There are two separate controversies this week over rape stories that have been challenged by critics. Both stories involve leading U.S. universities. Unlike the Duke Lacrosse controversy, neither school is accused of wrongdoing. Rolling Stone magazine has apologized for shocking failures in reporting a sensational rape story where a woman named Jackie alleged that she was gang raped at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, but the Washington Post reported on discrepancies in the account, including the fact that no party was held at the fraternity on the day in question. In the meantime, Lena Dunham’s story of being raped in college has been challenged as containing discrepancies and the man who has faced the most accusations is now considering a libel lawsuit against the author and director.
The Rolling Stone Controversy
Rolling Stone magazine ran the story containing detailed accounts of the rape of Jackie, but it agreed to a demand by the alleged victim not to interview with accused man. It was an astonishing lapse of journalistic principles and the magazine also failed to fully investigate the details of the alleged rape. Notably, however, the magazine issued an apology but then removed this line: “In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie’s account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced.” That line was replaced with this line “These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on Jackie.”
The story “A Rape on Campus” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, discussed how Jackie was a freshman in 2012 when she was forced to perform oral sex by seven men at the prestigious Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. Various people raised questions over the reporting, including the fact that some of Jackie’s closest friends questioned her account despite Erdely’s insistence that her friends’ accounts were “consistent” with her story. These inconsistencies include Jackie’s initial claim, according to friends and the Washington Post, that she had been raped by 5 men and then later claiming it was 7. Other friends said that there was an absence of any physical injury despite the claim of the magazine that she emerged bloodied and battered. The fraternity also said that there was no party on the day identified by Jackie and that her identification of “Drew” did not match anyone at the house and that in conflict with her claims, no one at the house worked as lifeguards at the pool. One of the named attackers was from a different house and no one by his name is a member at the Phi Kappa Psi. The man named said that he never met Jackie.
The fact that the magazine agreed not to interview the accused was widely condemned. The magazine stated that “[b]ecause of the sensitive nature of Jackie’s story, we decided to honor her request not to contact the man who she claimed orchestrated the attack on her nor any of the men who she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her.” A Rolling Stone editor claimed that it could not reach some of the men, though others including the Post were able to do so.
The Post details clearly identified individuals who were never contacted by the magazine. The Post reported that the person identified in the Rolling Stone story as “Cindy” told it that Erdely’s version of events was “completely false.”
The story of the brutal rape is still available on the Internet with the addition of the apology.
The Lena Dunham Controversy
A man named “Barry” is reportedly considering a libel lawsuit against Lena Dunham for her account of being raped at Oberlin College. She supplied details of the rape by a “mustachioed campus Republican” named Barry. Dunham’s widely acclaimed memoir, Not That Kind of Girl, included an identification of Barry as the rapist and describes him as a 19-year-old student who was known as a “poor loser” at poker with a flamboyant mustache who worked at the campus library and hosted a radio talk show. She also stated that Barry was the “campus’s resident conservative.”
The seemed to reduce the suspects to one man named Barry who was on the campus at the time and named Barry who claims that he has been hounded by the allegation that he is a rapist and that Dunham has refused to speak with him or clear his name.
Dunham’s high visibility has made the rape allegation international news and that has magnified the alleged injury to Barry. She received a $3.7 million advance for the memoir and is a leading producer, writer, and director, including her celebrated work on on the HBO series Girls.
Dunham not only claims that Barry raped her but gives highly graphic details of the encounter. She also quotes a friend who said that after she “once her friend Julia woke up the morning after sex with Barry, and the wall was spattered with blood. Spattered, she said, “like a crime scene.” But he was nice and took her for the morning-after pill and named the baby they weren’t having.”
The conservative website Breitbart has investigated the claims and identified what it says are clear discrepancies. The Washington Post blog has said that those discrepancies offer a solid basis for a libel action.
It is difficult to judge the merits of the claim. However, a libel lawsuit could force a response from Dunham and discovery into her account. Such an action could be based on not just libel but false light. The latter tort is defined
in Restatement (Second) of Torts, Sec. 652E as:
(1) the portrayal must be found to be “highly offensive to a reasonable person” and
(2) the actor had knowledge of or acted in reckless disregard as to the falsity of the publicized matter and the false light in which the other would be placed.
The risk for Dunham is that there may be enough details — and alleged discrepancies — to get such a case to discovery and possibly trial. Discovery could result in depositions of an array of acquaintances and Dunham herself under oath. “Barry” has reportedly set up a donation site to pay for “costs and related fees associated with defending Barry’s reputation including, but not limited to, potentially pursuing Lena Dunham and Penguin Random House for harm caused to Barry’s reputation from the publication and sale of Ms. Dunham’s memoir.”
Late to the discussion but I have learned several things. Women who claimed they were raped must always be believed and never asked to present verifiable details in any way shape or form. Because even if they were not “raped” something happened and men should be punished……severely……for…err….being men.
http://live.drjays.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/scottsboro-boys-in-jefferson-county-everett.jpg
It is quite instructive to see how demonstrably false claims of rape are viewed.
😀
Thank you, Paul. I appreciate your compassion.
I notice that Inga hasn’t reached out to me. What a misandrist.
Chip – do be careful with you Facebook account. Your former predator may track you down and try to groom you again. Be careful who you friend. Once a predator, always a predator.
Don’t expect Inga to reach out. She doesn’t believe that males can be raped.
@Paul C. Schulte
“Msjettexas – isn’t the show based on her unpublished manuscript? And then she went on and finished it while doing the show”
Yes, they paid her 3.7 million to publish a book on her unpublished manuscript. The show ‘Girls’ was based on her life experiences and her now published book.
I assisted two very well-known authors in the historical research of their now published books. One of the books took almost two years to research, cross-reference and publish. Another took us about a year.
I have fact-checked history textbooks, but not books. It took forever.
No, Paul, I didn’t. I was too ashamed.
I didn’t even mention that she stalked me for about a year after that. Made me do it several other times.
Chip – some sexual predators are relentless. There is no way to get away from them. You are just at their mercy. I am sorry for your pain and shame. I hope the years have helped ease some of both.
Chip, that thud you hear is your head hitting a brick wall. Trust me, it’s impenetrable.
Karen ~ “I can’t understand why women would get offended by men reacting to their beauty as they walk by. Most women take it as a compliment if that’s how it was intended. I differentiate compliments from vulgarity or bullying.”
I agree Karen. I think it’s attitude or culture. When I was in Ohio, I was raised a Liberal and taught to follow their mantra. I hated comments from the male species and labeled them all as offensive, even if they weren’t vulgar.
Even I am guilty of making comments to handsome men that I’ve seen or met in my life. I met such a man when I was at a job at the same time & place every year for training. I had seen this gorgeous man pass us on the street two years in a row that we were there. My girlfriend double dared me to say something to him. I took her dare and I did. By his response, he was flattered by my comment. He went his way and I went mine.
A year later, I was at a charity event and a man came up to me and whispered that my comment changed his life. When I turned to see who it was, it was him. He was French Canadian and very much a classy gentleman. We have been life long friends ever since. He still lives in Ohio.
It made me realize that I cannot make a nice comment to a handsome man and be indignant if a man makes a nice comment to me. That would make me a hypocrite. Of coarse I was young and brazen but did not regret doing that, as I still believe he was the most handsome man that I had ever seen in my life. 😉
two wrongs don’t make a right.
And as I say wayyy upstream to you, Inga, you don’t seem to understand the diff. b/w accusation and defense against accusation.
It’s not a “rush to judgment” to point out that not a single explicit assertion of fact holds up under the mildest investigation.
I plead guilty to not being a friend of misogynists.
Inga – as usual you have avoided the issue. You bob and weave, but don’t think we don’t notice. It does not reflect well on your character. Your little avoidance of the truth with Karen did not go unnoticed, either.
And Olly, as I said wayyyy upstream to Chip, two wrongs don’t make a right.
BTW, you’re all obligated to believe everything I say on this topic, b/c I am a rape survivor. No joke.
It happened just the way so many campus rapes do. A group of us were out drinking, and then one of the girls told me I was too drunk to drive home, offering to drive me to her apt. to sleep it off on her sofa.
As I lay there expecting to go to sleep, she …
Well, you can guess the rest. But I think according to Inga I wasn’t really raped b/c the girl did get me pretty aroused. But I felt ashamed the next day. Had it happened the other way around, I’m certain that it would’ve been another grim statistic testifying to the violent hell that is modern university life.
Chip – I do feel bad for your college violation and I am sure you will never get over the shame of the event. Hopefully, you have gotten counseling for your trauma. Did you report it?
Paul, she’s hardly a friend to reason and logic, that is for sure.
Silly and nonsensical.
“so quick to rush to conclusion”
This is Twilight Zone stuff; just remarkable. The whole reason this thread and this story exists is precisely because of a rush to conclusion. I have no idea what motivates people to ignore basic facts and cling so tightly to a false narrative; a need for attention? Personal tragedy? Boredom? Whatever it is, it’s pretty pathetic and should simple be ignored.
Chip, the Slate article doesn’t do the doxxing, they merely point out the fact that it’s happening.
Yes, Inga, I know that. But see how I have to go to Slate first to find out where to find the vile stuff? Even better, Hannah Rosin’s written it so as to induce the disgustingly curious among us to click through unnecessarily to a second Slate article.
Clicks plus moral indignation! It’s a win-win for “journalism”.
It’s even simpler than that, Paul. Unless she was planning on giving the book away, she wrote it in anticipation of profiting from it. An incendiary claim against some Rethuglican might just have been expected to help generate publicity for the book. I mean, maybe just a tiny bit.
Things not looking good for Liar Dunham:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/12/more-doubt-cast-on-lena-dunhams-rape-story/
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/12/08/ramdom-house-says-barry-one-not-dunhams-rapist-many-questiones-unanswered/
Paul, it’s incumbent upon a parent of sons and daughters to teach them right from wrong. That is pretty basic.
Chip, the Slate article doesn’t do the doxxing, they merely point out the fact that it’s happening.
The first rule of clickbait: When you’re denouncing someone for posting vile stuff online, be sure to include a hyperlink to it, to make sure your site functions as a portal for the pruriently predisposed.
Thanks, Slate! Thanks, Inga!
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/12/08/doxxing_jackie_the_vile_and_dangerous_threats_of_charles_johnson_and_other.html
And the doxxing of ‘Jackie’ begins and that’s RS fault too.