Roman Polanski.............

[Geoff_M]

She said No. She said No over, and over, and over again. Even if she had been a fully grown woman it was still rape.

She also faked an asthma attack in an effort to try and make him stop... to no avail. Given that if it had been a real attack and went untreated it could have been fatal, and Polanski didn't even bother to stop. That really speaks to Polanski's mind-set. At one point a woman (believed to be actress Angelica Huston, Jack Nicholson's girlfriend at the time), knocked on the bedroom door and asked if something was wrong, but Polanski assured her through a cracked door that everything was OK. So clearly there were some sort of audible sounds of someone in distress in the bedroom at the time.

He also raped her twice while at Nicholson's house, so it can't be said that perhaps it just "happened" and then Polanski realized it was wrong.

There's also the matter of what Polanski said about his being mystified about what the big deal was all about when he said in an interview with novelist Martin Amis in 1979: "If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… ____ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to ____ young girls. Juries want to ____ young girls. Everyone wants to ____ young girls!" I guess this is what Whoopi was talking about in her "it's just a cultural misunderstanding" defense of Polanski.

 

[Stacerita]

I am shocked that people are sticking up him.

 

[horseshowmom]

How anybody can say this when the court transcripts show that it was by no means consensual is even more beyond me. She said No. She said No over, and over, and over again. Even if she had been a fully grown woman it was still rape. Even if she had slept with three other people consensually that night, it was still rape. That she was 13 just makes it that much sicker. That many of the news articles gloss over the fact that she said no (and the fact that she was drugged, and the fact that she was sodomized) and call it "he seduced her" and "he had sex with her" makes.. flames come out of the side of my head.
As for those who say that "well, he never did anything like that again" that's up for serious question. We don't know for sure if he did.. famous rich people get away with quite a lot. As well, it is public knowledge that he carried on a 'consensual' relationship with Natassja Kinski that began when she was 15.
gahr, sorry, rant over. I have a dear friend who's daughter was raped at 13, and though luckily her attacker didn't get away, he used a lot of these same defenses as did his friends. "He's a nice guy." "He never did anything like this before." "the 13 year old wanted it." Grr. ARgh.

I agree with you 100%!

She also faked an asthma attack in an effort to try and make him stop... to no avail. Given that if it had been a real attack and went untreated it could have been fatal, and Polanski didn't even bother to stop. That really speaks to Polanski's mind-set. At one point a woman (believed to be actress Angelica Huston, Jack Nicholson's girlfriend at the time), knocked on the bedroom door and asked if something was wrong, but Polanski assured her through a cracked door that everything was OK. So clearly there were some sort of audible sounds of someone in distress in the bedroom at the time.

He also raped her twice while at Nicholson's house, so it can't be said that perhaps it just "happened" and then Polanski realized it was wrong.

There's also the matter of what Polanski said about his being mystified about what the big deal was all about when he said in an interview with novelist Martin Amis in 1979: "If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… ____ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to ____ young girls. Juries want to ____ young girls. Everyone wants to ____ young girls!" I guess this is what Whoopi was talking about in her "it's just a cultural misunderstanding" defense of Polanski.

Oh...my...goodness...

Somebody needs to take that monster out and shoot him.

 

[DancingBear]

At one point a woman (believed to be actress Angelica Huston, Jack Nicholson's girlfriend at the time), knocked on the bedroom door and asked if something was wrong, but Polanski assured her through a cracked door that everything was OK. So clearly there were some sort of audible sounds of someone in distress in the bedroom at the time.

Also, Huston (or whoever it was) earlier had left the house. There is no indication in the grand jury testimony that the victim heard Huston back in the house before the knock came on the door, so the girl thought she was alone in the house with him. A very scary situation.

 

[legalsea]

How anybody can say this when the court transcripts show that it was by no means consensual is even more beyond me. She said No. She said No over, and over, and over again. Even if she had been a fully grown woman it was still rape. Even if she had slept with three other people consensually that night, it was still rape. That she was 13 just makes it that much sicker. That many of the news articles gloss over the fact that she said no (and the fact that she was drugged, and the fact that she was sodomized) and call it "he seduced her" and "he had sex with her" makes.. flames come out of the side of my head.
As for those who say that "well, he never did anything like that again" that's up for serious question. We don't know for sure if he did.. famous rich people get away with quite a lot. As well, it is public knowledge that he carried on a 'consensual' relationship with Natassja Kinski that began when she was 15.
gahr, sorry, rant over. I have a dear friend who's daughter was raped at 13, and though luckily her attacker didn't get away, he used a lot of these same defenses as did his friends. "He's a nice guy." "He never did anything like this before." "the 13 year old wanted it." Grr. ARgh.

Agree. Child rapists have a very high rate of recidivism. Just because he fled to France does not mean that he did not engage in such behavior again. He more than likely did.

 

[DancingBear]

BTW, even in oh-so-cosmopolitan France, the current age of consent is 15.