Joanna Williams on rape lynch mob culture

/ Mike Buchanan

Our thanks to Jeff for this. An extract:

I recently spent a week in court, watching the trial of a young man accused of rape. The experience shocked me.

First, the alleged victim and the accused were treated very differently. The young woman — rape victims are, of course, always anonymous — was called by her first name and treated deferentially by the barristers and judge.

The young man was treated almost as a criminal from the start. He was addressed by his surname and, to me, it seemed a subliminal sub-text was ever-present — that there was no doubt he had committed the crime. In the end, however, the jury found him not guilty by a unanimous verdict.

7 thoughts on “Joanna Williams on rape lynch mob culture”

  1. All of this is the reflection of a culture/society that needs changing. In the land of the gentlemen, ladies / girls are getting- (as they are supposed to, under the gentleman doctrine) exceptional, preferential treatment from kindergarten, university, office, the military, all the way to the corridors of power,including the court room. Men can not and will not get justice until the gentleman doctrine is discarded by men themselves. By continuing to behave like gentlemen, men are perpetuating this preferential treatment of women. Laws and rules are ALWAYS a reflection of social trends, in every country. The gentleman doctrine is not a default setting. It only continues because men have not noticed they are no longer dealing with the ‘ ladies’ of the 19th century who supported them in every way, cooked their dinners and raised their kids. Today’s women could not be more different. It is now men’s turn to change their ways to fit into this new social reality. Until men in general society discard the gentleman setting, the judges in the courtroom will continue behaving like gentlemen as well. The change must come from the general society, the streets,if you will with each individual man.

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  2. I have noticed that for some years now journalists have gone out of their way to call women by their surname . This rather irritates me as I don’t feel that it is patronising to women to use Christian names but rather a sign of the greater consideration that we show to them . It is interesting that in this case the alleged victim was referred to by her Christian name but the man by his surname ,it’s not exactly consistent is it?

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  3. The evidence appears to be mounting. I don’t fool myself that this instantly a new dawn. Its irritating that Joanna Williams phrases her final comments in terms of the impact on women. However it is good to see the paper’s comment as well as her column report the fact that not just this case but other reports are picking up on sharp practice to ease prosecutions and convictions. Of course the elephant in the room was actually pointed to by the Beeb’s legal correspondent, most of the suspect cases are sexual assaults and rapes.
    Not to look a gift horse both the Joanna Williams and the DM do refer to a systematic “cancer” in the justice system, even if they are talking round what exactly that cancer is.

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    • Good news that the idea is raised, but more important that this adds to the general stories that pick up on the systematic injustice. The feminist defence will be that the Allan case is a one off but there is now proof from the Justice System itself that 38% of serious cases had vital evidence withheld from the court and crucially the defence. What is being said by prominent Barristers and Lawyers is simply that the course of Justice is being perverted by the Police egged on and compounded by the CPS. Had the CPS Barrister in the Allan case not been replaced by an experienced and honest Barrister the Police and CPS would have continued to conceal the existence of evidence completely exonerating Mr. Allan. Put simply the course of justice would have been perverted by the Police and CPS.

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      • Yep, it’s unjust that there is a “sex offender register” but no “false accusers register”. Especially when the punishment for being falsely accused of rape is far worse than being raped. For me while we have a sex offender register I want a false accusers register. If we get a false accusers register and the feminists want to remove it then I’ll say to them that they need to remove the sex offender register first!

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  5. I think Joanna Williams has missed the elephant in the room in that the notion that men can’ t be raped( especially by women ) or that women can’t be a rapist of other women) is out there and enshrined in law and that consent is only required one way.

    Equality should mean exactly that and more with equal responsibilities and consequences..

    I have read the article and although people might think it has opened up the debate, I think it is only making excuses.

    remember the DV issue?
    first it was men can’t be victims of DV
    then eventually it was ah yes “some men can be victims, but an overwhelming majority of victims are women” .. that last quote is from the domestic violence policy of the Thames valley police..

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