PETER LLOYD: Why anonymity for men accused of rape is imperative.
After five weeks of public humiliation, finger-pointing and gender bias – both on campus and in the media – police confirmed that he won’t face a single charge over two unfounded rape allegations.
Not one. Nothing. Nadda.
But, like countless men all over the world – including Paul Weller, Amy Winehouse’s ex-boyfriend Reg Traviss, Nigel Evans MP, William Roache and Craig Charles – Sullivan’s life has already been affected by a system that considers men’s innocence a bonus, not a baseline.
What a joke.
In a damning example of everyday sexism, Sarah Pine, President for Women at Oxford University Student Union, spearheaded a character assassination against the innocent 21 year-old, before the accusations against him had time to be considered.
She devised a boycott of speakers scheduled to appear at the Union and called for Sullivan to resign. Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble, Norman Finkelstein and – rather worryingly – David Mepham, UK Director of Human Rights Watch, both jumped on board the hysteria train, parping their horns along the tracks of misandry and make-believe.
Jennifer Perry, CEO of the Digital Trust and author of the UK guidelines on digital risks, resisted – and later spoke of how she felt ‘threatened’ and ‘intimidated’ by Pine’s gender-driven agenda.
So much for innocent until proven guilty. . . . Is this modern feminism? I can’t help think it’s less third wave, more Third Reich.
Related: 40M Settlement Reached In Central Park Rape Case.
The five black and Hispanic defendants were found guilty as teenagers in 1990 in the attack on a white woman — an investment banker — who had gone for a run in the park.
They served six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were thrown out in 2002 because of evidence that someone else, acting alone, committed the crime. The five sued police and prosecutors for $250 million.
And, of course, the guilty party went unpunished.