An Open Letter to Supporters of Julian Assange,

I too, am a supporter of Wikileaks and the work it is doing.

I too, believe that governments around the world, including our own, are not doing the right thing. And doing the 'right thing' is something that matters deeply to me.

There is one thing, however, that I would like people to shut up about. The rape allegations.

Nice guys rape, smart guys rape, guys who have nice conversations and make girls laugh at the party rape them afterwards, and perhaps even guys who want to change the world might rape.

In fact, most rapes occur by perfectly "nice" guys who disguise that it ever happened by
offering a cup of tea or asking the woman he brutally raped out for dinner.

So, before calling her a liar because she allegedly removed some tweets where she said she was having a good time at a party, just remember that having a nice time at the party doesn't mean a woman wants to have sex. I think every woman is cognisant that any indication that a woman did have a good time prior to being raped is used as evidence that she "wanted it". See: any comments section following an article in the mainstream media about footballers raping women who "had a good time".

Let me be clear, I am not saying he did, I am not saying he didn't. That's for a jury to determine on the basis of evidence presented. Evidence that none of us have seen.

eta: Hoyden About Town has a round-up of links to this very topic.