Christine Rose

To quote Brandeis, sunlight is the best of disinfectants.  Rape happens in the dark and serial rapists depend on dark corners, both metaphorical and literal, to do that they do and get away with it.  The obvious answer is to throw a lot of light.  But many people are uncomfortable with how that actually works.

Here’s what really happens:  first, there’s a rumor that Jian Ghomeshi is some kind of bad guy or predator or can’t be trusted.   The general public didn’t know or suspect because his public persona was so lovable, and what people said in private about him seemed so wildly inconsistent with how the public saw him as to be implausible. He was a “missing stair” — the issue is at some level widely shared within informal social groups, but not openly acknowledged where outsiders can hear, and certainly not reported.  Then someone pushes…