Mr Assange is holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after claiming political asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning on sexual assault allegations. He fears he would be extradited from Sweden to the United States to face charges over WikiLeaks.
Mr Galloway was condemned for his comments by women's rights groups, who said he was misrepresenting the law on rape and could prevent women coming forward. The Bradford West MP said: "Even taken at its worst, if the allegations made by these two women were true, 100% true, and even if a camera in the room captured them, they don't constitute rape. At least not rape as anyone with any sense can possibly recognise it. And somebody has to say this.
"I mean not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion. Some people believe that when you go to bed with somebody, take off your clothes, and have sex with them and then fall asleep, you're already in the sex game with them. It might be really bad manners not to have tapped her on the shoulder and said, 'do you mind if I do it again?'. It might be really sordid and bad sexual etiquette, but whatever else it is, it is not rape or you bankrupt the term rape of all meaning."
A spokeswoman for Rape Crisis commented Mr Galloway was factually incorrect. She said: "Having had consensual sex with a woman once does not give a man licence to then have sex with her again at any time and in any way he pleases and assume consent is given. "By the same token, having had consensual sex with someone once does not mean a woman has forever forfeited her right to withdraw or refuse her consent to further sex with that person. Sex without consent is rape. Mr Galloway's description of such sexual violence as 'really bad manners' is offensive and deeply concerning."
A supporter of Mr Assange later sparked anger by appearing to name one of the alleged victims on BBC 2's Newsnight. Craig Murray said: "I think incidents which are dubious themselves as to what has happened, and Julian Assange has denied the accusations against him, are being seized on as a political agenda." Mr Murray named an alleged victim, claiming the name was in general circulation, but was challenged by host Gavin Esler.
Respect leader, Salma Yacoob, was unavailable for comment - tweeting "I am currently being a birth partner in hospital. Have not had chance to see blog/vid that sm ppl [some people] are asking for a response.Will do so later" 19 hours later Ms Yacoob is still to respond publicly to Mr Galloway's comments.
Kate Hudson, Respect candidate for the Manchester Central by-election tweeted "My position is clear: rape occurs when a woman has not consented. Yes means yes and no means no. This is what we women have fought for." In response to Labour councillor Ben Cooper who said "time to leave Respect?" Ms Hudson said "No. Time for everyone to fight the struggle against women's oppression and violence against women".
