Almost everyone has heard the story. Kesha brought producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) to court over abuse claims. Kesha says that Dr. Luke subjected her to sexual, emotional, verbal, and physical abuse. Dr. Luke denied these accusations and a judge ruled that Kesha had to carry out her contract with Sony, forcing her to continue working with Dr. Luke.
A lot of people are wondering: "Why do we care? What does it matter to me?"
This story resonates with women all over America who have been abused. They are people who understand Kesha’s situation, who have been in her shoes, and they are supporting her. It’s not a big media deal when the woman down the street is abused. That doesn’t make national headlines. However, when the problem is so big that even famous celebrities are affected, people listen. They start to open their eyes. They start to care.
Kesha’s story is a classic case of victim-shaming. Many are inclined to believe Dr. Luke's side of the story simply because he is a man and is, therefore, seen as more trustworthy than a woman. "Why would he lie about something like this?" they say. "Why would Kesha lie about something like this? She probably just wants out of her contract."
That's wrong.
The issue is that Kesha is not lying. She doesn’t want out of her contract, she wants to get away from her abuser, which required her contract to be ended. The problem that we have seen in her case is extreme sexism. Many of the country’s women have stood with Kesha, even creating the hashtag #freekesha. Women, celebrities included, have provided the singer with immense love, support, understanding, and have even shared stories of their own that are similar to Kesha’s experience. Then, there are those who have negative things to say about Kesha, calling her derogatory names and blaming her for what happened to her. People have said that if she caught it on film, she could have proven it.
That is what is wrong with this country, as well as many others around the world. It is not enough to take a woman seriously and to accept her word as truth. We live in a world where men are seen as honest, while women just have to hope that people believe them, even if they don’t provide proof. When a girl is raped at a party, people say that it was her fault because she wasn’t careful or it was her fault because she acted/dressed in a certain way. Isn’t it the fault of the abuser? People are quick to blame the victim. They are quick to blame the woman.
Sexism is real. We see it in cases like Kesha’s. We see it in pay-equality and job opportunities. We see it at schools where girls are told to keep their necks and shoulders covered because they are distracting to the boys, but the boys can wear whatever they please. We see it in social media. If we cannot learn to support our women, if we cannot support Kesha and all of the other women in this world, will we ever truly be equal? Will there ever be justice?
