Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Women with boyfriends in jail can be raped.
Women with multiple cell phones can be raped.
Women who can't read or write the language of the country they are in can be raped.
Women who lie on their tax forms can be raped.
Women who launder money can be raped.
Women who have told that their actual oppression is not enough to get them asylum, and so have to learn a story that will can be raped.
Women who have many truths they cannot tell to authorities can be raped.
Yes, all these things can be true of someone who then becomes a rape victim. But the problem is that when these kinds of things are known to be true about a complainant, then we know the complainant cannot be relied upon. Some people make it a point never to lie, and those are the only kind of people you can trust in a he-said-she-said situation. Anyone who lies in all the ways this woman has lied, has zero credibility.
ReplyDeleteSo you're right--we'll never know for sure she wasn't raped--but we sure won't know beyond a reasonable doubt that she was raped, will we?
So he goes free. What other system of justice would you have, Maia?
Great to hear on Al Jazeerah News that the French writer is pressing attempted rape charges against DSK. She tried to discuss it on the radio at the time but the radio station bleeped out his name. At the time she told him she would press charges but he didn't seem surprised as if it had happened many times before. Her mother who is in politics persuaded her not to press charges. Fingers crossed this serial rapist ("the great seducer" yeah right!) will finally get what's coming to him.
ReplyDelete@sharon
ReplyDelete..and we know that DSK is someone who makes it a point to never lie, and so he does not have zero credibility.
If they spent the same amount of money dredging through his background and tapping his phone calls, they may find some pretty grubby secrets.
@Anonymous, good point that if we tapped DSK's phone calls we'd probably find some hair raising stuff.
ReplyDeleteBut the issue is whether we can be certain he committed rape, and obviously we can't when the only witness is someone who has actually lied before about rape. Also what's with the men depositing >$100,000 to her bank accounts, according to the NY Times? Sounds like she may be a practicing criminal as well as someone who lies under oath--yikes! Of course that doesn't prove she was raped, but here we don't put people in jail because we can't prove they didn't commit a crime--sheesh!