Boundless Boyish Charm

"The incident that changed everything was on a Sunday night. Oddly, I actually remember exactly what I was wearing and the purse I had with me. The evening started out fine. We had a drink, we smoked some pot and we hung out chatting. A while later we started kissing. Suddenly, it was like he became a different person. He was super angry, almost frenzied and disassociated."
"I distinctly remember the jarring sense of suddenly being abruptly shaken out of my reverie. I remember thinking "what the fuck is going on here? What's wrong with him?" Jian had his hands around my throat, had pulled down my pants and was aggressively and violently penetrating me with his fingers. When it was over, I got up and it was clear I was really angry. My sexual interactions until then had always been consensual, enjoyable and fun."

Yesterday I went into the CBC building and for the first time in the six years that I've been back in Canada, I didn't feel the pang of stress at the thought of running into Jian. Or see the giant image of his smiling face looming above me."
Toronto-based lawyer, Huffington Post blog

"He did not ask if I was into it. It was never a question."
"[He] threw me in front of him on the ground and started closed-fist pounding me on the head repeatedly until my ears were ringing."
"And I'm on the floor and then I'm in tears. And then he said 'you need to go'."
Lucy DeCoutere, Canadian actress, Trailer Park Boys

"Who is going to risk being potentially sued for defamation by a party who has already assembled a team of lawyers and PR agents and showed a readiness to take on even the comparatively powerful CBC for $55-million? Given that they have already been painted by Ghomeshi's version of events as being into BDSM kink -- something they may not even be, or may not want known to friends and family -- how quickly will any accusers come forward publicly now and risk being joined to this outsized action?"
"Since Ghomeshi's strategy must have far more to do with his reputation and re-employability than any potential reinstatement ... his interest lies in doing his best to ensure both that his narrative prevails and that those with a different tale to tell don't tell it. This multi-million-dollar action, however frivolous legally might just accomplish both."
Howard Levitt, Employment lawyer

"He was smitten with me, and I was taken by his charm -- he's a very charismatic man, no question."
"And I said no, because I didn't know you. ... He reached over and grabbed my hair very hard and pulled my head back."
"...It's too difficult to prove [to the police]. It's embarrassing."
As It Happens interview

As for Mr. Ghomeshi, it never happened, none of it. Certainly not as the events were being described by the now-eight women who have come forward courageously speaking of their encounters with the man who charmed so many listeners on his "Q" CBC radio program that reached incredibly popular heights, making him a celebrity at age 47, a Canadian original.

And he unquestionably is that, a Canadian original. He enjoys "rough sex", he admits, but only participates in "sexual practices that are mutually agreed upon, consensual, and exciting for both partners". His interpretive idea of exciting, however, is somewhat different in character than the excitement that the women who were his partnersvictims claim, it would seem.

Poor Jian Ghomeshi, the Toronto Star must really have it in for him. But his fans will no doubt rally and come to his defence. After all, what has he really done that is so amiss? Didn't Fifty Shades of Grey, the 2011 bestseller that broke book sales into the stratosphere and became the top topic of conversation for the public to outline bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism to great acclaim break the ice?

And in citing his little escapades that gave so much pleasure to himself and to the willing and eager women he shared them with, comparing them to that fabulous novelistic accounting, isn't there some measure of public acceptance? After all, sex involves just about everyone, every living creature and some like it hot. He does. Many others do, too. It may not be respectful of the 'other', but who'se to say?

On the other hand, the infliction of pain on a sex partner isn't really many people's idea of nice and decent behaviour. Now being compounded by the implied threat of being sued for millions if those who were treated to such special symbols of regard as objects of unusual desire seek what they in their naivete may believe to represent justice...?

They were, after all, informed directly from the source that after the fact, they needed to go, depart the scene, behave as though nothing had ever happened. And they disobeyed that strict order.