Chilling Details About The Rape Of Jessica Mann Emerge In The Harvey Weinstein Trial And It Will Make Your Skin Crawl

Chilling Details About The Rape Of Jessica Mann Emerge In The Harvey Weinstein Trial And It Will Make Your Skin Crawl

Call me cynical, call me anti-men or call me sardonic, but I will go ahead and say, in loud and clear words, that the only way men know how to first claim and subsequently stay in power is by intimidating women by force and/or by manipulation. You see, the way god built us, as equals, he did kind of skew the balance a little when it came down to the physical prowess of it, giving men a  slight edge over women in terms of built and sometimes, strength. And that right there, became the only way men knew how to sustain and place themselves in a position of power – by brute force. Empathy and sensitivity be damned. Masculinity is somehow expressed through show of strength, it must be showcased – with muscles, a loud presence and being dismissive of women – and this veneer should not break. So emotions – of hurt, pain hopelessness- must be brushed under the carpet. And when that doesn’t happen, men are ticking time bombs.

Coming from enough number of women, enough number of times, it has already established the fact that the male ego is one resounding rejection or a ‘no’ away from bursting into a fit of rage and impulsively taking it out on the woman. And because of the deep-rooted patriarchy in the society, that had placed men in that position of power to exploit us, we let them take it out on us women for the longest time, but not anymore. The coming of the #MeToo movement being the greatest act of courage pulled on by woman who refused to be beaten down, and had a lot of women come out with their stories of assault, throwing big powerful names under the bus, one of them being of the American film producer, and #MeToo prime accused, Harvey Weinstein.

Currently slapped with almost five ongoing cases of sexual abuse, Harvey Weinstein was one of the first people whose name was exposed in the movement, by a number of women. And one such woman, who had the courage to finally stand up and go against this movie mogul in the industry is Jessica Mann. Laying out the graphic and horrific details of the times and the way Harvey Weinstein orchestrated his sexual manoeuvres and manipulation in Mann’s life, she began her testimony at his trial stating how when the first time she met Weinstein, she felt it was a blessing, but little did she know, it would turn out to be the biggest regret of her life.

Coming clean about the times Harvey Weinstein forcibly raped her and performed oral sex on her, Jessica Mann claimed several instances when the producer took advantage of his position in the fraternity to intimidate her into being in a relationship that would revolve around his sexual needs. Recalling one such instance from the time he raped her in the room of DoubleTree hotel in New York, Mann said, “I was panicked because my worst nightmare was about to happen” remembering the moments leading up to the assault. She in fact, also mentioned how the producer had had to inject himself with a needle to get an erection before he could rape Mann in the suite that night.

Also Read : ‘Raped By Harvey Weinstein at 21 At Cannes,’ Says Asia Argento

She said, “I was just trying to collect myself for a minute and I see a needle in the trash can and I flip out, stabbed himself with a needle and there had to be blood and he was inside of me. I was in shock over that.” She also mentioned how, “If he heard the word ‘no,’ it was like a trigger for him,” reflecting just how difficult the basic concept of rejection and consent is for men out there to grasp.

Not leaving out on any detail of the numerous counts when Harvey had forcibly assaulted Jessica, she also went ahead to tell it like it is and said, “The first time I saw him fully naked, I thought he was deformed and intersex. He has extreme scarring that I didn’t know if he was a burn victim but it didn’t make sense. He does not have testicles and it appears that he has a vagina.”

Later, when asked about this by a reporter, ‘Yeah, perfect,’ Weinstein said, and then shook his head.

Keeping the intimidation and the fear of ruining her career intact by constantly being in contact and resurfacing from time to time to get a ‘fix’, Jessica claimed how Harvey would often get angry on her objections to the way he would treat her, and once when he was told that she had started seeing someone else seriously, he turned red with fury. She elaborated, He was screaming, ‘You owe me, you owe me one more time!’ as he was dragging me into the bedroom,” she said tearfully. “He was demanding that I take off my clothes, and I was begging, ‘Please no.’ He stood over me and said, ‘Take off your clothes,’ and I said, ‘no,’ again.”

She continued narrating how he screamed at her and ripped her clothes off as she said, “He scratched me. It hurt it stung like a paper cut but deeper. And I froze and I lost my voice and I crawled back to the pillows and I got in a ball because I had no strength.” She also shared how, Weinstein had then gone to another room, but before she was able to run away, he “grabbed both” of her ankles and began to forcibly perform oral sex on her before violently raping her.

The details that even during a thorough read sent chills up my spine, only made me and million others following this case wonder as to how tiny and fragile the male ego would have had to be, to invoke such kind of a monstrosity in men who think they are entitled to a woman’s body just because they sit at a particular position in an industry. And that they can ask women to submit themselves against their will with no consequence for the man.

Even though the defence of the accused are coming hard and strong at Jessica Mann, claiming that the relationship was consensual, Mann is not willing to cower to the baseless accusations and we wish her all the power and support to go through with the trial with a determination, that not only helps in Weinstein’s conviction but also stands as an example to serve to the predators out there. That there is nowhere they can run off to, anymore.

Also Read : Dear Judi Dench, Just Because Kevin Spacey Is Talented Doesn’t Mean He’s Not A Perpetrator. WTF Even?

Sadhika Sehgal

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