In October, 2014, Kesha Rose Sebert, formerly known as Kesha, filed a lawsuit against producer Dr. Luke, claiming that he had sexually assaulted, abused,and raped her during her career with him. On February 19 of this year, Kesha was denied a court injunction that would have allowed her to make music outside of her record label, Sony Music, and work on it separately from Dr. Luke. What does this say about our world today?
This is a situation where a female is being denied the right to express herself and make a living apart from someone who has caused mental and physical damage to her. All Kesha wanted to do was record new music to stay relevant and express herself as an artist without having to be afraid anymore. Yet, a court has decided to deny her of a request that simple.
Right now, Kesha cannot produce any new material, be featured on other people's material, be featured in events, write for other artists, or anything without part of it benefiting her abuser. Dr. Luke would have to grant her permission to perform and would basically own part of anything that she creates. He also would have the right to control what she is able to put out there and what she isn't. As was stated in the courtroom, Sony has basically "setting her up to fail." We live in a world where Chris Brown can beat a female and still be able to continue a successful career making music, but Kesha can't even record a song.
Even through all of this, there are plenty of people accusing Kesha of being a liar and making false accusations. But does this truly look like the face of a liar and not like someone who was fighting for their life and rights back only to have them still taken away?
And just the fact that Dr. Luke is fighting back to keep her under his contract shows that he needs her in order to make a profit even despite what he did because if it were me, I wouldn't want to work with someone who falsely accused me of sexually assaulting them.
If anything, this case shows all current and future female victims of sexual abuse that they may not be taken seriously in court if they come up with the courage to speak about what has happened to them. It shows that males can commit crimes against women and still possibly have a future and career, while a woman who is being assaulted may be given a hard time for being brave enough to tell the world what has happened to her and she may even be trapped with the person who has abused her, especially if this person is from her place of work. Why is this? Do you see what is wrong with how society deals with and displays sexual assault and abuse?
How do you feel about the Kesha vs. Dr. Luke case and what it tells us about society's view on sexual abuse and assault?
