Rape myths from Russell Brand trial spreading online, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): Rape charities have warned that “devastating” rape myths spreading on social media risk influencing young men, following comments made during Russell Brand’s trial.
The former actor and comedian, 51, was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison on Monday after being found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
Charities told The i Paper that arguments put forward by Ian Winter KC, Brand’s barrister, were “increasingly being normalised in the manosphere” because of how quickly they spread online. Those arguments included the claim that Brand could not be a rapist because his accusers had not “resisted or screamed.”
“These myths are no longer confined to a courtroom or a dinner-table conversation,” said Red Godfrey-Sagoo, CEO of Rape Crisis South London. She told The i Paper that the media climate allowed the myths to “play out in real time,” because details of the trial were “shared, repeated and amplified” within minutes.
Young men, she added, were particularly susceptible to believing misinformation about sexual assault. “[Rape myths] are increasingly being normalised in the manosphere, where misogyny is packaged as entertainment and young men are taught that women lie, consent is negotiable and accusers are the enemy,” Godfrey-Sagoo said.
A 2024 survey conducted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) found that half of young people in the UK aged 16 to 24 believe a rape has not been committed if the victim did not fight back.
During Brand’s month-long trial at Southwark Crown Court, Winter told the court that the rape of a 21-year-old woman in the comedian’s home in 2009 should only be “regarded as a man who went too far.” He also suggested that Brand must be innocent because none of his victims had “resisted or screamed or had even tried to leave.”
Winter told the judge that one of the sexual assault victims, whose breasts were groped by Brand at a Soho bar in 2004, was “not particularly vulnerable,” because “being tipsy is not something that gave rise to vulnerability and there’s no evidence the defendant knew she was tipsy.” The KC argued that “it is not criminal to treat women unkindly before, during or after sex” and that it is not “criminal to be disrespectful or rude or to act like a crazy idiot.”
He also suggested that living a “highly promiscuous life is entirely lawful however morally distasteful you may find it,” urging jurors to separate Brand’s lifestyle and treatment of women from whether he committed a crime. Winter has previously represented Charlie Elphicke, the former Conservative MP sentenced to two years in jail in 2020 for sexually assaulting two women.
Jill Greenfield, chair of The Fawcett Society, told The i Paper: “The difficulty is the need for consent can be seen as negotiable. There are already noted to be issues about the understanding of what consent actually means to young men.” The CPS survey also found that understanding of what constitutes consent varies by age group.
While 87 per cent of people aged 65 and over recognised that being in a relationship or marriage did not mean consent to sex could be assumed, this number dropped to 42 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds.
In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Bennathan laid out the law’s definition of consent. “Whatever women wear, wherever they go, indeed whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and to demand justice from the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Russell Brand, act without their consent,” he told the court.
Greenfield said: “What the judge did during his summing up was really important. Not all judges do that.” She pointed out that while it was Winter’s job as a criminal defence barrister to “scrutinise” allegations and “put forward a strong defence against extremely serious accusations,” it was “worrying” to hear him perpetuate common misconceptions around victim-blaming.
As part of his defence, Winter had questioned why the allegations against Brand did not surface during the height of the #MeToo movement, noting that many women at the time were publicly re-evaluating past sexual experiences with famous figures. “How is it that not one of them thought what happened to them involved a crime during the #MeToo movement?” Winter asked.
Deniz Uğur, deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “It is appalling to see Brand’s defence barrister intentionally lean into a range of tired tropes and myths about rape. This kind of cynical attempt to discredit survivors pushes back progress in access to justice and in tackling harmful attitudes and beliefs across society.”
Hannah Couchman, a barrister and senior legal officer at Rights of Women, said: “This behaviour persists despite growing understanding of the many ways it is problematic. Our criminal justice system can and should uphold the defendant’s right to a fair trial while ensuring the courtroom is not a venue for legitimising discredited assumptions which further traumatise survivors and undermine justice.”
Winter did not respond to The i Paper’s request for comment.
