{"id":594,"date":"2016-05-06T09:31:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T13:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=594"},"modified":"2016-05-06T09:31:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T13:31:05","slug":"kesha-court-case-puzzles-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/kesha-court-case-puzzles-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Kesha Court Case Puzzles"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexa Marquis, Editor-in-Chief \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As someone who spends a large part of my life consuming content that deals with what\u2019s going on in today\u2019s society and pop culture, the verdict in Kesha\u2019s court case definitely disappoints me, but it does not surprise me. I was surprised when Chris Brown beat Rihanna and people at school continued to listen to his music. I was surprised when I googled Woody Allen one day and found allegations of child abuse under the \u201cPersonal History\u201d section of Wikipedia \u2014 right after lists of awards and accolades he had received. However, today, when I learned that Kesha would not be allowed to break her contract with her sexual abuser, I was not surprised.<\/p>\n

We live in a society in which we need to prove that rape happened, that after surviving, the victim is told that her word isn\u2019t good enough. But here\u2019s the thing with Kesha: she wasn\u2019t trying to have her rapist imprisoned, she simply wanted to be let out of the contract that bound them together. Kesha is a prime example of why women don\u2019t bother to come forward and report sexual abuse \u2014 they get dragged through hell without receiving justice in return.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter who you are or how many hit songs you\u2019ve had. We should live in a world where we help victims realize that they are actually survivors and allow them to reclaim their lives. We should live in a world where we stop punishing the victim for fighting back and forcing them to relive their never-ending nightmare. It makes me angry that this is going to be reason for more men and women to suffer in silence, rather than speak up about their abuse. As if being through the actual traumatic experience wasn\u2019t enough, they must continue to endure it, and it is unfortunate that being put through the legal and emotional wringer doesn\u2019t provide the justice it should.<\/p>\n

It is 2016, and I am torn between reading stories like the article by Bill Cosby\u2019s victims encouraging women to speak out against sexual assault, and then seeing reports like Kesha\u2019s that make me wonder: why bother? Nothing will change until victims are taken seriously in this fight against sexual assault. If a celebrity can\u2019t even be granted distance from her rapist, how is any regular victim going to feel the answer would be any different for them?<\/p>\n

Kesha is being looked at as an investment first. Everything else that she is and everything else that is at stake, like her mental health, her physical health, her life and her career outside of Sony, come in second. The court has sided with the company that is not standing up for her, but for her accused rapist and abuser.<\/p>\n

This is what will make victims want to stay silent about their abuse, as if it\u2019s their own fault. This will continue to enable that silence; victims will see Kesha\u2019s story and how the justice system is failing her. It\u2019s so hard to see that we live in a world where our justice system will force a victim of sexual and mental abuse to work with a company that supports her abuser. I believe Kesha and I believe in her. I can\u2019t feel her pain, but I stand beside her in solidarity. I will support her and all victims, even when the courts don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexa Marquis, Editor-in-Chief \u00a0 As someone who spends a large part of my life consuming content that deals with what\u2019s going on in today\u2019s society and pop culture, the verdict in Kesha\u2019s court case definitely disappoints me, but it does not surprise me. I was surprised when Chris Brown beat Rihanna and people at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[259],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sexual-assault"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/511295986_kesha-zoom-11df5854-361c-43f8-a3d4-642b192c3b17.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":596,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}