Can't believe how low key the coverage of this is to be honest. Ronaldo is a household name all over the world.

How do you know she is even telling the truth?

I think that's mostly due to Ronaldos lawyers threatening to sue outlets willing to report.

I hope justice can be served but I've only now realised that Ronaldos admission was made towards his lawyer and is thus confidential and inadmissible in court. You really have to feel for the woman, not only because of what happened to her but because of the drawn out legal battle that is yet to follow. If there's one thing clear in this case it's that she's definitely not in this for the publicity.

Also Spiegel is such a disgusting embarrassment of a magazine. The leading editor in this article took the time out to write a 25 part twitter thread about this case and about two thirds of it he's blowing his own trumpet how they have the highest journalistic standards, the best fact checkers in the business and are totally not afraid of Ronaldo and his lawyers. Such a revolting rag they used to be one of if not the best newspaper in Europe, now they're basically Bild with a slightly better way of writing.

Sicario wrote:

How do you know she is even telling the truth?

If you haven't read the Der Spiegel reportage, it's very damning. There's a highly detailed account of the incident, backed up by a police report and case number, medical checks, an apparent documented confession of certain aspects from Ronaldo, and the fact of the historical settlement for hundreds of thousands.

It's possible that none of the above has been fact checked in any way, but Der Spiegel is a 70 year old publication with a huge circulation, so … nah.

Just a basic question to the floor. We always ask this question 'is she lying'? Is this a typical question we ask when people report other crimes?

In my experience, it's typically one of the first questions that is asked about any alleged crime. I guess that's cultural though - perhaps depends on which part of the world you live in.

I've lived in high rape incidence (e.g., South Africa) and low rape incidence (e.g., US) countries. I find that other crimes are treated as when/where did it happen, and rape typically starts as an interrogation of the victim.

Claudius wrote:

I've lived in high rape incidence (e.g., South Africa) and low rape incidence (e.g., US) countries. I find that other crimes are treated as when/where did it happen, and rape typically starts as an interrogation of the victim.

This has been my experience as well.

I guess baises kick in. If you like the alleged perpetrator (or just sympathise with him because he’s also a man), then it’s a pretty easy defence in a crime where it’s often one word against the other, especially when you have the odd false claim to refer to. I was listening to a podcast about a rape case in America, the extent of the character and lifestyle assisinatoon of the victim was quite shocking to hear, most of which I have to say seemed not only completely irrelevant but would have discribed the large majority of your average teenager.

I don't think it's even a matter of opinion - in cultures everywhere on the globe for thousands of years men have raped women and accused them of being liars after the fact, or somehow found ways to blame them for the rape. Other crimes aren't nearly met with the same scepticism.

That's not to say there isn't more to it - I know of several cases where women have wrongfully accused men of raping them and that's just counting cases where they've come clean about it afterwards or were found out - unlike many other crimes a consensual situation can be turned into a non-consensual one afterwards, be it intentional or not.

Still, that alone doesn't come close to explaining the absurd amount of scrutiny the victim experiences - and regardless of its causes that scrutiny serves as incentive for predators to assault women. That alone should be reason enough to, even if one reserves judgment, keep one from asking dumbass questions like "how do we know she not lying"

There was a good thread studying the format of known false accusations of sexual assault and rape by women on Twitter yesterday. I can't find it (which is a bit average of me, sorry) but it was based on a US corpus of data, and its findings can be summarised as what follows.

The majority of recorded known false accusations are:

  1. Teenagers or women who shouldn't be having sex, or be pregnant, trying to exonerate themselves
  2. Women who have mental illnesses, or Munchausen syndrome
  3. Women trying to get revenge on someone close to them

False accusations rarely describe an encounter that was consensual up to a point, then became non-consensual. They tend to offer up less detailed, more black and white scenarios. And they're a small proportion of reports overall. 

I would take accounts like Mayorga's at face value. There's a lot of detail, and a lot of corroborating evidence there.

Either it's true, or she's decided off the bat to put herself through a tortuous, anxious encounter with the police and the health system on the night of the incident. Having had a friend who went through that process with me and one other person waiting around in the police station for fifteen hours, it's a pretty horrific journey for the victims of assault.

Is it coincidence that this incident happened just before he joined R.Madrid and all this comes out when he leaves?

Without knowing all the facts it is hard to say anything really, the police have said they are going to reopen the investigation and that's the right thing.

Burnwinter wrote:

Can't believe how low key the coverage of this is to be honest. Ronaldo is a household name all over the world.

Has it been low key though? It's been on the sport front pages here for days now.

I think people who are shocked by this story just have short memories. This is the same bloke who was arrested for allegedly raping two women in London back in 2005, half a decade before the Las Vegas assault. Scotland Yard eventually dropped the case due to a lack of evidence, but it's been obvious what kind of person he is for the last fourteen years.

I also think Ronaldo belongs in a broader discussion about modern football and the way it creates psychopaths. If MeToo ever pierces through the dome of corruption and power that surrounds the football world there's gonna be an insane amount of ugliness boiling up to the surface. I know of at least one case involving a former Arsenal captain (no, not van Persie) who allegedly raped a female Swedish football player in London.

Was checking twitter when it was breaking and it wasn't trending anywhere. Not in the states, not in UK/london, india, italy or portugal. It was surprising considering how big a star he is. So I was wondering how big is the metoo outside of the US.

Klaus wrote:
Burnwinter wrote:

Can't believe how low key the coverage of this is to be honest. Ronaldo is a household name all over the world.

Has it been low key though? It's been on the sport front pages here for days now.

I've seen almost nothing of it, but definitely willing to accept I don't have eyes on every media outlet. Agree with you on both the prior counts against Ronaldo, and the can of worms that lies in the private sphere of top flight football more generally.

But also, if you compare it to the exposure of Harvey Weinstein, these allegations should have a similar force, but I doubt Juventus will take any action unless dragged kicking and screaming to do so—and by whom?

goon wrote:

So who thinks Madrid knew about the allegations?

Definitely. His sale makes way more sense now. And the lack of English clubs willing to take him.

Looks guilty as fuck. He should be suspended by juve immediately.

Burnwinter wrote:
Klaus wrote:

Has it been low key though? It's been on the sport front pages here for days now.

I've seen almost nothing of it, but definitely willing to accept I don't have eyes on every media outlet. Agree with you on both the prior counts against Ronaldo, and the can of worms that lies in the private sphere of top flight football more generally.

But also, if you compare it to the exposure of Harvey Weinstein, these allegations should have a similar force, but I doubt Juventus will take any action unless dragged kicking and screaming to do so—and by whom?

Saw a story on the Guardian today, which is the first mention of this I have seen other than on here (though I only regularly look on a few news/football sites).

It's finally appeared on the BEEB today. There was obviously some sort of restriction up until now.