#the allegations ARE to be believed

[curseofaphrodite]

neil gaiman what the fuck

[arttsuka]

People need to stop blaming 'parasocial relationships' when it's revealed to the public that a famous person has done something controversial (or even a crime) and the public is upset. 'I can't believe xxx did that!' doesn't always mean that the person who said it has a parasocial relationship with xxx. Usually it's just our faith in humanity, we want to believe that everyone has some basic human decency (especially someone we might admire) and it's only natural to be disappointed when we learn they're a bad person.

[sweetmapple]

Act 1 Astarion

[irenespring]

Today I would like to shout out that one random Twitter person who made up that JD Vance bragged about fucking a couch.

Imagine making a random shitpost and less than two months later your joke is being used by a major party nominee for Vice President on live television at his introduction rally, earning him thunderous applause.

That poster must be having quite the experience.

[mxmarsbars]

guys. he MIGHT work better under a deadline.

[topsonlyybar]

every day we move further from god’s light. and closer towards dan and phil react to phan proof timeline

[grumpy-gran]

Posting this to cut through the PR clutter — lest we forget amid the quotes and the fanart, Gaiman is accused of SA

And he’s allegedly circulating private emails between him and survivors to discredit their stories, according to someone who claims to be a second degree connection.

They claim the accused is sharing private emails between him and the survivors to his inner circle, in a bid to discredit the accounts that have surfaced about him. :)

So, presumably he hasn’t gone quiet everywhere, just online. It’s been about 42 days now…

[recoord]

Staying neutral until Neil Gaiman is convicted by the courts?

Second attempt to express my thoughts on the matter. The first time, my wording was not the best and it needed to be fact checked so here there is a summarized attempt. Thank you to everyone who pointed it out.

Using "neutrality" to remain sceptical to the allegations is not as good as an idea as it seems.

Many have shown scepticism because of the medium, The Tortoise podcast, used to publish most of the accusations. I've found many don't know there's a second podcast that published one of the women's allegations: Am I Broken: Survivor Stories Podcast. A podcast made by a non-binary licensed clinical mental health counselor specializing in sexual trauma. The link for the podcast is here and the link for the transcript here. [Credits for the transcript to Ersatz Haderach].

Personally, I think you shouldn't discard the allegations just for the medium chosen, they're still valid. But, there’s a second podcast and Claire's allegations there help to amplify the other victims's voices. If you haven't read or listened to any of the allegations, that could be a good start.

Ignoring that information and testimonies exist is far from being neutral. Learn about the allegations before choosing "neutrality".

It's important to notice that in cases like the ones exposed by the women's allegations against Gaiman, "Neutrality" is already biased in favor of the accused.

Waiting for a formal sentence for Gaiman to start believing in the victims is choosing to blindly trust a corrupt system. It also sounds like if you weren't conscious enough of the many problems that rape victims face in the justice system.

I've found an interesting report on the matter with information about how justice fails victims . Here are some important points:

Why the legal justice fails rape survivors?

According to a report made by Centre for Women’s Justice, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Imkaan and Rape Crisis England & Wales.(2020):

Obstacles to conviction

- "In the vast majority of (adult) rape cases, the defendant will accept that sexual intercourse took place, and it is only the element of ‘consent’ that is in dispute, or – put another way – whether a reasonable person would characterise what happened as consensual or non-consensual."

"Given the sexual nature of the offence, it will often take place in private, the complainant and defendant (or defendants) being the only persons present."

"There are very rarely any eye-witnesses to the offence itself, able to corroborate either the complainant or the defendant’s account as to what has unfolded. Indeed, there will more often be no independent evidence at all which corroborates the complainant’s account as to the circumstances of the sexual encounter. At best, there may be circumstantial evidence which supports what the complainant is saying: evidence which, for example, provides a picture of the complainant’s physical or mental state before and/or after the attack; or there may be evidence which is broadly supportive of her credibility, or undermines the suspect’s credibility."

- Even in ‘better’ periods, rape cases have always posed very significant challenges for prosecutors. While volumes of convictions have fluctuated over the years, the rate of convictions for rape has invariably been lower than in most other areas of crime."

-“it has been widely accepted by criminal justice bodies that many members of the public continue to believe in long-standing ‘myths and stereotypes’ relating to rape, which do not correspond with reality, result in disbelief of victims/survivors, and are now outdated in the eyes of the law.”

- “When a victim/survivor’s credibility is considered so fundamental to winning a rape or serious sexual offences trial, those who do not fit the ‘mould’ of a credible victim – because of their age, their outward presentation, their social skills, a disadvantaged background, or a learning mental health disability – are the least likely to see justice served.”

- “Whenever the profile of rape victims/survivors and their poor treatment by the criminal justice system begins to receive the attention it deserves, there comes a backlash and a rise in public concern regarding the fate of the ‘falsely’ accused.”

I recommend reading the whole report for further information.

Don't choose "neutrality" as an excuse to hide your bias, listen to the victims. There is a lot of information out there. Many patterns are repeated among victims who, before the allegations were made public, thought they were the only person who experienced the same thing, with Gaiman as the common denominator.

If you want to add something, feel free to do it.

[gmaiadmaib]

Other allegations of sexual misconduct are slowly coming out.

[pissfartboy]

Amazingphil Video colon-three

[imsofreakingtired]

this " D:< " face is so fucking funny to me because you can see her thought process going from "who the FUCK had the audacity to bitch slap me" to the realization that she is, in fact, tied up in her boss's chair and has been thwarted by a literal 16 year old and every odd is against her

[gothiethefairy]

kabru, who loves human interaction, but is still very cynical about the human nature. if they don't meet his high morals, they cannot be trusted. they're clearly hiding something and he'll find out, one way or another.

laios, who is terrible with human interaction, but still tries anyway. he'll help you, no matter what. he won't even ask for anything back. he's just glad to help you out. he's trying, my god is he trying.

[brokenheartedtheologian]

Neil Gaiman’s performative humility in his “I didn’t rape anybody,” blog post— where he promises to work on personal growth so he can become a less selfish lover— has hit me the hardest.

I have been raped by two of my exes. One of them made a big deal about how the rape was accidental— and how realizing that he was raping me was so traumatizing for him.

My other ex, in the conversation where I broke up with him for raping me, pulled out a notebook to take notes on “how to become a better person.”

In both cases, the “remorse” was about doing damage control to their identities. They were trying to figure out, “How can I still feel like I’m a good person even though I have hurt this other person?”

Genuine remorse doesn’t look like “I want to be a better person,” because that is still about your image of yourself.

Genuine remorse looks like, “I don’t give a shit about who I am, all I care about is the harmed person feeling better.”

There was not a single mention in Neil’s post about wanting the people he treated selfishly to feel better or have good lives. Even if I believed every word Neil wrote in his non-apology (and I don’t: I believe the women who say they were raped) I would not be happy with Neil’s approach to the events in his life.

An empathetic person falsely accused of rapes after being a self-involved lover wouldn’t be saying “They lied about me.” They would be saying, “If my exes and I perceived the same experiences so differently, I need to rethink the entire way I communicate. Now I’m terrified to figure out how many other people I hurt through my stupidity. In the future, I need to do x, y, and z differently. I hope everyone reading this will learn from my stupidity and also be mindful of x, y, and z.”

That is the difference between performative humility and remorse and actual humility and remorse.

It is also disappointing to me how Amanda Palmer enabled Neil Gaiman’s predation. I hope she apologizes one day. I hope apologies from enablers of abusers become a trend.

A woman important in my life made excuses for my first rapist and pressured me to keep him in my life. Older women seem to feel they can “save” abusers with their love and acceptance.

Kudos to Lila Shapiro for the whole Vulture article, and especially for her snarky observation that Gaiman and Palmer’s couple’s therapist respected the couple’s confidentiality but not the rape victim’s confidentiality when talking to the press.

[justaz]

king merlin after meeting lady guinevere and sir lancelot’s baby and falling in love: arthur. i want a baby.

king arthur, not looking up from his paperwork: …what?

merlin: give me a baby.

arthur, sighing: merlin, you studied to be a physician. i don’t think i have to be the one to tell you how impractical that is.

merlin, rolling his eyes: this is why i’m the brighter side of the coin

arthur, finally looking up: wha-

queen merlin using magic to transform her body: i. want. a. baby.

arthur:

arthur:

arthur: *stands up from his desk so fast his chair topples over, multiple parchments flutter to the ground, his tunic is already off*

[silvermountaingirl]

Neil Gaiman survivor Kitty Kendall/"Claire" posts a statement on charity donations (please share!)

[marimeeko]

Katsukis PR team smacking their damn heads when suddenly Katsuki starts really giving a shit about the ranking because Izuku has his suit and they are competing(flirting) in the field now. And they have realized that he was sabotaging his own ranking the entire time, on purpose.

Their shock when, after Izuku joins the Heroes again, Katsuki doesn't treat fangirls/boys and paparazzi like leeches(as much) and they have to clean up less messes and do a little less damage control, and he just seems in a better mood overall.

Their abject horror as they now have to worry more about explaining the optics to Katsuki of how intense his competition with Hero Deku is(it looks Hella fruity and people are starting to talk).

Their sighs of defeat when Katsuki makes it clear he doesn't give a shit about the optics, and continues making public proclamations about him and Deku being the top heroic rivals ever seen, and how now nothing will stop him from becoming No. 1 now.

Their redoubled shock when it comes out that their client, Katsuki Bakugou, was a major contributor to the state of the art suit that Hero Deku is now wearing in his unprecedented comeback. And that Katsuki confirms the rumors without so much as a chat with the PR department first.

The way they just give up all together when the pieces come together that this whole time they have been running PR with a man so singlemindedly concerned with giving his childhood friend/partner/Boyfriend?? a leg up JUST so they could compete together, and how obnoxiously obvious they both are now that they are both in the public eye.

The hindsight that every move Katsuki Bakugou, GEMG DynaMight, has ever made in his career was for the sake of a future where he and Izuku are running the show together.

One day, one of them is definitely going to earn the rights to write a behind the scenes biography about Katsuki because it has the makings of an insane romance story on top of a big drama about GEMG DynaMights early career. It'll come out right after Katsuki and Izukus marriage lmao.