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.”
Jackie made accusations of rape before the current story.
http://gotnews.com/breaking-fraud-jackiecoakley-cried-rape-uvahoax/
Karen S said …
Shall we just let it go without comment?
You can bet I am….except for this remark. 🙂
What these women do not understand, is that they only hurt other cases where real women have been raped. It is sad that we become to wonder if real raped victims are telling the truth. I feel bad for the real victims because who will believe them when we have cases like these.
Paul C. Schulte
Msjettexas – “inspired” can mean as little as the character is still female.
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At this point Paul I don’t think we can believe anything Lena Dunham says. Anything.
Bailers – I would be suspicious of anything she said, but there may be a few grains of truth. I think Bill Ayers used some of Obama’s notes when he wrote his ‘autobiography’. So there are a few grains of truth in the book.
@Paul . . . you could be correct. lol
“The show’s premise and major aspects of the main character were inspired by some of 28-year-old Dunham’s real-life experiences.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_(TV_series)
Msjettexas – “inspired” can mean as little as the character is still female. 😉
leejcaroll~ Lena Denham had already written her book and Girls was based on her unpublished book and why they paid her 3.7mil to publish it.
So people who disagree now have a vendetta? lol
“That, to me, Pogo, deserves condemnation, ridicule, disgust, and mockery.”
Seems to me you are doing some name calling yourself.
And rolling stone said they were wrong. What more do you want. You want to continue to act as though someone here has defended the article. I do not recall anyone doing so but it allows you to continue to post your playground name calling. If that’s what floats your boat Pogo.
As to Denham who knows what the truth is or where it lies. Already someone has proven one of the “facts” put forth by a conservative commenter here, that she got the TV show based on her book could not have happened since the show was( I belive the number was 3 years) prior to release of the book. But please don;lt let facts get in the way of your narrative.
There is no point in answering you when you ignore the answers and continue on your vendetta against those with whom you disagree
@leejcaroll ~ Prey tell, what would reading leftist articles on this subject matter, when they are the ones who published the original story in the first place. They jumped on this story like wolves on fresh meat. It turned out to be questionable and RS even rolled back their statements.
Now, once that credibility is gone, it’s gone. Pogo condemns their false narrative that these boys committed a heinous crime but should have checked their source before print. They did not, so he condemns them, as they should be condemned. None of the liberal press has yet to apologize to the school or the fraternity, whose lives were thrown into a fish bowel over a lie. Nor has Lena Dunham. Their silence is defining!
This is exactly what was said by the assistant dean of student life. Note what Michael quoted, ““A false accusation is an acceptable price to pay.” she did not say. I am not saying I agree with her but the quote is not correct and the words he put in the dean’s mouth were not her words.
” Ginny, a college senior who was really raped when she was 16, suggests that false accusations of rape can serve a useful purpose. “Penetration is not the only form of violation,” she explains. In her view, rape is a subjective term, one that women must use to draw attention to other, nonviolent, even nonsexual forms of oppression. “If a woman did falsely accuse a man of rape, she may have had reasons to,” Ginny says. “Maybe she wasn’t raped, but he clearly violated her in some way.”
This is what the assistant dean was quoted as saying in the article “Catherine Comins, assistant dean of student life at Vassar, also sees some value in this loose use of “rape.” She says angry victims of various forms of sexual intimidation cry rape to regain their sense of power. “To use the word carefully would be to be careful for the sake of the violator, and the survivors don’t care a hoot about him.” Comins argues that men who are unjustly accused can sometimes gain from the experience. “They have a lot of pain, but it is not a pain that I would necessarily have spared them. I think it ideally initiates a process of self-exploration. ‘How do I see women?’ ‘If I didn’t violate her, could I have?’ ‘Do I have the potential to do to her what they say I did?’ Those are good questions.” http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,157165,00.html
“sometimes gaining from the experience” is not the same as ““A false accusation is an acceptable price to pay.”
False accusations are wrong but the questions that may arise are not such a bad thing.
leejcaroll – I think men need to start complaining about the ‘female gaze’ and being raped by the eyes of females wherever they go. It is horrible. It is something we put up with all the time. Every time we bend over to pick something up there are female eyes glued to our butts. That is non violent rape and must end. Men have got to start reporting it. It is sexual assault.
Paul wrote: “leejcaroll – I think men need to start complaining about the ‘female gaze’ and being raped by the eyes of females wherever they go. It is horrible. It is something we put up with all the time. Every time we bend over to pick something up there are female eyes glued to our butts. That is non violent rape and must end. Men have got to start reporting it. It is sexual assault.”
Paul, you may think it is funny but ask the women in your life, especially a younger one, like a daughter or niece and see how funny it is to walk by these gauntlets and be seen as nothing more then a piece of meat. Your lack of empathy continues to astound me
You ever had a stranger comment on your penis r testicles, how far out they might stick? I and many other women have to deal with this. A lot.
Hey nice breasts, nice rack, whoo hoo. etc. It is not funny it is bullying. It is threatening and it is inappropriate. Only a frat boy would find it amusing
leejcaroll – I have had my nice ass commented on before, as well as other parts of my anatomy. Women can be as crude as men. Just work with a lot of them some time.
Inga, I don’t give lefty press sources any eyeballs.
Deprive them of any income where possible.
Inga and Lee, just admit it.
Your beloved lefty press was horribly wrong in this case.
Irredeemably wrong.
Damnably wrong.
Just admit it. How hard could it be?
Sorry, Lee. The MSM screwed up big time here.
They were completely and utterly wrong.
The onus is on you to show otherwise.
I read the articles. Show me where I’m wrong.
Pogo, did you not say you don’t read articles from NYT or WaPo, no matter WHERE they’re posted? I believe you did. So now are you saying that if Breitbart or Drudge linked to a NYT story you would read it? But you wouldn’t read it from the original source? So are you saying you need the rightosphere to OK it before you read a lefty article? I hope that’s not what you’re saying.
Have any of the lefty horror stories turned out to be true?
Any of them?
Even the iconic Matt Shepard gay murder from 1998 turned out to be false.
I’m beginning to wonder about every single liberal cause célèbre.
Probably all BS, every one.
“Liberals and their leftist press deserve condemnation and ridicule and disgust and mockery.”
Pogo you made my point. Heaven forbid you should look at the sites and articles, you say you did but your comment is only to throw names at those with whom you disagree without making any valid point other then to reiterate your hatred of those who do not share your views and to castigate them. That, to me, Pogo, deserves condemnation, ridicule, disgust, and mockery.
@Pogo lol, you are right.
lol!
Gee Inga, I wonder how someone can read a WaPo article without going to WaPo itself. Is it possible? Can it be done? If only there were some kind if online source that copied articles and posted them somewhere else.
Yet Pogo has said a couple of days ago that he doesn’t read WaPo, NYT or any “lefty” publication. So does he really “read all the articles”?