A young woman went to a bar. A criminal offense was committed against her. Some people taped it and, without her consent, make lots of money on it to this day. The woman sued the people who made the video but because it was Girls Gone Wild, the jury ruled against her.
Jane Doe was 20 when she was filmed by a Girls Gone Wild video photographer in a bar in St. Louis, Missouri. Someone pulled the woman’s top down without her consent whilst the photographer was taping. The assault appears on “Girls Gone Wild Sorority Orgy.” Doe sued the company in 2008 after a friend of her husband’s reported seeing her in the video.
Stephen Evans of St. Louis, her lawyer, argued Thursday that Doe never gave consent — and even could be heard in original footage saying “no” when asked to show her breasts shortly before another woman suddenly pulled Doe’s top down. Evans said the company usually gets women to sign consent forms or give verbal consent with cameras rolling.
Patrick O’Brien, the jury foreman, told a reporter that an 11-member majority decided that Doe had de facto consented by being in the bar and dancing for the photographer.
“Through her actions, she gave implied consent,” O’Brien said. “She was really playing to the camera. She knew what she was doing.”
Patrick O’Brien’s job title must be Rape Culture Spokesman. Jane Doe’s presence canceled out her “no.” Women still do not have exclusive rights to their own bodies.
Sickening.
I hope and pray there’s an appeal to a reasonable court and jury from a lawyer who is working pro bono – this is just so disgusting.
I think it’s safe to say the jury was partaking of St. Louis’ best-known beverages when they came up with this verdict. Only 12 drunks could possibly hear this story and think for a second that this young woman was at all culpable.
@sybann: That, and I hope bars, and any other places that allow GGW in, start getting boycotted. I really do. Some kind of protest ahs to be organized. This group of infantile, over-sexed, misogynistic human refuse is basically raping women for money, and it has to stop.
@Nefariousnewt – I’ll start by writing to any channel still advertising their crap threatening boycotts of their programming.
@sybann: That would be pretty much every cable channel not involving home improvement or food after 11 pm at night.
The idea of “implied consent” should just freaking die already.
I’m gonna need to file this under, “Are you fucking kidding me?” and come back to it. Right now I have to clean up the pieces of my HEAD EXPLODING FROM THE RAGE.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mary Bullstonecraft, Pursuit of Harpyness. Pursuit of Harpyness said: Girls Gone on a murderous rampage @ http://bit.ly/bX6Nx0 [...]
At first by the title I thought you were suggesting that GGW had produced a snuff flick. But I wouldn’t hold them above it.
Wonder how it would have played out if someone had pulled a guy’s pants down.
I was honestly hoping that the story would end with her hurting the people who hurt her first.
I have no words.
@waxghost – me too
I’m gobsmacked.. this is just un-crapping-believable..
[...] sued, but a court ruled that by being in the bar, and dancing for a photographer, the woman was not harmed by her inclusion in the raunchy [...]
I can’t really blame Patrick O’Brien. Only he, not you, saw the tapes. He made the correct decision. Don’t go into a bar where Girls Gone Wild is taping and later claim “oh I didn’t want to show my breasts”
Go fuck yourself, Jake Doe. You didn’t see the tapes either, so how in the hell do you know if it was the “correct” decision? And GGW’s existence doesn’t trump bodily integrity. I don’t care where they’re filming, they don’t have the right to touch this woman or to profit off a video of a crime committed against her.
I’m so sick of this “she asked for it” argument. This is disgusting! He seems to have this idea that in a setting where a lot of men are, they kind of own her. Her rights are limited.
Thanks for sharing. I really like your blog.
I mean, if there are a lot of men around on their turf, they can’t be expected to keep their hands to themselves! It’s just in their nature! No big deal! And if she has nice breasts, it’s only fair that she share them! A woman waives her right to be free from sexual harassment and to be taped without her consent as soon as she enters a bar filled with men.
(please note sarcasm)
Ugh, you know, it’s not that unbelievable that on camera, she might have “acted” like she was playing to the audience. It’s part of the socialization that women receive! And plus, she was in public being filmed; she could either play nice, or humiliate herself worse than she already was by the cameras. The immense pressure put on these girls and women from Girls Gone Wild….it’s like being asked to marry someone you really don’t want to marry over a stadium loudspeaker. Do you say yes and go along with something you hate, or do you say no and look like a total asshole in front of everyone??
I feel bad for her. I hope she gets her justice.
So, Jake Doe, if I am understanding you, if Girls Gone Wild is doing a gig at a popular urban bar, every single woman there is to “expect” to show her breasts?? Like, she can’t just go have a drink and stay out of the limelight. Nope. Well, gee, why don’t they make exposing your breasts the cover charge? Excuse me, ma’am, but why are you sitting in the corner sipping your apple martini when we haven’t seen your breasts yet? Look, lady, I don’t make the rules, and you DID decide to come to this bar tonight!
(And something tells me you weren’t talking about any older/fat/non-heteronormative women either. Oh, right, they don’t exist.)
I’ve haven’t heard anything so ridiculous in weeks.
Holy fucking RAGE. I don’t even have words!!!!