Years ago, a slight acquaintance of mine was caught committing a heinous act of revenge porn. The law hadn’t caught up with technology at that point, and he got away with no criminal charges. The most bizarre part, for me, was another acquaintance — a woman — defending him as someone who’d merely “made a mistake” and shouldn’t have his life ruined over it.
I was reminded of this a few days ago, when actor Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life for drugging and violently raping two women (the jury deadlocked regarding a third). Among the friends who sent the judge letters of support were Ashton Kucher and Mila Kunis, board members of Thorn, an anti-trafficking organization. They issued an excuse-filled nonpology when hit with a publicity backlash, and have now resigned from their positions with Thorn.
Everyone’s outraged by harassment and rape — until the harasser or rapist turns out to be their friend, family member or favorite celebrity. Often this is true even with people who should know that predators will groom a circle of people to vouch for them. Alyssa Royse participated in Slutwalk & other anti-rape activism — but when her friend raped an unconscious woman, Royse set about straw-grasping for reasons to blame the victim. Similarly, Brock Turner’s rape of an unconscious woman could be the textbook example of “legitimate rape,” but a female friend of his wrote to the judge to insist that it was “a huge misunderstanding.”
On a smaller scale, Luis Rubiales finally resigned as president of the Spanish Football Federation after forcing an unwanted kiss on player Jennifer Hermoso. Rubiales’s mother had been supporting him with a very public hunger strike.
As always, this diary is a group effort. Thanks for elenacarlena, mettle fatigue, SandraLLAP, and the WOW crew for links and discussion.