Fact or Fiction? Rolling Stone's UVA Gang Rape Story (1 Viewer)

[SacramentoBob]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

 

[TobiasFunke]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

 

[SacramentoBob]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

 

[Zow]

Ugh... even more horrific than the story as this really sets back so many who have legitimately been assaulted. Just awful.

My thoughts exactly. There are so few false claims of rape, if one of the most high-profile cases turns out to be fictional it would be a tragedy both for the falsely accused frat members and the rape victims who will end up facing a lot of skepticism as a result. What a disaster.

How the hell do you know that?

By reading about it?

2-8% is usually the reported figure. I have no reason to doubt it and have never really seen anyone challenge it.

The first three pages here give a nice little summary of the data collected from a variety of studies of the subject.

ETA: turns out Wikipedia also has a decent summary, giving the typical finding of studies,."conventional scholarly wisdom, and DOJ conclusion that the number is around 2% but also acknowledging that some people think it's 8% or more.

I don't give these statistics much credence but I think it's somewhat impossible to generate statistics considering the definitional gray areas that are "rape" and false".

 

[jonessed]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.



TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasnt really named Barry at all:



As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name Barry referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Apparently more than 10 weeks.

 

[TobiasFunke]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

 

[Tom Servo]

LENA DUNHAM’S PUBLISHER: Rapist “Barry” Is A Made-Up Character. “Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.”

Lena Dunhams publisher backtracking:

Doesn't really sound like they're backtracking at all. They're saying that Barry was a pseudonym. They don't say anything about the veracity of Dunham's rape story.

She identified her rapist, "Barry," as a well-known campus Republican. Unfortunately for her, there apparently really was a well-known campus Republican named Barry during the time that she was there. I hope he gets every dime in her possession, assuming this story is false, which is what her publisher seems to suggest.

Rape is a big deal, and it's rightly a felony. So let's not just make #### up about people raping you, okay?

Amazing when the poor guy decided to lawyer up, the publisher did something.

So was Dunham raped? Only she and the guy with her that night–if it even happened at all–know what transpired. But let’s say the incident did occur, which begs the following question: What exactly did “Barry’s” political affiliation have to do with anything? If the focus is on the dangers of doing drugs (Xanax, coke) and the result of making it difficult to resist a sexual encounter–as Dunham cautions in the book–does it really matter if its a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent exploiting the situation in the form of rape? Then again, Dunham has likened Republicans to Nazis before (saying she would never date either one), so why not say one once raped her as well? It’s not like any of her many friends on the New York media circuit would dare challenge her on it because conservatives are, of course, evil and stuff.

Rolling Stone. Random House. Lena Dunham.

All had stories about rape to tell. Rolling Stone retracted the story outright, but the suspension on all activity at fraternities at UVA still remains. The cloud is still there. Now Random House thinks you’re stupid enough to believe Lena Dunham just randomly chose the name “Barry” to use in her rape story. The legal fees will be paid but the damage has been done.

 

[rockaction]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

From the College Republicans at Oberlin. When she was a freshman or sophomore there? How many college Republicans at Oberlin College do you think there are? And how many are named "Barry?" I mean, this stretches it wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out there.

 

[Tom Servo]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

 

[jonessed]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.



TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasnt really named Barry at all:



As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name Barry referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Random House has already offered to pay his legal fees. They know they are culpable here.

 

[pantagrapher]

“Falsely accused”

These two figures stand out at the bottom right corner of the graphic. It is portrayed as two of the total 1,000 figure. But Beaulieu explains it actually portrays a 2 percent figure from the total reported rapes. So the two figures, while visually striking, should be included among the reported figures.

False reporting is a difficult number to measure. The Enliven Project uses 2 percent of “falsely accused” cases, out of the 100 reported cases of rape. There is an important distinction that must be made here, between accusations and reports. “Accusations” may refer to claims that were not made in official police reports, whereas “reports” generally refer to cases that were filed with law enforcement.

That, again, seems to be the lower end of the estimate range. The “Making a Difference” Project, which used data collected by law enforcement agencies over 18 to 24 months, found 7 percent of cases that were classified as false. That study is the “only research conducted in the U.S. to evaluate the percentage of false reports made to law enforcement,” according to the National Center for the Prosecution of Violence Against Women. Other studies also estimate somewhere between 2 and 10 percent.

Link

 

[TobiasFunke]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation, which she would have to know would come back to bite her. Especially since the physical description doesn't match- if she wanted to level a false accusation she could have done it accurately.

 

[rockaction]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation.

A real campus Republican at Oberlin was named Barry, and you're going to go with this...

Tobias. *sighs*

 

[pantagrapher]

I could see something like that making its way into someone's subconscious. I have a hard time believing she'd intentionally implicate someone she didn't know and had never met. It's not like she's some obscure writer who's going to sell a thousand books.

 

[dhockster]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation, which she would have to know would come back to bite her. Especially since the physical description doesn't match- if she wanted to level a false accusation she could have done it accurately.

Maybe she didn't think anyone would make look into this enough to make the connection to this guy. She just thought it would be her own private joke that she would use the name of the resident campus republican as the pseudonym for her rapist.

 

[McGarnicle]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her? Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation.

A real campus Republican at Oberlin was named Barry, and you're going to go with this...

Tobias. *sighs*

Yeah that's some pathetic deductive reasoning there TF. Helps to read through the entire story. It's all there. Dunham tried to completely bury this guy with a false rape accusation, and I guess, what...didn't think the media would put two and two together and sniff the guy out? And she's supposedly this brilliant voice for women and disaffected 20somethings everywhere? Pretty sad. This kind of foolishness really angers and frustrates legitimate victims. She needs to be slapped down hard IMO.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation.

A real campus Republican at Oberlin was named Barry, and you're going to go with this...

Tobias. *sighs*

And you're going with the deliberate conspiracy theory to knowingly falsely accuse a specific person of rape- even though that specific person doesn't match the physical description in the book- over the simple explanation of poorly designated use of pseudonyms. Your story is that she deliberately risked undermined her credibility for ... what, exactly? To briefly bring someone she didn't like under fire in social media? Come on.

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

 

[tommyboy]

"Fake But Accurate"™

 

[sublimeone]

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation.

A real campus Republican at Oberlin was named Barry, and you're going to go with this...

Tobias. *sighs*

And you're going with the deliberate conspiracy theory to knowingly falsely accuse a specific person of rape- even though that specific person doesn't match the physical description in the book- over the simple explanation of poorly designated use of pseudonyms. Your story is that she deliberately risked undermined her credibility for ... what, exactly? To briefly bring someone she didn't like under fire in social media? Come on.

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

just stop

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

That's a fair point, but to me the fact that she went out of her way to identify her rapist as a Republican provides at least a little evidence that her motives are malicious. The subtext seems to be "Oh those rapey Republicans." Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but my experience has generally been that when somebody says something that might be construed as a malicious swipe at the other tribe, it's almost always intended that way.

 

[rockaction]

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation.

A real campus Republican at Oberlin was named Barry, and you're going to go with this...

Tobias. *sighs*

And you're going with the deliberate conspiracy theory to knowingly falsely accuse a specific person of rape- even though that specific person doesn't match the physical description in the book- over the simple explanation of poorly designated use of pseudonyms. Your story is that she deliberately risked undermined her credibility for ... what, exactly? To briefly bring someone she didn't like under fire in social media? Come on.

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

Yeah, I'll be careful for everyone's sake. Here's the thing: If, someone like me or my roommates had had an experience like the one with Dunham back in college (we didn't) it would have been so easy to point each of us out as the college libertarian, college Republican, other college Republican, and high-ranking college Democrat and school paper guy. Everything, if you used our name at a school of Oberlin's size, would have been so easily traced back to us, even twenty years later, so as to not even be plausibly deniable. That is apparently the #### this guy is dealing with right now. His rep is ####ed by her caprice.

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation.

A real campus Republican at Oberlin was named Barry, and you're going to go with this...

Tobias. *sighs*

And you're going with the deliberate conspiracy theory to knowingly falsely accuse a specific person of rape- even though that specific person doesn't match the physical description in the book- over the simple explanation of poorly designated use of pseudonyms. Your story is that she deliberately risked undermined her credibility for ... what, exactly? To briefly bring someone she didn't like under fire in social media? Come on.

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

isn't malice by definition deliberate?

 

[sublimeone]

Tobias, since the "Barry" that worked at the library and was an outspoken republican during Dunam's time at the small Ohio campus was not THE Barry that raped Dunham do you think Dunham has the responsibility to out the actual rapist? As a woman, let alone an outspoken feminist, isn't it Dunhams duty to pursue this matter so that other women aren't victimized by this rapist?

 

[TobiasFunke]

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

That's a fair point, but to me the fact that she went out of her way to identify her rapist as a Republican provides at least a little evidence that her motives are malicious. The subtext seems to be "Oh those rapey Republicans." Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but my experience has generally been that when somebody says something that might be construed as a malicious swipe at the other tribe, it's almost always intended that way.

Sure, I guess. I'd like to hear what she has to say. Like I said, I don't hold her or the publisher unaccountable. It was sloppy and irresponsible at best. But I really think the most logical explanation is that it was nothing more than that- if she meant to wrongly accuse this particular guy, why use his real name but lie about his appearance and other stuff about him?

 

[McGarnicle]

It's like if you said there's a tall shock-jock with long curly black hair named Howard who has 2 satellite radio stations who raped me, then saying, oh, my apologies, "Howard" is a pseudonym. It's absurd on its face, but the publisher had no other cards to play to try to avoid liability. To see anyone actually believe it is comical.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Yeah, it just accidentally turned out that a prominent Republican at Oberlin (pretty small number) who worked at the library named Barry existed. I mean, what terrible luck.

And of course, as soon as it was revealed that this man, did in fact exist, she of course immediately cleared things up, right? No, no she didn't. In fact, she still has not made any public apology. Instead, her people put out a statement.

Sorry, but she's clearly a liar. She made up the story and tried to use it to bash Republicans in the process. Must have been the other prominent Republican at Oberlin that worked at the library.

 

[TobiasFunke]

It's like if you said there's a tall shock-jock with long curly black hair named Howard who has 2 satellite radio stations who raped me, then saying, oh, my apologies, "Howard" is a pseudonym. It's absurd on its face, but the publisher had no other cards to play to try to avoid liability. To see anyone actually believe it is comical.

That would be a decent analogy if the other stuff she said about the guy matched, but it didn't. This is more like if you said there's a short, balding shock-jock named Howard who raped me.

Honestly, this is kind of a pointless argument. We all agree she and the publisher did something wrong. We're just arguing about whether it was deliberate or negligent. It really doesn't matter that much- and since (1) the negligence explanation holds up just fine, and (2) accusing someone of lying about rape is a pretty horrible thing to do and you really shouldn't do it unless you're fairly certain, I tend to think it was just negligence and leave it at that.

 

[sublimeone]

Tobias, since the "Barry" that worked at the library and was an outspoken republican during Dunam's time at the small Ohio campus was not THE Barry that raped Dunham do you think Dunham has the responsibility to out the actual rapist? As a woman, let alone an outspoken feminist, isn't it Dunhams duty to pursue this matter so that other women aren't victimized by this rapist?

Tobias, please respond.

 

[sublimeone]

It's like if you said there's a tall shock-jock with long curly black hair named Howard who has 2 satellite radio stations who raped me, then saying, oh, my apologies, "Howard" is a pseudonym. It's absurd on its face, but the publisher had no other cards to play to try to avoid liability. To see anyone actually believe it is comical.

That would be a decent analogy if the other stuff she said about the guy matched, but it didn't. This is more like if you said there's a short, balding shock-jock named Howard who raped me.

No, it would be more like saying a there's a tall shock-jock with long curly black hair named Howard who has a mustache

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

Ironic that people so quick to condemn false accusations are also so eager to find deliberate malice even though there's a perfectly logical and reasonable alternate explanation. Lying about rape is awful. Wrongly accusing someone of lying about rape is also not really all that cool. Probably should wait until you have something other than your gut feeling about the person before you do it.

That's a fair point, but to me the fact that she went out of her way to identify her rapist as a Republican provides at least a little evidence that her motives are malicious. The subtext seems to be "Oh those rapey Republicans." Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but my experience has generally been that when somebody says something that might be construed as a malicious swipe at the other tribe, it's almost always intended that way.

Sure, I guess. I'd like to hear what she has to say. Like I said, I don't hold her or the publisher unaccountable. It was sloppy and irresponsible at best. But I really think the most logical explanation is that it was nothing more than that- if she meant to wrongly accuse this particular guy, why use his real name but lie about his appearance and other stuff about him?

I suspect that the whole part about her rapist being a prominent Republican is made up, she put it in there because it fits her worldview of Republicans and in fairness to Dunham perhaps her mind has even played tricks on her over the years where she doesn't even know she is making it up. I also suspect that Dunham came to the conclusion she was raped not immediately but over time and after reflection (perhaps a period of years) which could also contribute to her getting some of the details wrong.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Tobias, since the "Barry" that worked at the library and was an outspoken republican during Dunam's time at the small Ohio campus was not THE Barry that raped Dunham do you think Dunham has the responsibility to out the actual rapist? As a woman, let alone an outspoken feminist, isn't it Dunhams duty to pursue this matter so that other women aren't victimized by this rapist?

Tobias, please respond.

No, that's ridiculous. People don't take on obligations simply because they're the victims of a violent crime. I would prefer it if victims did what they could to prevent the crimes from happening again, but I'd never call it a "duty." This is especially true w/r/t rape, where a criminal accusation means going through a very difficult process.

 

[General Malaise]

The crossover between this thread and the most recent episode of Newsroom is quite coincidental, especially since Newsroom is set a year and change behind where we are presently on the calendar.

Carry on. Surprised a hot button topic like this is being debated so....rationally and civilly in here. Hope I didn't jinx it, but I've been following along and some of you are very smart and behaving like gentlemen, which sadly is an oddity in so many other threads here with sensitive topics.

 

[McGarnicle]

It's like if you said there's a tall shock-jock with long curly black hair named Howard who has 2 satellite radio stations who raped me, then saying, oh, my apologies, "Howard" is a pseudonym. It's absurd on its face, but the publisher had no other cards to play to try to avoid liability. To see anyone actually believe it is comical.

That would be a decent analogy if the other stuff she said about the guy matched, but it didn't. This is more like if you said there's a short, balding shock-jock named Howard who raped me.

Honestly, this is kind of a pointless argument. We all agree she and the publisher did something wrong. We're just arguing about whether it was deliberate or negligent. It really doesn't matter that much- and since (1) the negligence explanation holds up just fine, and (2) accusing someone of lying about rape is a pretty horrible thing to do and you really shouldn't do it unless you're fairly certain, I tend to think it was just negligence and leave it at that.

Defense attorneys must cream their pants when you show up for jury selection.

 

[TobiasFunke]

It's like if you said there's a tall shock-jock with long curly black hair named Howard who has 2 satellite radio stations who raped me, then saying, oh, my apologies, "Howard" is a pseudonym. It's absurd on its face, but the publisher had no other cards to play to try to avoid liability. To see anyone actually believe it is comical.

That would be a decent analogy if the other stuff she said about the guy matched, but it didn't. This is more like if you said there's a short, balding shock-jock named Howard who raped me.

Honestly, this is kind of a pointless argument. We all agree she and the publisher did something wrong. We're just arguing about whether it was deliberate or negligent. It really doesn't matter that much- and since (1) the negligence explanation holds up just fine, and (2) accusing someone of lying about rape is a pretty horrible thing to do and you really shouldn't do it unless you're fairly certain, I tend to think it was just negligence and leave it at that.

Defense attorneys must cream their pants when you show up for jury selection.

I am pretty sexy.

 

[sublimeone]

Tobias, since the "Barry" that worked at the library and was an outspoken republican during Dunam's time at the small Ohio campus was not THE Barry that raped Dunham do you think Dunham has the responsibility to out the actual rapist? As a woman, let alone an outspoken feminist, isn't it Dunhams duty to pursue this matter so that other women aren't victimized by this rapist?

Tobias, please respond.

No, that's ridiculous. People don't take on obligations simply because they're the victims of a violent crime. I would prefer it if victims did what they could to prevent the crimes from happening again, but I'd never call it a "duty." This is especially true w/r/t rape, where a criminal accusation means going through a very difficult process.

In your opinion, why on earth would an activist like Dunham who has already provided the details of her rape not want the offender brought to justice?

 

[IvanKaramazov]

The crossover between this thread and the most recent episode of Newsroom is quite coincidental, especially since Newsroom is set a year and change behind where we are presently on the calendar.

Carry on. Surprised a hot button topic like this is being debated so....rationally and civilly in here. Hope I didn't jinx it, but I've been following along and some of you are very smart and behaving like gentlemen, which sadly is an oddity in so many other threads here with sensitive topics.

This thread is going relatively well. Tim has not posted in this thread. Coincidence?

 

[TobiasFunke]

Tobias, since the "Barry" that worked at the library and was an outspoken republican during Dunam's time at the small Ohio campus was not THE Barry that raped Dunham do you think Dunham has the responsibility to out the actual rapist? As a woman, let alone an outspoken feminist, isn't it Dunhams duty to pursue this matter so that other women aren't victimized by this rapist?

Tobias, please respond.

No, that's ridiculous. People don't take on obligations simply because they're the victims of a violent crime. I would prefer it if victims did what they could to prevent the crimes from happening again, but I'd never call it a "duty." This is especially true w/r/t rape, where a criminal accusation means going through a very difficult process.

In your opinion, why on earth would an activist like Dunham who has already provided the details of her rape not want the offender brought to justice?

My opinion is that you'd have to ask her why she does or doesn't do certain things. I don't know her or anything about her. I don't even like her TV show. I also have no idea what it's like to be raped or how you process something like that and move on or how difficult it would be to go through the criminal justice process as a rape victim. Hopefully you don't either.

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

The crossover between this thread and the most recent episode of Newsroom is quite coincidental, especially since Newsroom is set a year and change behind where we are presently on the calendar.

Carry on. Surprised a hot button topic like this is being debated so....rationally and civilly in here. Hope I didn't jinx it, but I've been following along and some of you are very smart and behaving like gentlemen, which sadly is an oddity in so many other threads here with sensitive topics.

This thread is going relatively well. Tim has not posted in this thread. Coincidence?

I guess he has learned that his opinions on rape shouldn't be shared with others

 

[SacramentoBob]

Apparently, several people followed the breadcrumbs Dunham left in her book and they all came back to the same Barry who went to Oberlin and worked in a radio station on the exact show she named. That's pretty coincidental for just negligence. Yeah he didn't have a ridiculous mustache or whatever, but some of the other details of who he was were spot on. Based on what I've read so far, it seems pretty clear that she knew this guy somehow.

How would you like it if reporters suddenly started calling you asking if you're the guy who posts on football forums under the handle TobiasFunke because someone is accusing you of raping them in her book? That's cool as long as she got the details of your mustache wrong?

 

[pantagrapher]

Apparently, several people followed the breadcrumbs Dunham left in her book and they all came back to the same Barry who went to Oberlin and worked in a radio station on the exact show she named. That's pretty coincidental for just negligence. Yeah he didn't have a ridiculous mustache or whatever, but some of the other details of who he was were spot on. Based on what I've read so far, it seems pretty clear that she knew this guy somehow.

Hasn't he said he never even met her?

 

[TobiasFunke]

Apparently, several people followed the breadcrumbs Dunham left in her book and they all came back to the same Barry who went to Oberlin and worked in a radio station on the exact show she named. That's pretty coincidental for just negligence. Yeah he didn't have a ridiculous mustache or whatever, but some of the other details of who he was were spot on. Based on what I've read so far, it seems pretty clear that she knew this guy somehow.

How would you like it if reporters suddenly started calling you asking if you're the guy who posts on football forums under the handle TobiasFunke because someone is accusing you of raping them in her book? That's cool as long as she got the details of your mustache wrong?

This isn't a very good analogy. A message board handle in a football forum is quite a bit more specific than a first name, especially when you consider that the book uses pseudonyms elsewhere.

If someone I didn't know published some information about a rape that logically led people to ask if I was the rapist despite some details that suggest otherwise, I'd be mad as hell. I'd probably sue. But I wouldn't assume that complete stranger was deliberately plotting against me and had never been raped at all. That would be a weird leap to make.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Apparently, several people followed the breadcrumbs Dunham left in her book and they all came back to the same Barry who went to Oberlin and worked in a radio station on the exact show she named. That's pretty coincidental for just negligence. Yeah he didn't have a ridiculous mustache or whatever, but some of the other details of who he was were spot on. Based on what I've read so far, it seems pretty clear that she knew this guy somehow.

Hasn't he said he never even met her?

I didn't say they were best friends, but it seems clear that she knew this guy existed somehow. Maybe she heard stories from friends about him. It just seems hard to believe that she'd get all those details about him right accidentally. IIRC, these are the facts she got dead-on:

1. His name
2. His political affiliation
3. The name of the radio show he hosted
4. The fact he worked at a library that wasn't commonly known to the student body to be a library

 

[rockaction]

This was posted on the right-wing site PJ Media. It may or may not be true. This looks pretty bad, but we'll have to wait. And we'll probably never find out, because this is going to the lawyers. This quote below sort of "proves" my earlier point about liberal arts campuses and accusations against easily identifiable political characters in their youth.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-basics-of-libel-law-in-the-lena-dunham-case/

As Powerline attorney John Hinderaker says, “if you Google for 15 seconds you can find out” who “Barry” is, because there was only one active Republican at the campus named Barry.

 

[sublimeone]

Tobias, since the "Barry" that worked at the library and was an outspoken republican during Dunam's time at the small Ohio campus was not THE Barry that raped Dunham do you think Dunham has the responsibility to out the actual rapist? As a woman, let alone an outspoken feminist, isn't it Dunhams duty to pursue this matter so that other women aren't victimized by this rapist?

Tobias, please respond.

No, that's ridiculous. People don't take on obligations simply because they're the victims of a violent crime. I would prefer it if victims did what they could to prevent the crimes from happening again, but I'd never call it a "duty." This is especially true w/r/t rape, where a criminal accusation means going through a very difficult process.

In your opinion, why on earth would an activist like Dunham who has already provided the details of her rape not want the offender brought to justice?

My opinion is that you'd have to ask her why she does or doesn't do certain things. I don't know her or anything about her. I don't even like her TV show. I also have no idea what it's like to be raped or how you process something like that and move on or how difficult it would be to go through the criminal justice process as a rape victim. Hopefully you don't either.

I'm just looking for a plausible theory. I can't do the mental gymnastics required to arrive at a conclusion that doesn't involve Dunham falsely accusing a man of rape.

 

[pantagrapher]

Apparently, several people followed the breadcrumbs Dunham left in her book and they all came back to the same Barry who went to Oberlin and worked in a radio station on the exact show she named. That's pretty coincidental for just negligence. Yeah he didn't have a ridiculous mustache or whatever, but some of the other details of who he was were spot on. Based on what I've read so far, it seems pretty clear that she knew this guy somehow.

Hasn't he said he never even met her?

I didn't say they were best friends, but it seems clear that she knew this guy existed somehow. Maybe she heard stories from friends about him. It just seems hard to believe that she'd get all those details about him right accidentally. IIRC, these are the facts she got dead-on:

1. His name
2. His political affiliation
3. The name of the radio show he hosted
4. The fact he worked at a library that wasn't commonly known to the student body to be a library

Ohhh, knew of him.

 

[Tom Servo]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation, which she would have to know would come back to bite her. Especially since the physical description doesn't match- if she wanted to level a false accusation she could have done it accurately.

Given that she's an attention whore who throws up the "Who, me? What'd I do?" card every time she gets busted like this. IMO, this was NOT random.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Apparently, several people followed the breadcrumbs Dunham left in her book and they all came back to the same Barry who went to Oberlin and worked in a radio station on the exact show she named. That's pretty coincidental for just negligence. Yeah he didn't have a ridiculous mustache or whatever, but some of the other details of who he was were spot on. Based on what I've read so far, it seems pretty clear that she knew this guy somehow.

Hasn't he said he never even met her?

I didn't say they were best friends, but it seems clear that she knew this guy existed somehow. Maybe she heard stories from friends about him. It just seems hard to believe that she'd get all those details about him right accidentally. IIRC, these are the facts she got dead-on:

1. His name
2. His political affiliation
3. The name of the radio show he hosted
4. The fact he worked at a library that wasn't commonly known to the student body to be a library

I thought the bolded wasn't true about this particular guy? I also thought the library thing was kind of muddled, not necessarily a reference to this guy's job.

If all that stuff was true I'd change my tune, even with the details about his voice and appearance that this guy doesn't share. I'm naturally gonna be skeptical of any reporting by the website responsible for stuff like this, as everyone should be. But if those are the facts, then yeah, I'd say that's specific enough to be a rape accusation.

 

[rockaction]

there was only one active Republican at the campus named Barry.

Well no wonder he had to go around raping people.

Got damn it....

I think it takes a certain amount of hubris to wander into a thread, commend everybody on their civility about the topic as if commendation was one's to give, and then laugh at a rape joke directed toward one side's political leanings that was clearly deleted by the OP.

Hey, look, I'm an ###. And humor comes in weird places. But then spare us the meta-commentary about how the thread is chugging along.

 

[SacramentoBob]

WRT #3, I'm going on week old information. If that was debunked at some point, I'd appreciate a link.

 

[TobiasFunke]

This is a little more concretely ridiculous. From Volokh about Lena Dunham and "Barry," her supposed rapist. This is their initial legal offer.

TheWrap now reports that Random House has put out a statement exonerating this Identifiable Conservative Barry, and saying that the alleged rapist wasn’t really named Barry at all:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry.

We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

If Barry One's version of events is true, it's a shame it took this to go public for them to admit he wasn't the "Barry" in the book. Apparently he's been twisting in the wind for a long time.

Take it easy. The book's been out for ten weeks. Not sure anyone has publicly IDed the guy by last name or any other distinguishing characteristic, although admittedly it's hard to Google because searches turns up several pages of conservative blogs attacking Dunham.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be falsely accused of being a serial rapist?

Where was someone falsely accused of being a serial rapist? Not adequately identifying a first name pseudonym doesn't amount to an accusation of a real world person who shares some of the characteristics of the accused, including the name, but not others. It's an unfortunate coincidence and a sloppy mistake for which she and the publisher should be held accountable. But it doesn't come close to an accusation that this particular Barry was a rapist. That's like saying I'm accusing Barry Sanders of a crime if I say that a tall, bearded football player named Barry did it

But isn't it interesting that she identified him as the resident campus REPUBLICAN. She knew who she was pinning it on. He had to take down his social media accounts because people assumed he raped her.

Seems like a bit of a jump to me. Why would she do that since she presumably would know that this particular guy didn't rape her?

Occam's Razor applied here tells me it's much more likely an unfortunate coincidence (real person was a campus Republican not named Barry and the author and publisher weren't clear about their use of pseudonyms) than a deliberate false accusation, which she would have to know would come back to bite her. Especially since the physical description doesn't match- if she wanted to level a false accusation she could have done it accurately.

Given that she's an attention whore who throws up the "Who, me? What'd I do?" card every time she gets busted like this. IMO, this was NOT random.

Hmm. You do seem to be bringing an even-handed, level-headed approach to the subject. Perhaps I should defer to your opinion.