Celebrity Fucked Up

Being a celebrity is the classic two-edged sword. Well,OK, so it’s probably got more than that, but bear with me.

John Leslie, once popular and successful TV presenter has been buffeted by allegations in the past, about his sex life, drug taking and because of all that his integrity has taken a huge knock. So he’s less than impressed that an anonymous female has alleged that he raped her in 1995.

Now I don’t know John Leslie, I only know what I read in the papers about his previous troubles, but it seems a long time for someone to sit on such a serious allegation. Especially when you would have thought that if you’d been sexually assaulted by someone you’d want to report it.

Not so of course. Victims of sexual crimes often never report the crime or wait until later life when, sadly, evidence is harder to come by and the perpetrator might be dead our outside the appropriate legislature’s statute of limitation. Sexual crime is as difficult to report as it is repulsive to all right-thinking individuals.

Maybe that’s the key. Take rape. Rape removes free will from the victim because their consent is not sought, or if the perpetrator does ask for sex and is refused the victim’s wishes are pushed aside. By emphasising and effectively proving that the victim’s consent is not needed and their opinion is effectively worthless the person committing the crime leaves the victim feeling worthless and powerless.

In that state of mind it’s easy to see why the victim might not report the crime. At that point despair and pain can turn inwards and create self-loathing. Sorry, I’m no psychologist, but that’s how it appears to me.

Ah, but surely when the previous allegation of sexual assault against John Leslie were made public this woman would have stepped forward? After all she would have been more readily believed, surely?

Who knows. Only time and the legal system will tell whether the allegations are true or if the woman making them is simply an opportunistic gold-digger.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of rape, you might want to take a look here.

Tags: John Leslie, celebrity