Jian Ghomeshi

[Tiff]

Looks like another woman has come forward to police about how he's treated them while on dates as well.

Police Seek Public's Help After 3 Women Come Forward

I can honestly say, I've been seriously shocked over the past week in seeing some of the comments from people in regards to this. Commenting on "all the women" who cry rape, when in reality that percentage is super small vs the amount of women who DON'T report it for fear of being made to feel that it was their fault.

I've had my own experiences with being assaulted and nobody really doing anything about it, the blame was place on me. At the time I shrugged it off because what else was there to do? Looking back though it kinda angers me.

Any ideas on how to shift perception when it comes to this? What are your thoughts on Jian (if you're familiar with what's going on)?

 

[staralfur]

The whole thing is just gross. He is an utter creep. Not much to say on the subject other than that! The Big Ears Teddy thing is just weird and disgusting. And I hate how he's trying to turn this into a BDSM issue when it's an assault issue.

 

[Tiff]

That's what I thought too. When I first read his FB post, it screamed to me of something more. I mean really, no one in their right mind (at least I think?) would admit to such things if they weren't trying to cover up something worse. At least, IMO.

His CBC colleagues are starting to speak out about him as well. Weirdly enough, the best one I read was from Ed The Sock (remember him?) random as its a puppet, but his FB post actually had some really good insight into it all, and called out "stars" being able to treat people badly because of their fame.

 

[Tasha]

I'm in the UK so not heard of this case but just from that article it sounds awful

In the past few years the UK has had a lot of historic rape/assault cases with 'celebs' come out and I've read a lot of the crying rape comments, or those that say they probably loved it at the time or they just want some cash etc etc.

There was also the case Ched Evans, a footballer who was charged and convicted of the rape of a young woman. At the time she was driven out of her home as her identity was leaked on twitter (illegal), she was sent death threats etc. Any way he came out of prison recently and it all happened again, despite her new id she was 'named and shamed' (their words not mine) and threats etc all over again. Any way my point to this story (I do have one) is that shows just how vile the thoughts and actions can be.

I have no answers about what we can do, I actually read something on facebook that I thought was quite powerful. I will see if I can find it x

 

[Tasha]

Found it. It makes you think about the fact that no other crimes (that I know of) are treated with the same sorts of attitudes.

Man: Hello, I would like to report a mugging.
Officer: A mugging eh, where did it take place?
Man: I was walking by 21st and Dundritch Street, and a man pulled out a gun and said "give me all your money".
Officer: So you willingly gave the man your money without fighting back, calling for help or trying to escape?
Man: Well yes, but I was terrified. I thought he was going to kill me!
Officer: Mmm. But you did co-operate with him. And I've been told that you are quite the philanthropist, too.
Man: I give to charity, yes.
Officer: So you like to give money away. You make a habit of giving money away.
Man: What has that got to do with this situation?
Officer: You knowingly walked down Dundritch Street in your suit, when everyone knows you like to give money away, and then you didn't fight back. It sounds like you gave money to someone, but now you're having an after-donation regret. Tell me, do you really want to ruin his life because of your mistake?
Man: This is ridiculous!
Officer: This is rape analogy. This is what rape victims face every single day when they try to bring their rapists to justice.

 

[Tiff]

I was shocked at the amount of women on my FB (friends) who initially sympathized with him and thought that the women were crying rape.

To be fair, I didn't know what to think when I first read it... but I did feel that they should at least be given the benefit of the doubt. With someone as high as celeb status (here, at least) as Jian, if it was proved they were lying they'd get their shame and public outrage.

As it stands though, there seems to be truth about the allegations. Only court will tell for sure though.

I read a really rattling article called Do You Know About Jian? It was crazy, the amount of people who allegedly knew how he was, yet never came forward with it.

 

[Sarahkka]

I was far more upset by FB and article commenting on the women victims than I think I was about the seriously creepy alleged behaviour! I cannot believe how many times I found myself jumping in to incredibly ignorant online conversations from people I really thought would know better and trying to ask people just exactly how they figured the women were out to benefit from the situation? Before Lucy Decoutere (who deserves a freakin' award for courage) stepped forward, the overwhelming response was (and this is a direct quote, unfortunately) "bitches be crazy" and here are apparently a bunch of them who are all consipring together to bring a good man down. (insert eyeroll emoticon here)
The one good thing that has come of this is the dialogue in Canadian society. Jian was a very talented broadcaster and he had a lot of fans across generations. It has certainly brought conversations about consent to the table.
And don't you love the irony that he'd hide behind the kink community? The BDSM folks should probably be leading the national discussion on consent as it's a HUGE part of their lifestyle, and yet Ghomeshi tries to call what he did BDSM.

 

[Sarahkka]

Tasha - there was a lot of speculation that the CBC cut Ghomeshi loose both because they were really freaked out by the video he showed them, and by the Jimmy Savile-style cases that the BBC had just endured.