R. Kelly's goddaughter testified that they had sex "innumerable times" while she was underage

[silverstarry]

Follow up to this postUsing the pseudonym Jane, R. Kelly's goddaughter, now 37, testified in federal court that she began visiting his studio regularly beginning when she was 12 or 13 when she accompanied her aunt Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards. Sparkle said that Jane should ask Kelly to be her godfather. “(She said) I should sit on his lap and rub

Comments

[veritas_44]

Change the damn title. She was groomed and raped. I’ve seen multiple headlines where it’s being called sex. Fuck off. It is rape.

[windupbarbie]

I don't think I've seen the word rape even being used in any of the articles I've read. Even the prosecutor is saying "had sex with". Why??

[veritas_44]

It’s fucking infuriating. Not calling it rape is exactly why these assholes are able to hurt so many women before others step in.

[laura_luvage]

I wonder if it's based on some technicality on the law? Here in the UK the DJ Tim Westwood has been outed as a rapist of teenage girls and there was backlash over the media's wording but because the victims were over the age of 14 under UK law it legally called 'sexual activity with a child', if the child is 13 or under it is considered rape by the law. It's absolutely fucked but they might be having to use the 'correct' legal term.

[cassismagic]

[silverstarry]

I think there are some legal and journalistic restrictions when writing about trials, which is why you'll see them add words and phrases like "alleged" (so that the newspaper is reporting what is known as fact and technically not being biased before the defendant is convicted or acquitted" or and "the witness said" (so that the newspaper isn't stating testimony as fact to avoid being sued for libel or defamation). That's why the press refers to "the alleged victim" rather than "the victim" and "the accused" instead of "the perpetrator," "the murderer," "the abuser," etc.

[bossm]

Do people feel better when they use lighter words? It’s the same with saying child porn. Those videos are of sexually abused children. It’s not just porn.

[masktaster]

Thank you, came her to say this

It's absolutely vile that all the articles are referring to it as such and not what it actually is - RAPE. 🤬

[silverstarry]

Sorry, I was in a rush to post this morning before work so I very hurriedly copied/pasted the article title from the source and then summarized quickly. I should have paid more attention to the wording being used.