THIS is how they can take back their power from their accused rapist in court--and win!
Yanno, Donald Trump could have saved himself a total of $88 million dollars if only he’d chosen to prove his innocence.
E. Jean Carroll, who’s accused him for decades of having raped her in a New York department store changing room, kept his salvation in an evidence drawer somewhere. It was a you-know-what-stained dress. Trump could have exonerated himself in a heartbeat and made this aaaaaaallll go away years ago, and even more importantly, saved himself $88M. He merely needed to provide a DNA sample that failed to match the DNA on the dress, at a critical juncture in his life when he’s about to lose a substantial portion of his real estate assets, may be permanently barred from the real estate industry in New York, and will need all that’s left of his dough to pay off the lawyers, since his legal troubles may outlast his life.
And they’re doing such a fine job for him, aren’t they.
I mean, even Tacopina has dropped him. When the guy who looks like a Sopranos reject leaves you alone with the blonde who’d rather be pretty than smart (Tee hee, giggle giggle! Mission accomplished, Barbie!), you are, well, rhymes with ‘tucked’.
“She’s lying!” said Trump.
“He’s lying!” said Carroll. “And I’ve got the dress to prove it!”
So of course, like any innocent man would do, Trump refused to supply a DNA sample to settle the case without all this courtroom drama and $88M + lawyer fees. (Although granted, they’re probably working for free and just haven’t figured that out yet. They should ask any New Yorker.)
There’s a very strong, powerful lesson here for rape victims, especially future victims, feminists, anti-rape advocates and others who bemoan the very real problem of victims not being believed and not receiving justice in court:
PRESERVE THE EVIDENCE!
There’s only one other semen-stained dress more famous than Carroll’s and I suspect it forced another President into an embarrassing admission.
Monica Lewinsky famously kept her dirty dress, not to prove rape—she made it very clear her affair with Clinton had been consensual, and instigated by her—and he stopped claiming he’d ‘never had sexual relations with that woman’ after America began debating whether he should be forced to provide a DNA sample.
And you don’t even need a little plastic cup for it; a blood sample will work just fine.
So here’s something a rape victim—or her friend or roommate dealing with the immediate aftermath—can do.
Put the evidence in a plastic baggie!
Semen evidence on clothes can apparently last for decades, so the victim doesn’t have to report it immediately if she’s distraught, ridiculously traumatized and too ashamed to admit what happened, although it would be better for her case if she did. But still—evidence in a baggie weeks, months, or even years later is a lot better than she said/he said.
Granted, if she files charges the man will invariably claim the sex was ‘consensual’, but DNA evidence proving something happened between them is better than her word alone, and will refute, “I’ve never even met the woman!”
By the time many women get around to reporting, the bruises are gone, her memories may be fuzzy or dissipated, witnesses in the vicinity scattered, and there’s no point in conducting a rape test now.
A suspect who refuses to provide a DNA sample for comparison looks an awful lot like he’s hiding something, and that will sit quite differently with a jury.
THIS is how we bring justice to rape victims.
THIS is how victims only have to take twenty seconds to protect their interests when they’re sobbing in a fetal position.
THIS is how rape victims can take back their power.
Take off whatever provides incontrovertible evidence that Mr. X had sex with you, put it in a plastic bag, seal it up and put it somewhere safe.
This is something women’s activists need to broadcast from the rooftops:
PRESERVE THE EVIDENCE!
PRESERVE THE EVIDENCE!
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