Going to law enforcement... and give themselves as favorable circumstances as possible... Being timely enough to conduct a proper investigation, not wait four decades... Don’t wait until the eleventh hour for a Vote of the accused for the highest office he can have, and have an anonymous accusation that is irrefutable... It’s not fair to suggest people take your statement as gospel given those circumstances... Whereas if you push hard and early... not only are people more likely to see you more credibly, but you’re more likely to actually put the guy behind bars through proper investigation...
I didn’t know men can’t be sexually assaulted... I also didn’t know that my gender disqualified my opinion on the issue... Good thing gender is fluid and I can become a woman whenever I want, right...
One of the points of the movement is that they were either ignored for years or were so afraid that they couldn't do that. How does somebody from that environment go back in time and do "the correct" thing? As I pointed out, this thought often goes through rape victims minds. "Was it bad enough to destroy this person?" It is one of the reason women don't report the crime. But this accusation is not anonymous anymore. Again, that requires them to go back in time, pretend that the justice system and society wasn't well setup to deal with the issues in past year, and have the "proper" reaction. That isn't something that can be done. Powerful and rich people were viewed as untouchable on accusations like this. Police handled accusations about the worst way possible (a problem that still exists to some extent, but their procedures were terrible in prior years). A huge number of people looked at such an accusation and wondered what you had done to bring this on (a problem that also has interactions with a variety of other issues, e.g., this was more likely the reaction if the accused was from a "good family," e.g. he was rich, well-educated and, generally, white).
As much as she’s likely suffered... Kavanaugh has and will suffer more, whether she’s right or wrong... Where’s your sense of compassion and empathy for Kavanaugh... She may be lying or wrong, which would make Kavanaugh a victim, and permanently smeared... I get it, maybe she’s telling the truth... but she needs to give us more reason to believe she’s telling the truth... if you’ve already said everything you’re going to say on the matter, sorry... but don’t expect the world to stop and turn 180 degrees for you...
“Was it bad enough to destroy this person.” Yes... Rape is one of the most evil acts someone can commit, no ifs, ands, or butts... That sort of mentality also makes it more difficult to believe... it marginalizes rape, itself... You want people to believe you were raped... act as though the guy is a monster as early as the next day... don’t act like it wasn’t that big a deal for 40 years because you didn’t want to hurt the guy... If the guys a rapist, he’s a monster... act like he’s a monster...
If she is right, then no, Kavanaugh did not suffer more. Sorry. It will show up later in the case if there is reason to believe that this accusation was false. And we will see what happens going forward. Not everything needs to be out on day 1. This will be a process.
Telling a victim of sexual assault how they must react to it to be credible isn't something any person of any gender should be doing. Again, that's one of the reasons we had a MeToo movement. Thank you for reinforcing that some people still don't get it. If you actually talked to people who went through it or read what they had to say about their experiences, you might begin to understand why telling people how they must react to be credible is insulting.
I am explaining the thoughts that go through rape victims' minds. Believe it or not, you don't get to decide their own concerns and their concerns are often not rational to the rest of us. Many rape victims know their rapist. They may have known them for years. They worry about what they did to bring it on. They worry about whether they gave out the wrong signals. And they worry about whether what happened to them was really that wrong (how many 80s comedy movies showed scenes that if you really think about them objectively are actually rape- Revenge of the Nerds comes to mind for one). You are right that rape is heinous. One of the reasons that it is so heinous is the psychological damage that it does. It distorts the perception of reality. It makes people legit worry about their attackers. Talk to rape victims. They are highly heterogeneous in their reactions. If you talk to 10-20, I guarantee that you will find that sentiment if you pull from the true population of rape victims and not just the ones that acted "correctly."
How much you want to bet then when this is all over, we will not be able to confirm nor deny the legitimacy of these allegations? Are you suggesting she didn’t know that when she made this public?
They can feel and think that way... But you can’t change the way we are supposed to react to criminal cases of “he said, she said” because it’s too “painful” to talk about... until of course the accused is on the verge of being on the Supreme Court... then I’ll talk about it... but vaguely enough to make my statement irrefutable... while simultaneously being unverifiable...
You clearly don't get it. They're not trying to avoid hurting the guy. They're not acting like it was no big deal. Just take the time to read what actual survivors have to say: I Didn’t Report Being Sexually Assaulted. Here’s Why. Why I Never Reported My Sexual Assaults 8 Unforgettable Tweets Of Why Victims Don’t Report Sexual Assault | HuffPost We spoke to people about sexual assaults they didn't report | Metro News 'It took me 28 years to report my rape to the police' There are so many more stories out there if you actually care to understand. There are experts explaining why people don't report immediately. Try to understand.
Aren’t you a lawyer? Isn’t it the job of lawyers to tell victims of crimes how they should react to it?
Quite possibly. That is often the case in rapes/sexual assaults. Erica Kinsman was not raped according to the legal system. We will see, but that wouldn't surprise me. She quite possibly did know that. That doesn't make him necessarily the victim. It means that we have ambiguity. Again, we as a society need to learn to deal with ambiguity better. It also doesn't mean that she wronged him by putting him in an ambiguous PR situation. He may have done it to himself. Or not.
The seed has already been planted, whether he did it or not... The damage has already been done in this state of limbo we frequently find ourselves in on these cases... Was it self-destructive to an extent? Yes... But she is also much... much... much... more likely to keep her job than Kavanaugh is to get his...
Well, the legal system can't prove she was raped. The legal system generally doesn't proclaim people innocent or guilty.
So it’s not the job of a lawyer to tell someone what they can do to make their testimony more believable... Dude...
