Russell Brand and why the allegations took so long to surface

It came as little surprise that the darker corners of the internet were ablaze with conspiracy theories this week, after Russell Brand used his YouTube channel to call the allegations of sexual assault and rape against him a “coordinated attack” and a “serious and concerted agenda” to control his voice.

But even among more mainstream voices, questions were raised about the timing. Toby Young, a former editor at the Spectator, asked if there was a “more innocent” reason why the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches had “waited this long to produce their findings”, while the British business magnate Alan Sugar tweeted that it was “strange” that multiple people had come forward at the same time.

Russell Brand never hid his misogyny. So why did so many fail to see it?

Blatant displays of misogyny, such as “jokes” about sexual abuse and degradation of women, are never “harmless banter”. Radical feminists have been saying this since “lad culture”, a popular youth subculture that glorifies male violence, exaggerated expressions of masculinity and sexual aggression, first emerged in Britain as part of a backlash against feminist gains in the 1990s.

Whenever we tried to raise the alarm about this misogynistic “banter”, which came to dominate TV shows, newspaper columns, comedy acts and student life alike throughout the 2000s and 2010s, they accused us of “not having a sense of humour”, of being “too uptight”.

Now we’ll see how many bought Brand’s anti-‘mainstream media’ shtick

Russell Brand has spent the past decade telling the world not to trust the mainstream media industry. Now the comedian will find out whether the wider public has bought into this scorched-earth narrative – or if they believe the claims of rape and sexual assault reported in the Sunday Times and on Channel 4 over the weekend.

The allegations against Brand – which he denies – once again leave the British media industry reeling from claims that a prominent man was able to misuse his position for sexual pleasure.

The 5 Most Shocking Things About How Weinstein Got Away With It

The mounting allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein opened the floodgates in Hollywood and elsewhere, revealing a systematic culture of men who had power preying on those who had little or none.

But Weinstein's story isn't just that of a catalytic moment for the movement that Time recognized in its Person of the Year issue. It's a still-unfolding tale of a master manipulator, one who had a large network of increasingly visible co-conspirators, what The New York Times calls in a bombshell report published Tuesday night a "complicity machine."

WikiLeaks founder baffled by sex assault claims

ONE of the women claiming she was sexually assaulted by Julian Assange took a "trophy photo" of him lying naked in her bed, he says.

The white-haired computer impresario had been invited to stay in her empty flat when he visited Stockholm to give a lecture last August, shortly after WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of classified US documents on the Afghanistan war.

Fox News’ Growing Challenge: High Ratings Vie With Troubling Disclosures

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - These should be halcyon days for Fox News Channel: Its outsize ratings have been growing even more in the wake of the public’s fascination with the all-encompassing news cycle revolving around President Donald Trump. A primetime transition from the popular Megyn Kelly to the stalwart Tucker Carlson has taken place without a hitch or hiccup. Indeed, the network’s viewership among the audience advertisers want mos, people between 25 and 54, soared in the first quarter - rising 30% over the year-earlier period.

Does anybody really believe that Jian Ghomeshi did not assault those women?

All we really learned from today's not guilty verdict on all four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking against Ghomeshi is that a prosecution team, working within a broken justice system, couldn’t convince what seems a less-than-sensitive judge.

Two questions emerge. On the micro level, how could the Crown have been so inept?

Why the Jian Ghomeshi trial may change nothing for sexual assault survivors

There were promising signs in the days after the allegations about Jian Ghomeshi were published — and more so after charges were laid.

The stories that emerged on #beenrapedneverreported prompted conversations, on and offline, about what changes were needed so women would not feel afraid, failed, betrayed or ignored by the justice system. The police chief at the time, Bill Blair, appealed for victims to come forward so police could investigate “as quickly and compassionately as possible.” The provincial government launched a framework to tackle sexual violence and harassment and announced additional funding for sexual assault centres — though demand still exceeds the services provided.

How A Stanford Student Accused Of Assaulting Multiple Women Graduated

Sara, a recent graduate of Stanford University, is a survivor. During her freshman year at the school, she says, a male student she was dating turned violent after she refused to have sex with him. He choked her and threatened to kill her, whispering in her ear that no one would care if she died, she says.

Sara reported the attack to Stanford administrators, who then spoke with Robert, the alleged assailant. University administrators told Sara that he didn’t contest her story.

New Zealand MPs Kicked Out Of Parliament For Revealing Their Sexual Assault

New Zealand’s Parliament resulted in a walk-out Wednesday, as the speaker attempted to shout down and ultimately kicked out several female members of Parliament who disclosed they had been sexually assaulted.

The uproar began when Prime Minister John Key claimed that Labour and Green Party members “back the rapists” because they protested the treatment of Kiwis, some of whom have committed violent crimes, being detained in Australia.

Tattered Justice System Overlooks Dangerous Cops

Law enforcement officers accused of sexual misconduct have jumped from job to job — and at times faced fresh allegations that include raping women — because of a tattered network of laws and lax screening that allowed them to stay on the beat.

A yearlong Associated Press investigation into sex abuse by cops, jail guards, deputies and other state law enforcement officials uncovered a broken system for policing bad officers, with significant flaws in how agencies deal with those suspected of sexual misconduct and glaring warning signs that go unreported or get overlooked.

Hundreds Of Cops Kicked Off Force For Committing Sex Crimes

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Flashing lights pierced the black of night, and the big white letters made clear it was the police. The woman pulled over was a daycare worker in her 50s headed home after playing dominoes with friends. She felt she had nothing to hide, so when the Oklahoma City officer accused her of erratic driving, she did as directed.

She would later tell a judge she was splayed outside the patrol car for a pat-down, made to lift her shirt to prove she wasn't hiding anything, then to pull down her pants when the officer still wasn't convinced. He shined his flashlight between her legs, she said, then ordered her to sit in the squad car and face him as he towered above. His gun in sight, she said she pleaded "No, sir" as he unzipped his fly and exposed himself with a hurried directive.

Congressman Behind Planned Parenthood Assault Kept Paying Aide After Sexual Harassment Complaints

WASHINGTON -- A Republican congressman leading the fight to defund Planned Parenthood paid his chief of staff for nearly six months after at least three female staffers complained that the top aide was sexually harassing subordinates, according to four sources close to the situation.

The women told North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows about chief of staff Kenny West's behavior in March, sources said. At first, Meadows barred West from his D.C. office, but reassigned him to the district office and continued paying him. Meadows eventually sent West off with a sizable severance.

University Sexual Assault Study Sees Unwanted Contact For Almost 1 In 4 U.S. Female Undergrads

Almost one in four undergraduate women at 27 U.S. schools report non-consensual sexual contact in a survey released by the Association of American Universities (AAU) Monday.

Ivy League institutions such as Harvard and Yale partook in an extensive study that yielded responses from over 150,000 professional, graduate and undergraduate students.

It was called "one of the largest surveys on sexual assault and sexual misconduct to provide insight into students' perceptions of campus climate in terms of both number of schools and number of students."

Provincial Tories rejected Meredith before Harper took him

Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives rejected Don Meredith as a byelection candidate five years before Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him to the Senate, the Star has learned.

Meredith, 50, was exiled from Harper’s Conservative caucus on Wednesday night after the Star reported allegations he had a sexual relationship with a teenage girl.

The married Pentecostal minister had run as a federal Conservative in a March 2008 byelection in Toronto Centre, finishing a distant fourth in a contest won by Liberal Bob Rae. Two years later, he was appointed as a senator by Harper.

Military's Response To Sexual Misconduct Report Curtailed By General's Orders

Weeks before the release of a scathing report into military sexual misconduct, Canada's top general issued orders for the military to plan to ignore key recommendations, including the creation of an independent centre to take complaints and provide support and expertise.

CBC News has obtained orders written by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson and circulated for "Action" to 21 top generals and military managers on Feb. 25.

Sexual Assault is rooted in an inherent imbalance of power

Sexual assault is any unwanted act of a sexual nature forced by one or more persons upon another individual.  This includes unwanted touching (also known as sexual harassment) and rape. 

Drugs or alcohol may be used to intoxicate the victim.  This includes alcohol or drugs that the victim has consumed either voluntarily or involuntarily as well as the use of anesthesiaduring an operation or proceedure.

It's clear that men and boys are victims of sexual abuse, but 86 per cent of victims of sexual assault who reported to police in 2004 were female.  This article will focus on sexual assault as a women's and girl's issue.

Cindy Gladue Case: Not Guilty Verdict Ignites Outrage, Protests

The circumstances of Cindy Gladue's last hours were horrific. The mother of two bled to death in a motel bathtub, suffering from an 11-centimetre vaginal wound.

And the trial of the man accused of killing her was no less appalling, say aboriginal activists.

Earlier this month, an Edmonton jury found Ontario trucker Bradley Barton not guilty of first-degree murder in the 2011 death of Gladue, a First Nations woman.

Sexual assault law in Canada: What women need to know

Canadian women making decisions on whether to report sexual assault should know that while Canada's law defining sexual assault is itself positive, the processes that govern reporting, prosecuting, defending and adjudicating this crime pose serious hazards for women.

What follows is an overview of significant changes to Canada's sexual assault law and the way it is implemented, from 1982 to the present:

1982: Parliament broadens definition of rape and criminalizes wife rape

In 1982, the federal government reformed the crime of rape, which previously applied only where a man had non-consensual intercourse with a woman not his wife. The 1982 reforms broadened the crime by including all forms of unwanted sexual contact, not just intercourse, and criminalized wife rape for the first time.

Women's Rights Group Demands Investigation Into Rape Allegations At Detention Center

A women’s rights group is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights investigate allegations of sexual abuse at a Texas immigrant detention center that houses families.

In a press statement issued Friday, UltraViolet pointed to multiple allegations of abuse contained in an open letter published by the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund earlier this month against Karnes County Residential Center.