Jian Ghomeshi Will Harm Us All

When Quartz, a well respected business newsletter, argued sexual preferences are a human right while linking to Jian Ghomeshi's Facebook statement after being fired from his job, I assumed it was an open and shut case. Clearly it was not.

Not Just Bitchy points out there are two different set of rules when it comes to evidence. One for men, another for women. By referring to a single Facebook post without any context it at least looks like Quartz took Mr. Ghomeshi's account of events at face value.

Facebook
In his statement on Facebook the ex-CBC radio host argues that his interest in BDSM shouldn’t have cost him his job. He claims to be the victim of a vindictive ex lover and says he had the full support of his employer, whom he now is suing for tens of millions, until they fired him. Since then nine women have come forward accusing Mr. Ghomeshi of abuse. I do not know if he did it nor do I need to have an opinion about it. I just hope justice prevails. Not Just Bitchy summarizes the Jian Ghomeshi story so far in a number of links.

Fall out
Of course nobody should loose their job over their sexual preferences. Still it happens. What worries me is the inevitable backlash against the BDSM community. Even though I believe kink will never gain general acceptance, high profile media cases like this set back the clock and make us look like a bunch of dangerous freaks where predators can find a safe place to hide. If you are vanilla you will never understand what drives kinky people. The press is going to have a field day and milk the story to the last drop. Freaky things those weirdo's associate with sex, a predator disguised as a celebrity fallen from grace and a lot of abused women: this story will sell newspapers, clicks or whatever. We, the non-predatory kind of kinky people will pay the price for that.

More on Jian Ghomeshi Jian Ghomeshi Will Harm Us All (November 05, 2014) No (not always) means no (November 23, 2014) Jian Ghomeshi Pleads Not Guilty  (October 04, 2015) Horror-Silvesternacht: 1000 Men Assault 100 Women (January 05, 2016) Guilty by the Numbers? Beyond the Judgement of Solomon (January 19, 2016) Jian Ghomeshi Not Guilty on 5 Counts of Sexual Assault (May 23, 2016) Ghomeshi and Kavanaugh: Bread and Circusses (September 22, 2018)