Justice

[poliphilo]

All I ask is consistency. Either the seduction of a child is the most disgusting crime on the book or it's a forgiveable peccadillo; I can live with either. What I find unacceptable is a state of affairs where it's the most disgusting crime on the book when the offender is Creepy Joe Schmo and a forgiveable peccadillo when he's an Oscar-winning film director. Justice should be impartial; that's why its personification is shown wearing a blindfold.  I don't mind excuses being made for Polanski's behaviour- for example that he was traumatised by his childhood experiences- just so long that kind of indulgence is extended to every paedophile. A person's wealth, status, talent, and popularity should have no bearing on their standing in law. 

Comments

[mazzie.livejournal.com]

strongly seconded. and, at the risk of being too graphic, there's very little chance that a grown man forcing his erect penis into a 13 year old's anus while she was resisting was not violent.

also, it is a myth that all rapes are violent.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Amen.

There are no "degrees" of rape, which is what Goldberg is saying. That anyone would suggest such is disgusting, not to mention insulting and humiliating for those who have been "non-violently" raped (and I happen to be one of them and the thought that just because I didn't come out needing to go to hospital people think I wasn't raped has me near tears). Rape is rape. Period. It doesn't make it less of a rape if the woman isn't beaten up before, during or after. What makes it a rape is when the woman says NO.

[mazzie.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more.

I was violently raped. The detectives told me I liked it - I'm "kinky," apparently.

I also volunteered at and worked for a rape crisis center, and in the course of my work, sat with people in the hospital or on the phone who were beaten so badly they needed surgery and people who didn't have a scratch on them, and I would be a fool to make any parallel comparison in their suffering or the maliciousness of the crime.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Not knowing the details, I thought it best to play it safe. Now that I know them, I have no hesitation in calling Polanski a rapist.