Earlier this week (April 6), Kesha's appeal to be released from her record label and contract under Sony and Dr. Luke was rejected by the court. Kesha claims that producer Dr. Luke both physically and mentally abused her throughout her career, accusing him of rape. Female judge Shirley Kornreich said: "Although [Luke's] alleged actions were directed to Kesha, who is female, [her claims] do not allege that [Luke] harbored animus toward women or was motivated by gender animus when he allegedly behaved violently toward Kesha."
Kesha
She added: "Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime."
Let that sink in for a moment. 'Every rape is NOT a gender-motivated hate crime'. Now let's narrow that down to this case and the people involved. A woman, Kesha, was allegedly raped by a man, Dr. Luke. If the alleged rape did indeed take place, was it out of the love, respect and kindness Dr. Luke wanted to show towards Kesha? Or did he allegedly do so to assert himself as the dominant sex?
Do men who respect and love women rape them? Or do men who rape women do so because they think they can get away with it because of the very FACT the person they are raping is a female? Rape is nothing short of gendered violence so to hear a woman in such a position of power say something so stupid is worrying.
Journalist Julie Bindel said in an opinion piece for The Guardian last year: "Rape is a sadistic crime committed by men who hate women - not by those who desire us so much they have no self-control." She's right.
Excuses have to stop being made for these men who should be able to defend themselves. Looking for reasons other than wanting to assert dominance on someone
Katie Russell, the National Spokesperson for Rape Crisis England & Wales adds: "Rape is both gendered and hateful. While many boys and men sadly are raped, and the impacts on their lives of this terrible crime are no less serious or long-lasting, the majority of rape is perpetrated against women and girls and, more significantly, the overwhelming majority of rapists are men.
"Rape is an abuse of power, an assertion of control by the perpetrator over the victim, a physical and personal violation that can be deeply traumatic; is that not hateful?
"While the exact definition of 'gender-motivated hate crime' can and no doubt will be debated, the judge's words, whether intentionally or not, are belittling and trivialise the seriousness of rape and the experiences of women and girls who have survived sexual violence."
On a broader stance, we could take a look at men who rape other men. Statistically, men who do rape other men do so with an eye to 'feminising' them. They want the other man to be emasculated - something based entirely on societal constructs but something that unfortunately exists for people around the globe.
So should we really be shocked that a judge who holds the idea that a rape can be something NOT motivated by a lack of respect for a gender decided to throw out Kesha's claims? It would seem she never stood a chance...