Dispatches - Russell Brand

Galaxy

You do know that many women carry on relationships with abusive men.

This is true. Often, as Doodledog says, people, particularly women, don’t realise that they are in abusive relationships. Even if someone told them they were in an abusive relationship, they wouldn’t be believed. That’s because abuse, especially emotional abuse, and usually including physical abuse and rape, is coercive. The victim is told that it’s normal, and they erode the victim’s confidence insidiously and the once confident woman becomes sure her partner is right. Eventually the scales fall from her eyes and she sees.

The appropriate place for these accusations are the police station and a court of law, not a prime time TV Documentary, front page of newspapers, every TV chat show and social media.

Any of these could compromise any forthcoming trial…

Are alleged rapists being defended ? I most certainly am not defending but I think trial by media is wicked .

Leon Brittan died before he was cleared of accusations

Rape Crisis - current figures:

1 in 4 women have been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult.
1 in 6 children has been sexually assaulted
1 in 18 men raped or sexually assaulted as an adult

City university of London :
04.04.22 - under 1% of rapes lead to conviction

I’ll stop here. I’ll simply ask the question why ‘some posters’ criticise women and defend alleged rapists

And some women have defended him

And what do we do with 16 year olds with no family or families who are neglectful do we just serve them up to creepy creepy men.

No criticism of her family then? Now there is double standards!

Her family? Anyone but the abuser is fair game for blaming, it seems.

I can understand that if someone you (generic) have known for years is accused of something apparently out of character by one women you don't know, you might reserve judgement, or even stand by your friend believing him to be innocent.

But when numerous unconnected women all say that he has sexually abused or raped them, one has been to a rape centre about it, and one was just a child, then wouldn't you think it was just possible that all of them weren't lying and he might just be guilty as charged? Particularly if he had made a career based on mocking women and making sexist and sexually explicit 'jokes', and had won a 'shagger of the year' award three times running? And wouldn't the fact that there is a WhatsApp group of women in TV to warn one another about him and try to protect new women on the block give you some pause for thought? If a journalist is on record saying that she is subject to an NDA as a result of speaking out against him, and people like Dannii Minogue and Kate Moss have supported the accusers because of their own experiences with him, wouldn't all of that put together be enough to make you support the women concerned and not the man at the centre of the storm? If not, you might just be a very very loyal friend, but when all of this is about someone you've never met, I just don't understand your reluctance.

At 30 I was teaching 16 year olds, and can't imagine finding any of them attractive in a million years. They were trying to be adults, sexually aware and hormonal, but still children. I have no issue with a 14 year old age gap for adults (eg a 40 year old and a 54 year old) but IMO a grown man having sex with a 16 year old child is wrong, whichever way you cut it.

Thank you tickingbird , on a news channel on uTube they said her mother drove her to meet Russell Brand, !

Last paragraph wasn’t aimed at you Annie.

No Annie it was 18 years ago. RB is 48 and was 30 when he was in a relationship with the 16 year old.

No criticism of her family then? Now there is double standards!

Anniebach

The alleged relationship with the 16 year old was 8 years ago ?

Which would make the girl 24 - old enough to realise that what happened was abuse.

The alleged relationship with the 16 year old was 8 years ago ?

He has always been a dislikeable character with deeply offensive views. He displays no remorse for his comments, taking delight in stirring up disturbing emotions in others. Perhaps this is his plan for even more publicity?
I feel sad for his wife and children
( please coŕect me if I am mistaken about him having a family)

I am sure some countries vary the law so that for example young people arent criminalised for having sex but where there is an age difference it is different so if a 40 year old is having sex with a 16 year old the law is applied differently.

I agree that it is total double standards.

Also, people in abusive relationships are not always aware that they are being abused. Was the woman you mention the 16 year old child? Maybe that is the bit you missed? I know that 16 is 'legal', but that is largely because 16 year olds can get pregnant and making marriage illegal would mean illegitimate babies, which would have been shameful when the age was set. Obviously you can't make sex within marriage illegal. Also, setting the 'legal' age higher would criminalise many teenagers. It was never intended to make sex between children and men in their 30s acceptable. In all other respects, a 16 year old is a child.

We now know that people are around 25 before their brains (or the prefrontal cortex at any rate) fully develop. Before that, they can't make mature decisions. 16 year olds are vulnerable, and famous, charismatic and forceful men can be very persuasive.

You do know that many women carry on relationships with abusive men.

After “forcing his penis down her throat” she continued to see him. I may have missed something but I didn’t hear anyone say that they promptly ended the relationship. It does make me wonder if he had carried on in a relationship with these women would they be speaking as they are now?

If he’s raped someone he deserves to be punished but being a sex addict that screws 5/6 women a day in his dressing room (as was stated) isn’t a crime and. as far as I’m concerned, says more about the women queuing up to be used in such a way. Girls should be brought up to have more respect for themselves. Most men don’t go on to have real relationships with women they meet this way. Total double standards I agree but that’s a fact.

There appears to be a lot of corroborating evidence.

The idea that he is not part of the mainstream is hilarious he was in a minions movie last year. That's part of the zany alternative narrative he created. The conviction rate for rape is 3 % last time I looked. What kind of odds are those. The experience of the women who reported him for his behaviour on air were treated appallingly, he was promoted after one woman complained, perhaps if we treated women with some dignity when they complained it might help. I was assaulted during a relationship, under no circumstances would I report it, one of the reasons would be due to the narratives such as on this thread, i.e that at one time I had consensual sex with him.

Trial by media is never good, but sometimes this is the only way these people are bought to account. Because for some reason people who employ them are well aware of their appalling behaviour, but let them carry on. It seems celebrities can do as they like.
Hiding in plain site is a perfect description.

No. Where did I say that?

Doodledog you want to bypass the laws ?

Agree Mamma66 , can he have a fair trial now ?

Anniebach

Supporting men ? A woman accuses a man, no witnesses,
should the man be found guilty ?

The woman should be believed and the case investigated. If there is enough evidence, it should go to court, and if the jury weigh the evidence and find him guilty, then yes. If they don't, then no.

Unfortunately, this often falls at the first hurdle, as too many people are reluctant to believe her in the first place, so the rest never happens.

You could reframe your question to ask:
A man rapes a woman, no witnesses, should the man get away with it? What would your answer be to that?

I don’t like him, never have. However, I find the ‘trial by media’ deeply unsettling. Innocent or guilty he is entitled to the due process of the legal system. Not least because the media speculation could mean that any trial is impeded by claims of bias.