challenging institutional disbelief around domestic & sexual violence and abuse
In 1977 a middle-aged predatory paedophile selected his victim. Thirteen year old Samantha Geimer was thrilled to be chosen to be photographed by film director Roman Polanski for French Vogue. He then isolated, groomed, drugged and raped her. Fearing a hefty sentence Polanski fled to Paris where, the following year, he was interviewed by Martin […]
CW: The below piece mentions rape. Please read only if in a safe place to do so. This piece will be cross-posted to End Victim Blaming Now tomorrow. Like many others today, I have read Victoria Coren-Mitchell’s piece for The Observer on Roman Polanski and found it troubling to the extreme. I am sorry he […]
“These are unfamiliar feelings; our modern world does not invite us to treat anybody as nuanced. People are heroes or villains, victims or victimisers; sometimes neither, but never both.” While I acknowledge the truth in the above statement, I am troubled by the invitation to feel sympathy for the man who drugged and sodomised a […]
Roman Polanski and the sin of nuance Victoria Coren’s article in the Observer (Sunday 28th September 2013) was one that I read with mounting disbelief and horror. In this muddled piece, Coren stated on Twitter (after its publication) that it is “putting S point across. I’m shocked by how many think she’s wrong so should […]
I’m furious. I am angry for everyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted, bullied, drugged, harassed, exposed, shamed and vilified because someone with POWER decided they were an object to be taken advantage of, something less than human, something to be used and discarded. Far too often, I feel a stab of pain when a […]
A piece by Victoria Coren in today’s Guardian claims to be a call for balanced debate on the complexities surrounding Roman Polanski’s rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. It is not: is, in fact, both rape apology and a further erasure of a victim who has spent much of her life asking to be […]
Dear Victoria, This morning an article written by yourself was published under the headline “Roman Polanski and the sin of simplification”. I am slightly confused as to the audience and purpose of your article. You see, as a teacher, I ask my students to identify the audience and purpose of a piece of writing in […]
Victoria Coren argues for nuance as if we don’t understand that rapists can be perfectly ordinary men. Rapists laugh with their children, create beautiful art, they’re philosophers, economists, binmen, in short they are people with nuance. We understand this. Victoria Coren argues that S takes responsibility for drinking and being in a situation where Polanski […]