Latoya Peterson of Racialicious wrote a really excellent piece on the rhetoric being employed in the reporting of the rape accusations leveled at Dominique Strauss Kahn by Nafissatou Diallo.
The media, in true form, has been describing Diallo’s physical appearance – her hair is hennaed, her face pock-marked, but she has a “womanly, statuesque figure.” Says Latoya:
Only in cases involving rape or assault is how the victim appears a subject for commentary. This is part of rape culture, the idea that we have to evaluate the attractiveness of a person alleging assault along with the other facts in the case.
She goes on to examine the subtle ways the media has tried to cast doubt on Diallo’s credibility, including the fact that she may have embellished a few details of her life in Guinea when appealing to the United States for asylum.
Read the rest of this article here.
Brass Tacks 