Russia Today's rape apologia for Ched Evans reflects the country's attitude

The Guardian ^ | May 5, 2012 | Miriam Elder

[cunning_fish]

When Sheffield United footballer Ched Evans was sentenced to five years in jail last month for raping a 19-year-old woman, the backlash was immediate. Fellow footballers called the victim a "slag". Online commenters spewed vile hatespeak, accusing her of asking for it.

Who can we now add to that list? The Kremlin's English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today.

"Life sucks in a bad way if you happen to live in Britain," begins a column published on the channel's website in the wake of the Evans verdict. "Disclaimer: Only if you are a man of virile age. Being rich and hot-looking makes it worse." What follows is the worst of rape apologia, a litany of excuses, justifications and jokes that women have spent decades fighting against – 1,000 words devoted to proving why Evans, and, indeed, all mankind, is the true victim.

"No allegations of physical force," writes the anonymous author, venting his rage at the verdict. "No coercion … Yet Evans is found guilty." Let readers remember that the court convicted Evans after hearing that his victim was too drunk to consent to sex, that she believed her drink may have been spiked, that she has no memory of the incident.

But, according to Russia Today, who hasn't? "You can think whatever you like about the moral standing of the three people involved," the Russia Today author writes. "But the last time we checked there was no statute against getting pissed drunk and having a drunken romp. Not in Britain at least. Because if there were, too many lads to count could be accused of statutory rape after many a pint on a Saturday night."

[Tax-chick]

You can think whatever you like about the moral standing of the three people involved ...

Okay, I will.