Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2017 15:04:16 GMT
You're a good man Rey, but I don't think I would be quite so quick to be judgemental about these people who didn't come forward.
Earlier in this thread I made a 'stolen bike' analogy, which I realise was crass, but there was a serious point behind it. I don't think it is that easy walking into a police station to report a crime or make an allegation, especially when there is little or no evidence except for your word. And especially when you feel you might be partly to blame (like I was when I didn't lock my bike up), then you feel you'll be the joke of the cop shop if you walk in there and tell them what an idiot you've been. It would be humiliating, and women who have been raped have to go through the extra ordeal of having their genitals poked around with.
And also, there are a few people in this thread who seem to be taking "their career (or future career) could be ruined" thing quite lightly. I dunno, but I think if you were in two minds over whether to report something to the police in the first place, and knowing that your career might well be left in tatters if you did so, I think that would be enough to sway you into the "not going to the police" camp.
I'm reminded of the harrowing stories either earlier on this year or last year of the mountain of ex-footballers who came on British television tearfully making accusations against some specific coaches who abused and raped them when they were teenagers. Almost all of them said the same thing, first of all they froze when the abuse started, then they thought they wouldn't be believed if they did tell someone, and even if they did come forward they knew their careers would likely be ruined. It is interesting, that no one blamed these guys for thinking of their careers, no one blamed them for not coming forward, and there wasn't even a murmur that any of them were making it up (to be honest, it would be impossible not to believe them, they would have to be the greatest actors of all time if they were making it up!).
Okay, we can say it might be different for guys who are abused, that it might be harder to come forward, but I doubt it would be easy for anyone to come forward. And I'm not saying that every person who comes forward is telling the truth, of course there are false accusations, too many, and even when the accusations are essentially true there might be a temptation to lie about certain events to cast yourself in a better light. But the legal process is there for a reason, and we can't drop the standard of proof just to get more convictions, as we don't want innocent people going to prison, so there is no way round it unfortunately so a lot of men are going to get away with it. I mean you look at Donald Trump, the recorded tape admissions of grabbing pussies and sneaking into women's dressing rooms alone should have been enough to finish any politician, but now he is the President of the United States. So that shows how seriously certain people are taking sexual assault. Large segments of the population actually.
And also, I do think it is a different world today compared to just 20 years ago. 20 years ago I was a teenager at school, and we used to have these one hour lessons once a week, where we'd go over sex education, safe sex, drugs, bullying, all that kind of shit, and I'm pretty sure the headline back then was rape was when a women said 'no'. That definition has clearly changed somewhat in the past 20 years, both legally and in most people's perceptions, so if you were a woman who was abused or raped 20 years ago, and you were one of those who just froze, like the boys did in the football coach allegations, I think you might have been a little less forthcoming in coming forward.
Anyway, sorry, look at Stan getting all serious on a Friday afternoon, tl;dr etc.