to damages. The Gemara discusses a dispute between Rabbi Meir or Rabbi Yehuda regarding the status of minor girl.
Rabbi Meir holds that two pubic hairs at the age of 12 signifies a change from katana minor girl, to bogeret, adult woman. Rabbi Yehuda says that there must be more black than white; that a girl's pubic hair is more voluminous (today's shaved bogrot would baffle the Sages, no doubt). The Gemara considers past rulings of each rabbi, including whether or not a ketana is entitled to refuse her marriage (when married off by her mother or brother after her father has died).
Next, the rabbis ask whether or not an aylonit, a sexually underdeveloped woman, is entitled to the fine if she is raped or if she is seduced. One baraita says that an aylonit, an imbecile, and a woman who is deaf and mute have a claim to fines regarding their virginity. Another competing baraita is introduced, as well. This baraita says that grown women, women with torn hymens because of intercourse, imbeciles and women who are deaf and mute do not hold credibility regarding claims of virginity. The Gemara questions when the rape might have taken place, before or after the betrothal We learn that the rabbis should follow Proverbs 31:8, "Open your mouths for the mute", and they should believe and advocate for those women who's voices are not heard.
It is worth mentioning why the rabbis believe that a blind woman should not be believed when she claims that she was a virgin and her virginity is questioned. Like all girls, she might have fallen earlier and broken her hymen. But unlike all girls, she would not have seen blood and asked her mother for help. The rabbis assert that blind girls would not know about the bleeding because of their blindness. This incredible ignorance regarding the experience of being in a woman's body is telling. Must a man see blood to know that he has cut his penis and it is wet with blood and painful? Blind women are not immune to pain, nor do they ignore the feeling of blood flowing from an injury.
The rabbis move on to women who leave their husbands due to bad reputations; they are not entitled to fines for rape or seduction, either. The rabbis try to determine what this is about - rumours regarding sexual relations in her youth; the stoning of an adulteress? We learn from notes that rumours are ignored, but witnesses are not. If two witnesses say that they were propositioned by this woman, she is assumed to be a non-virgin. These guidelines are compared with those of forgery.
A new Mishna details those whose fathers get no fine if they are raped or seduced: a convert, a emancipated captive woman, and a redeemed gentile maidservant who were converted or freed when they were older than three years and one day. The assumption is that they must have had sexual intercourse. Rabbi Yehuda argues that the captive woman might still be a virgin. Girls and women who were raped by their father, grandfather, step-father, or step-grandfather. This is because the perpetrator is liable to the death penalty and thus he does not pay a fine. The proof text is stated in this Mishna: Exodus 21:22, "And yet ho harm follow, he shall be punished".
Rabbi Dosa agrees with Rabbi Yehuda regarding the woman taken captive. The Arab who has captured her does not have intercourse with her. Instead, he "squeezes" between her breasts, we are told. Is this a known fact about "Arab" sexual practices? Rabbi Dosa asserts that intercourse does not take place and thus a captive woman should be allowed to marry into the priesthood. However, teruma may be permitted, but even Rabbi Dosa agrees that she is not entitled to the fine. The burden of proof is hers, and without witnesses she cannot prove that she is still a virgin.
Our daf ends with our rabbis speculating on why one might redeem a captive woman. Does he want to marry her? Should he be permitted to marry her? Why redeem her if he was not interested in marriage? Might he purger himself as a witness to facilitate their marriage?
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