Dominic Strauss-Kahn released

There was such a power imbalance between them that I would have liked to have seen DSK attempt to explain in court how he ensured her consent in the 7-9 minute hurried sexual encounter between complete strangers that left his semen spattered on a hotel room carpet.

Cote, let me ask. Imagine Ms Diallo was unfortunate enough to be raped this weekend. Horrible to contemplate, I know, but bear with me. How could she obtain justice, in your view, given her past lies? Or is she denied it forever?

CoteDAzur - where is the evidence of money obsession - I mean what an odd way to go about getting money from DSK.

If all she wanted was money, why didn't she just deal with DSK direct - why go through the whole hassle of getting the police involved?

I do find it very odd that people think Ms DIallo was in it for the money? I say that as someone who has stayed in that hotel and knowing that the staff that supported their co-worker most certainly would not have got paid time off work to do so.

I mean why don't people talk about the obvious money and power obsession of DSK? Why is his obsession with power and money simply accepted?

But there is no evidence whatsoever that anyone has paid Ms Diallo to make the claims she has - that is just pure speculation/wishful thinking on the part of people who are having trouble separating the personal from the political.

I also think it is a hugely offensive thing to imply about this woman on the basis of zero evidence, other than handy timing for Sarkozy. DSK is well known to be a sexual predator - the only surprising thing is that he hasn't been part of a scandal before. Oh wait, he has - when he allegedly attempted to rape Tristane Banon.

Ms Banon has already been attacked in the press as being unstable/a fantasist/part of a conspiracy to discredit DSK (bit odd this one considering her mother is a Socialist) etc.

Poor DSK huh - he just seems to be one very unlucky guy what with being the victim of the gold digging whore false rape claim and the vengeful fantasist false attempted rape claim.

Considering that false rape claims are no more common than false claims for any other sort of crime, it would appear that he is one unlucky dude to be the victim of two such claims in his lifetime! Not only that, but the poor guy is just surrounded by conspiracies! Sheesh, you couldn't make it up.

I mean when you think how rare conspiracies are, and when you think how rare false rape claims are, one can only think how unusually unlucky this man with a reputation for sexual harassment seduction and aggressive sexual predation womanising, is.

What do you mean, "what money?", Beachcomber?

You asked what could possibly be her motive for lying, and I said it could be money. From some Sarkozy cronie.

You have to admit that the timing of this incident is very curious.

Redsun, I can imagine there are many, many looking at creative ways to undermine and discredit Ms Banon as we type.

Edd, and sadly many folks believe that unless there is a conviction of rape, that rape did not take place. Therefore, no conviction = complainant was a liar, and this kind of "lie" is far worse it seems than almost any other kind of lie.

So, we know that something like 4 or 6% of alleged rapes reported to the authorities result in a conviction, Edd and those who share his views believe that 95% of women who say they have been raped are liars - and guilty of one of the worse types of lies there is.

Actually, because far more rapes are not reported to the authorities, so also do not result in convictions, Edd would view even a larger proportion of women as liars.

But, let's not forget men and children of both sexes can be raped, and when such cases are brought, they also rarely result in a conviction.

That means then that edd must believe that most men who claim they are raped, and most children who claim they are raped are also liars - guilty of one of the worst kind of lies.

Or, in Edd's logic, are men and children somehow more credible than women and not necessarily liars, even if they don't see their rapists convicted?

Just wonderin.

Tristane Banon response.

I wonder if Tristane will be seen as more credible because she comes from a well off, established family ?

As I understand it DNA evidence proved that some sexual encounter took place, and Strauss-Kahn eventually admitted to a sexual encounter, but claimed it was consensual.

Now in my view just because Diallo has lied about being raped then it does not mean that she was not raped by Strauss-Kahn.

The fact that the charges against Strauss-Kahn have been dropped, do not, mean he is not guilty; it merely means that the prosecutors did not feel that their case (which depended largely on Diallo's credibility) was a strong enough case to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty.

However, I do think his credibility has been shot to pieces. I think his credibility was lost during the prep walk - which I would imagine is done to act as a form of public deterrent.

As to how you change the legal system op - well I am scratching my head and trying to think on that one?

What money though Cote?

Is Tristane Banon in it for money too?

Is it misogynistic to believe that perhaps now and again, for whatever reasons, some women do lie about being raped? I get confused sometimes on the feminist threads.

You didn't upset me. You just wrote stupid misogynistic twaddle on a feminist board and I challenged it. Rather than shrug off what I write, it would be better for you to reflect on it. For example, you could have another go at spotting your misogyny and who knows, make a different choice and become a less bigoted person. It would be nice

"What would be her motive for lying about whether DSK raped her or not?"

Money?

It is clear to everyone (prosecutors, press, and even you) that she has once, very convincingly and in detail, lied about being raped when she wasn't and therefore it is conceivable that she could again lie about being raped when she wasn't.

Really? Really? I've spelled out seven things we know about you, all of which are not complimentary, to put it mildly. Some of them are especially egregious on a feminist board.

well StewieGriffinsMom, it's just different viewpoints, I take one side you take the other. It's just as credible for me to say my belief in DSK increases because you don't believe him. I stand by my position

I think it might be act entitled and ignorant in a feminist space.

HTH

I could add an eighth thing:

Edd wonders why slhilly is acting rather holstile towards Edd. Edd will shrug it off though will still be wondering what he did to upset slhilly

Excellent, we can add a fifth, sixth and seventh thing we know about Edd:

• Edd uses words like "darling" to belittle people. So misogynistic in ideology and in practice and no qualms about being misogynistic on a feminist board.
• Edd doesn't understand what Ms Diallo has been shown to lie about. Edd thinks it's been shown that she was not raped.
• Edd has thus either not read the court papers, or has read the court papers and not understood them. What with the papers saying quite categorically that the prosecutors did not know whether the sexual activity was consensual or not, rather that saying the sexual activity was definitely consensual.

I am basing it on the level of the lie. False accusations of rape are far worse than his lies

So, you are saying blackmail and paying hush money is morally acceptable, or even should be encouraged.

Why do you keep referring to Diallo as the "lying woman" but not Strauss Kahn as "the lying man?"

When questioned about the incident, he first said he was having dinner with his daughter at the time it supposedly happened. When forensic evidence was found showing he took part in a sex act with Ms Diallo, he then said, "any sex that took place was consensual." His first statement was quite clearly a lie. But, you choose not to refer to him as a liar.

But she did speak out. No problem there. he probably tried to buy her silence so as to not bother with all the stress and media attention. The lying woman however refused and lost anyway. justice is served tbh

Ah so lying because you are famous and don't want people to know that you are a sexual predator is somehow better than lying because you need asylum from a country where you are at risk, or being confused, and possibly lying, about what happened to you after being sexually assaulted because you feared the consequences of speaking out?

Righto Edd.

Ms Diallo has said that where she is from she would be killed for speaking out against a man of the power of DSK. She has said that the fear of what would be done to her affected her actions. Sounds fair enough to me.

His cronies (allegedly) interfering with the course of justice by trying to pay off a potential witness doesn't sound quite so fair however.

I don't support him. I hate rapists as much as the next person. DSK probably lied because he's a famous figure and didn't want his image tainted in the first place. Not saying his actions are acceptable, but his image is more important than that of some liar (yes, both told lies, hers are worse)