The Court of Public Opinion

[sabotabby]

I'm not going to write a lengthy post about Jian Ghomeshi because a) other people have said it better, b) I'm about to head out and won't be around much this weekend, and c) I actually find it really difficult to read any details about this case and I'm finding it hits too close to home.

I am appalled that less than 100% of the people I know are supportive of the brave women who have come forward. I am appalled that I'm still seeing arguments suggesting that he was fired because he was kinky, or that he is innocent until proven guilty, or  that he should not be tried "in the court of public opinion," when the court of public opinion, i.e., social media, is the only justice any of these women, or any survivor of rape or domestic abuse, will ever know.

But the worst, the worst of all, is the people who are asking why the women didn't go to the police. I can't really deal, not at all, so I'm just going to leave this article, by a former Crown prosecutor, about why women don't go to the police.

Trigger warnings, obviously.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I've, fortunately, mostly seen kinksters condemning Ghomeshi and not wanting to be associated with that shit, which is good. But >0 people seemed to think that the gub'mint was taking away the floggers, including a not-insignificant number of people who aren't kinky but took his statement at face value. But we all knew about the workplace harassment too, which cannot be explained away as consensual kink.

At any rate, now the police are investigating, but it took the media to force them into it, so I still think going to the media/SMS is more effective than going to the police. Preaching to the converted, I know.