Discussion
  • Read More
    knopeisdopeAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:36am

    I am so gutted.

    Judge literally said “We need to fight the stereotype that all sexual assault complaints are truthful.”

    Kill me, please.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      wafflesfriendsworkknopeisdope
      3/24/16 11:43am

      THAT is the stereotype he thinks is at play here?? I don’t think he knows as much about this shit as he thinks he does.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Fizziksknopeisdope
      3/24/16 11:48am

      Yup

      GIF
      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Ken YadiggitAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:40am
    GIF

    WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK that’s it, it’s vodka for lunch today.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      thetallblonde loves twinjaKen Yadiggit
      3/24/16 11:48am

      placing my lunch order now:

      GIF
      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      AntisocialJusticeWarrior is not Anti-SJWKen Yadiggit
      3/24/16 11:49am

      That is exactly the gif I was looking for. I am fuming.

      Also I’ll be joining you on the lunch front. Fucking cheers. :/

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    thakostyAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:52am

    Judge: “there is no tangible evidence, dna, smoking gun, just the testimony of the women”.

    The ‘just’ in that sentence really gets me. Like it’s so inconsequential that three different women on three separate occasions had these experiences.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Sprochetethakosty
      3/24/16 12:02pm

      Yeah, cause who can trust the testimony of a woman, much less several women who are obviously in cahoots.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      BabyGotFrontthakosty
      3/24/16 1:06pm

      It seems what he meant to saw was that their case relied wholly on witness testimony and the credibility of the witnesses had been badly damaged by their reporting to the police and to the Crown only selective peices of information.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    cheezussavesAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:39am

    I want to set everything on fire.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Jessiecheezussaves
      3/24/16 11:58am

      Start in Toronto.

      I swear if the CBC hires him back I won’t pay my taxes... Unless the CRA is reading this right now... in which case of course I will be paying my taxes because I don’t like jail.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ThidrekrJessie
      3/24/16 12:01pm

      The CBC already made a statement that they stand by their decision to fire him.

      In light of the ruling, CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson says it is “unrelated to our decision to end Jian Ghomeshi’s employment with the CBC,” back in October 2014.

      “Based on evidence that came to our attention, his actions were not in line with the values of the public broadcaster nor with our employee code of conduct.”

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    crucifictorious916Anna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:38am

    As usual, women pay the price for sex. As usual, men can beat and denigrate women but the women are the ones who are on trial. Fuck this judge, fuck the media, and especially fuck that asswipe Ghomeshi.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      StaceyMcGillcrucifictorious916
      3/24/16 12:07pm

      I wish I had it in me to be angry. Instead I find I am tired. I hope these women feel some small sense of peace knowing how many conversations about victim blaming are occurring today that wouldn’t have otherwise taken place. I hope they know that even if they didn’t get the verdict they wanted, in the future there will be friends and parents and administrators that take a girl or woman’s sexual assault complaint more seriously than they otherwise would have because they remember how outraged they were when a bad guy won because women weren’t the right kind of victims.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      durkbotcrucifictorious916
      3/24/16 12:14pm

      Clearly a woman can’t have been assaulted unless she’s crying and whimpering in the witness stand. And everyone knows that if a woman gives consent once, that covers every sexual encounter between her and a man, even retrospectively.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    michaeljacksonsavatarAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:42am

    I wish they felt supported enough to be completely forthcoming. The Crown could have easily brought expert witnesses to explain why the women's behaviour afterwards in contacting him was not unusual. I feel like the judge actually believed them but his hands were tied because they lied on the witness stand. And if you lie on the witness stand your credibility is shot.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Righteous Indignationmichaeljacksonsavatar
      3/24/16 11:59am

      They did have someone report on the nature of memory and why it’s possible that retelling of events from 10+ years ago may be skewed.

      I watched the 70 minute live blog of the judge’s acquittal and he also said that how a victim behaves after an attack is not on trial here... and then proceeded to discredit the victims based on what they did after being attacked.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      HadrianoRighteous Indignation
      3/24/16 12:08pm

      was he discrediting them based on what they did after or discrediting them based on lying about what they did after? The thing is, when caught in a lie whether in the US or Canada, your testimony is basically all considered suspect. If that is all you have, there is no way legal to convict even if you personally believe them.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    BurlyqLawyerAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 1:06pm

    “Horkins: They said they wanted to ‘sink the prick’ because ‘he’s a fucking piece of shit.’”

    I’ve said it once and I will keep saying it. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO WANT/HOPE BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO THE PERSON WHO RAPED YOU.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      GunshineAndPainbowsBurlyqLawyer
      3/24/16 1:40pm

      RIGHT? They’re portraying it as if a coven of witches was plotting to take down an innocent, hitherto unknown man ... when really two victims were just trying to fucking figure out how to make their rapist pay for what he did to them!! The scheming whores!

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      secretagentmanBurlyqLawyer
      3/24/16 8:24pm

      You are right. You should also be completly forthcoming with the prosecution so they don’t get sandbagged when you’re confronted with your lies on the stand.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    CliffordGLAVIN!Anna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:59am

    He obviously did it, and he’s obviously a piece of shit, but witness credibility is actually important in he said/she said cases, and Crown prosecution dropped the ball fucking hardcore on this one.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ad infinitumCliffordGLAVIN!
      3/24/16 12:46pm

      I understand the verdict. It doesn’t make it any less infuriating or appalling that the judge decided to use the verdict to editorialize that the real problem is that every once in awhile, rape victims are treated like victims in every other crime and not automatically assumed to by lying whores.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      CliffordGLAVIN!ad infinitum
      3/24/16 12:51pm

      100% agree - what a bucket of shit.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 11:44am

    Why do they require a 2nd separate trial for the 4th woman? I’m curious why she wasn’t included in this one.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      usedtobehereJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      3/24/16 11:52am

      Don’t know offhand, but maybe it’s a good thing that the 4th woman goes separately. Maybe the judge in that case will deem her “a good enough victim”. I’d rage, but reading the verdict livestream just left me feeling sapped. Why should we even bother reporting? It doesn’t seem to matter what we do. Justice is rarely in our favour.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      WhoatemarykateJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      3/24/16 11:52am

      This trial was for the women that came forward after he was fired from the CBC. The second trial is for the employee that first complained about sexually assualting her. The first person to complain to CBC formally and to the police.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    mizchanandlerbongAnna Merlan
    3/24/16 2:23pm

    Why did the woman carry on with additional sexual contact with him? Is there any evidence he was threatening/coercing her into it? Is it Stockholm syndrome? Did she feel like she somehow “owed” it to him? I’m genuinely curious about why the victim would continue to engage with him after the fact.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Mimblemizchanandlerbong
      3/24/16 2:53pm

      Just my experience here, so not to be taken as a blanket statement for all women, but in my case the assault was at the hands of a boyfriend with whom I’d had consensual sex before.

      After the assault, I really didn’t want to believe that he was capable of hurting me on purpose. I genuinely didn’t understand how someone who claimed to love me and value me as a person could one day turn on me - but he did. And to avoid the conclusion that he was a piece of hot garbage, I stayed. I hoped that maybe it was just something I’d misinterpreted and that it was just all in my head. I wanted things to go back to the way they were before, I wanted to be able to go forward and silence the nagging voice in my head that was trying to tell me something was horribly wrong. It was easier to go on than to face the truth that my supposedly lovely boyfriend was someone capable of rape.

      Some of it was also a sort of gaslighting on his part: he acted like nothing bad happened, so I wondered if it had really been that bad. Maybe I just hadn’t understood his intentions, maybe if I’d been more in the moment, more turned on, more present with him, then I wouldn’t have seen it as an assault, but just some bad, and rather painful sex.

      I look at that thought process now and think, “Oh, you poor girl, that is not how good and consensual sex works. Not even a little.” But then, I wanted to be normal, I wanted things to be as they had been, so I lied to myself. I stayed with him.

      I was 18 when that happened, and I was nearly 20 before we broke up, and turns out he was not lovely at all. I finally ended it, and he stalked me at school. I nearly had to involve the police after he tried breaking down my dorm room door.

      Not sure if this helps your understanding about why women who have been assaulted stay with, or sleep with their attackers after the fact, but...there you go.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Amity Lassitermizchanandlerbong
      3/24/16 3:39pm

      Women have so many reasons for interacting with those who have abused or assaulted them after the fact, and none of them mean that it didn’t happen. I can’t even begin to put myself in those shoes so I don’t know, but I do know that Ghomeshi is slick and charming and manipulative based on all accounts, so it’s hard to say why, but doesn’t change the actual events.

      Reply
      <