Anyone who has stuck with me for an extended period of time will know that I’ve expressed nothing but sincere admiration for Germaine Greer.
As a writer, I have found her work to be thought-provoking, intelligent and, frankly, ahead of its time. Away from the writing circle, I have long admired Professor Greer’s ability to position herself in such a way that she was slightly distant from the academic environment, being seen to enjoy a firm grounding in the ‘every day’ world.
But, if what I read in today’s print media is correct (and that, in itself is a significant point!), it appears that Germaine Greer has lost the plot.
Speaking at last night’s Cheltenham Literary Festival, Professor Greer allegedly put forward the notion that a ‘name and shame’ website should be created, to enable women to list men who, they allege, have raped them.
*pause for breath*
The first problem I have with naming and shaming, is that we have a legal culture of being innocent until proven guilty.
I have no issue with naming and shaming those who are found guilty – whether it is men found guilty of rape, or women found guilty of making false allegations of rape – but I do have a significant problem of anyone making unfounded allegations outside of the legal process.
Let me put this in to perspective for a moment.
It’s like me, as the father of a 13-year old girl, putting a post on this blog that makes a clear statement that Fred Flinstone of 32 Burnt Offering Crescent, Burbletown, is a paedophile who has sexually molested my daughter.
Because, frankly, where is the difference?
What Professor Greer seems to be advocating is a website that stands outside of the legal process; the creation of a website where people are able to make unfounded, unsubstantiated allegations about – and let’s get this perspective straight – crimes of a sexual nature.
The website Professor Greer is advocating isn’t about naming and shaming some thug from across the road who throws stones, swears a lot and shouts at his (or her!) neighbours.
We are, in Professor Greer’s model, accusing a named person of being a rapist, and we are accusing that person of being a rapist without the least shred of evidence, and without getting anywhere near due legal process.
The big issue here is that being accused of a sex crime makes the accused person guilty by implication.
Do you remember the very sad situation a few years ago where Yvette Cloete was hounded out of her house by a mob because someone daubed the allegation that she was ‘a paedo’ on the walls of her home?
The reality is that that Dr Cloete’s only crime was to be a paediatrician.
But that kind of mud sticks.
Just as I cannot be allowed to pull up a website and state to all of Google that Fred Flinstone of 32 Burnt Offering Crescent, Burbletown is a paedophile who has raped my 13-year old daughter, without going before the law and having that allegation subjected to scientific evidential scrutiny, no woman can be allowed to pull up a website and allege that she was raped by Barney Rubble of 34 Burnt Offering Crescent, Burbletown.
Because allegations are not always the truth.
I make this statement as someone who was identified – as a schoolboy – of being a rape assailant.
Fortunately I had an unshakeable alibi. While I was supposed to be carrying out this terrible crime I was actually at a family dinner party at a remote farmhouse 15 miles away. The dinner guests included my uncle. The Chief Constable of Gwent Police.
I’ve said enough on this for now, but I do hope that I have gone some way towards demolishing Professor Greer’s flawed thinking.
But just in case I haven’t done enough, here are just a few links, each one goes back to a high profile case where a woman has lied in the making of *at least one* (and sometimes more) false allegation of rape:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196362/Policemans-daughter-cried-rape-night-ex-lover.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-442772/Jilted-lover-lied-rape-jailed.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1225823/Nursery-assistant-cried-rape-times-jailed.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-460743/Woman-false-rape-claim-jailed-months.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050583/Jail-Wren-cried-rape-seducing-lover.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201224/Mother-cried-rape-jailed-years.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-125949/Snooker-star-cleared-rape.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-433819/Girl-cried-rape-times.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-487985/Man-freed-years-jail-double-rape-accuser-liar.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-416170/Six-months-girl-cried-rape.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-429835/Bestselling-writer-lied-rape.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1197118/Mother-falsely-accused-husband-rape-wanted-life.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-444298/Lesbian-accuses-innocent-stranger-rape-win-lover.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1010364/Schoolgirl-escapes-prosecution-false-rape-claim.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-181088/Hamilton-accuser-guilty-perverting-justice.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1168295/It-happened–I-wrongly-jailed-rape.html
That must have taken you a while.
100% with you on this Brennig. Prof Greer’s enjoyment of the limelight however does make me wonder if she said it purely for the attention.
It’s a bit too close to home in some respects – I’ve got a lot of feelings on this but cannot talk about them openly, anonymous or not.
But I agree strongly with you.
Ash; ten minutes to write, check for logic and proofread for errors, five minutes to complete an advanced google search within a single top level domain, load the results in to different windows and copy and paste the returned URIs in to the template. 15 minutes tops, start to finish.
Soupy; x
It is a preposterous notion, and I have a fair amount of professional experience in this field. Taking a feminist perspective – which I like to think I proudly do – need not involve denying all women are incapable of being unprincipled, deceitful, and sadistic. It is about equality, and all being equal, people can be abhorrent creatures. The lot of them.
What a ridiculous idea! Open to abuse not just by disgruntled parents and jilted and overly possesive girlfriends with a screw loose, but also by pranksters who have bored of putting up false articles on Wikipaedia.
A stupid idea that hopefully never comes to fruition.
Even libel laws do not suffice. Un-ringing the bell, and all that. Perhaps, in the alternative, a website giving the name, address and phone number of
the douchebagsthose who make a priori accusations.Huw, Spot on. People can be abhorrent creatures.
Masher, Ricockulous, as you say.
Bulldog, For whom the unrung bell tolls? Wisely put.
So many links to the Daily Mail! My moral-outrage-ometer will combust if I read all of those.
On a more serious note, you’re completely right of course. Innocent until proven guilty should always be the way. Sadly, with so many cases of sexual abuse accusations, people seem to forget the foundation of law and go with pure emotion.
The concept of innocent until proven guilty seems to go awol when rape is the charge being faced.
The potential for libel here is huge.
Completely agree with everything you said.