Will Junk Science Convict Harvey Weinstein? (Part 2)

Of course, there are women who choose not to report being raped, for whatever reason.  A woman who is genuinely vulnerable may elect not to do so, and such women are often sought out by sexual predators. One such sexual predator was rogue Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw. He prayed on young black women on the fringe of society, but when he targeted an older woman who was driving her own car, she reported him immediately, and his goose was cooked.

Alcohol is often a big influence in sordid encounters. In the Cosby case, Andrea Constand had consumed alcohol on an empty stomach and waited months before reporting; that had reasonable doubt written all over it, but Mesereau failed to capitalise on it.

Granted that Weinstein is a far more odious individual than Cosby, but the credible evidence indicates he has boundaries. In 2017, he tried it on in New York with Ambra Gutierrez, a foreign model, a somewhat nervous individual who reported him to the police. They wired her up and sent her back to him. Weinstein appeared to admit touching her breast, and apologised for it, but when she refused persistently to accompany him to his room, instead of grabbing her and attempting to drag her physically, he showed only verbal nastiness.

Weinstein’s accusers include Asia Argento and Rose McGowan (pictured above). The idea that either of these women would not fight back against a rape attempt beggars belief, especially McGowan; any man who attempted to rape her would be taking his life in his hands. As for Argento, she found herself on the receiving end of a similar if somewhat amusing accusation. In 2013, then 37, she took a 17 year old to bed in California where the age of consent is 18. She ended up paying him $380,000. Most people would consider that a shakedown.

It should be pointed out that many women put Weinstein in his place. These include veteran actress Daryl Hannah, who told him where to go in no uncertain terms. In 1996, Weinstein tried it on with Gwyneth Paltrow, who is another class act; she told Brad Pitt, who confronted him.

Before concluding, let us examine just one recent article that peddles many of the media myths about rape. Writing for The Atlantic, January 28, Barbara Bradley Hagerty makes one absurd assertion after another:

“Rape is rarely investigated or prosecuted…” in which Universe?

She cites the famous English jurist Sir Matthew Hale’s oft’ quoted maxim that an allegation of rape is easy to make, difficult to prove, and even more difficult to defend. Hale might have added if that if the charge is in any sense historical it will probably be impossible to refute. Quoting him further, she says a woman’s testimony should be examined with caution. At the time Hale was writing, rape was capital. Is a man to be hanged without the evidence against him being assessed extremely carefully?

Also at that time, a woman was required to resist to the utmost and to report the outrage at once. Today in many jurisdictions a man can be convicted on the bare word of a woman with absolutely no corroboration, physical or otherwise, and the allegation can be backdated months, years, even decades.  The suggestion that a rape should be reported as promptly as possible within reason is by no means unreasonable.

“Rape laws in most states were written in such a way as to make rape virtually impossible to prosecute,” says Jane Manning. So we have two women making false claims, but again one should bear in mind that in the United States rape could be capital until fairly recently. It was only in Coker v Georgia, (1977) that the death penalty for the rape of an adult woman was ruled unconstitutional.

Hagerty quotes one so-called expert who says only about 5% of rape allegations are false. Again, in what Universe? This is especially true when rape counsellors openly encourage women to make false allegations, and in an age when parading oneself in front of the media is rewarded with a certain victim status, and at times with hard cash.

“Police tend to pursue only cases involving a ‘righteous victim’—for example, a woman raped by a stranger with a gun, in an alley, who fought back, who had a clean record, and who had no alcohol in her system”.

Clearly such cases are easier to prove.

“When a woman alleges rape, the defense (and the jury) dissects not only her character and history, but also her behavior during and after the alleged assault.”

And? This is par for the course in many criminal investigations. How many people – women as well as men – have been falsely accused of murder because they did not react “properly” in its aftermath? There is however one and only one way to react to a rape: dial 911 at once.

She whines that it is a “high bar” for a crime with “no witnesses, reported long after any possible bruises had faded and DNA had disappeared”.

If a rape is reported at once, there will be DNA, and most likely bruises because most genuine victims fight back. If there is no DNA and no bruising, the obvious explanation is that there was no rape.

One more quote will suffice: “Friendly emails do not mean it’s consensual,” Tetlow notes. “But they are very tricky to explain to a jury.”

Damn right they are, and rightly so, this is what is known as exculpatory evidence.

As with all the other airheads who peddle this trauma rubbish, Hagerty is telling her readers believe women because vagina.

Returning finally to Weinstein, he has a mountain to climb if only because like Bill Cosby he has already been tried and convicted in the media. Having said that, how much sympathy does he deserve, and of more concern to most jurists, at what point will this #MeToo hysteria backfire? If it goes much further, men will start taking measures to protect themselves, indeed they are already doing so. Vice President Mike Pence has been ridiculed for operating the so-called Mike Pence rule, never being alone with a woman other than his wife. This might be better titled the Prophet Muhammad rule because Islam and Judaism before it recognised not only the fragility of human testimony but a particular female vice. As a leading American medical journal noted in 1919:

“Sex is woman’s strongest weapon. She uses it as a weapon of defence and offence. She uses it to attract and to repel, to reward, and to punish. When intent upon punishment, she is utterly without scruples, and there is no vileness, no falsehood, at which she will draw the line.”

Click here for Part 1.