McGregor seems to be shocked by the decision. Understandably so – this isn’t how accusations in opposition to well-known males normally play out.
When the #MeToo motion rippled throughout Hollywood in 2017, survivors of sexual assault felt empowered to share their tales – irrespective of how well-known the perpetrator. As soon as essentially the most influential man within the movie business, director Harvey Weinstein was discovered responsible of rape and sexual assault in 2020 and of rape in 2022. In 2018, Invoice Cosby, the comic and TV presenter, was discovered responsible of drugging and assaulting a lady in 2004. In 2022, R. Kelly, the so-called ‘King of R&B’, was jailed for 30 years and convicted on eight counts of intercourse trafficking.
Nevertheless it was a short new world. Weinstein has devoted his life to interesting his convictions, with some success – his 2020 conviction has been overturned. He stays in jail whereas he awaits a retrial and appeals the 2022 conviction. Cosby was launched from jail in 2022 after his assault convictions have been overturned. The week after R. Kelly was discovered responsible, his album gross sales soared by 500%. Mercifully, he stays behind bars.
The progress made through the #MeToo motion has largely been eclipsed by the next backlash. Over the previous seven years, well-known males accused of sexual assault have merely harnessed societal misogyny to evade accountability for his or her actions – whether or not unlawful or not.
In April 2022, when Johnny Depp accused his ex-wife Amber Heard of defamation, followers, manufacturers, and influencers fell over themselves to create memes of Heard’s testimony – together with her description of being assaulted.
In July 2023, when skilled footballer Benjamin Mendy was discovered not responsible of rape and tried rape, social media erupted with fellow professional sportsmen – notably Memphis Depay and Vinicious Jr – and pundits praising Mendy and calling for the complainants (the six ladies who accused Mendy of rape) to be prosecuted as “false accusers.” This was regardless of Mendy admitting to having intercourse with a number of ladies on the identical evening with out worrying about contraception and beforehand being “disrespectful” within the language he used to speak about ladies.
No surprise Conor McGregor is in shock. We dwell in a misogynistic society that persistently prioritises the protection of well-known males’s reputations above ladies’s precise security.
Even after the jury discovered that McGregor assaulted Nikita Hand, the same old suspects have rallied round him. Andrew Tate – at present below home arrest on suspicion of getting intercourse with a minor and intercourse trafficking, each of which he denies – tweeted, “Women sleep with rich men, and if that man doesn’t fund their life afterwards, they lie and sue.”
Whereas Tate’s sign-off – “It’s literally impossible to be a man in the western world” – made me snort, his rhetoric about ladies being fame-hungry liars crops up within the authorized system on a regular basis. Ladies who accuse well-known males are sometimes accused of doing it for the buck, fame, or the sheer thrill of ruining a well-known man’s repute. Certainly, through the trial, McGregor’s lawyer reportedly referred to Nikita as a “golddigger”.
For survivors of rape and sexual assault, entry to justice is much from assured. In the event that they select to report the crime to the police, they need to recount their story a number of instances earlier than ready for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to determine if there may be sufficient proof to pursue a prison trial.
When the trial happens, typically just a few years later, the prosecution should show the perpetrator’s guilt past cheap doubt. Meaning if one jury member has even the slightest doubt of the accused’s guilt, they need to acquit. If the prison route fails, some survivors, like Nikita Hand, pursue a civil declare as an alternative. Though the usual of proof within the civil courts is decrease – the jury should determine their verdict primarily based on the “balance of probabilities” relatively than “beyond reasonable doubt” – the result’s damages (a superb), not jail time. So, whereas victims usually tend to entry justice within the civil courts, they’re additionally extra susceptible to misogynistic accusations of doing it only for the cash.
The concept that ladies accuse well-known males for the hell of it might be laughable if it weren’t so deadly. Do you actually, in your coronary heart of hearts, suppose Nikita Hand endured six years of her private life being scrutinised, taunts and threats from McGregor’s followers, and endless post-traumatic stress syndrome for the hell of it?
