In the Blog

David Frost Acquitted

November 30th, 2008     by Jenna Owsianik     Comments

Last Friday, David Frost was acquitted of all four counts of sexual exploitation. He had been accused of manipulating his former players and their teenage girlfriends into group sex.

Christie Blatchford of the Globe and Mail weighs in on the trial with a superbly inquisitive column.

She writes:

How curious that at the just-ended criminal trial of former junior coach and National Hockey League-accredited player agent David Frost, it was, to use the lexicon of the national game, the girls who had the biggest balls.

The ex-boyfriends/former players took the stand with the privilege of anonymity while the now adult women brazenly exposed their identities in order to give detailed accounts of their stories. Blatchford continues:

Their testimony was so detailed and specific that it had the ring of truth, their demeanour dignified even as they were questioned about their most intimate sexual histories, their evidence about their ex-boyfriends invariably kind. By comparison, both young men were quick to portray them as promiscuous sluts and/or deluded naifs who had confused casual sexual encounters with romance.

Baiting women’s sexuality and playing down our intelligence is SOOO UNORIGINAL, guys! What’s so sad is that it does still work as a silencing tool, particularly in cases such as these where most of the evidence comes down to “he said” vs. “she said” statements.

Whatever really happened, we don’t know for sure, but I’m not quick to assume two women would put themselves through a harsh and demeaning legal process just for the fun of it.

It’s amazing that these women spoke out despite threats of re-victimization and slut-shaming. I’m really proud. On the other hand, homophobia and strict constructs of masculinity may have impacted what the men were willing to say, possibly because, as Blatchford suggests:

…almost anything is better than admitting to sexual abuse by a man - and that it is this same horror which keeps boys quiet and enables abusers to get away with it.

Full article available here.

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