Re: "He was found not guilty, therefore he is innocent"
"The fact that this has had so much publicity in the press etc means that you have to assume that these 'grey areas' are less grey now and were in fact consensual."
Or you assume that the women involved have a correctly low opinion of the legal process. Most rapes do not result in a conviction, even those that make it to court. And the standard method of defence lawyers is to stomp through their private life with hobnail boots to make them feel as shitty as possible. Many rape victims who go to court say they feel like they've been raped twice, once by the rapist and again by the court. And it's most likely that they'll be doing this for nothing, because the rapist is most likely to be found "not guilty".
Added to that, if they're interested in BDSM but had their consent violated, they may not want to be outed as interested in BDSM. It's illegal to be sacked because of what you do in private, but that hasn't stopped numerous employers, and if you run your own business or do anything else relying on your public image then you're basically dead meat. Many people who are outed are ostracised by family and friends. The family courts shouldn't care either, but if you're in a divorce case then you can forget having access to your children. If you're gay then all this is explicitly illegal under anti-discrimination legislation. But if you like to be tied up and have your bum smacked then it's totally legal to discriminate based on that sexual preference. You would then have to go to court to explicitly show how your sexual preference does *not* affect your ability to do your job or look after your children - as quite a few people have had to, over the last few years.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
