It’s hard to talk about the Ronaldo rape allegations without feeling my blood boil

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UDINE, ITALY – OCTOBER 06: Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus looks on during the Serie A match between Udinese and Juventus at Stadio Friuli on October 6, 2018 in Udine, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

From those determined to defend their hero no matter how credible the allegations are to those in the media who seem to think that women finally standing up for themselves is causing an ‘epidemic’ that men need to be afraid of, there are a lot of men who think it’s a scary time to be a man.

It’s not a scary time to be a man and that viewpoint is total bullsh*t that shows a complete ignorance of what women have to deal with on a regular basis.

It’s common to see false equivalency in the media between rapes and false accusations but this is, to use a term these people seem to love ‘fake news’ designed to delegitimise the real suffering of millions of women around the world in order to defend a load of men who feel entitled to women’s body and insulted they are being stopped from doing whatever the hell they want.

What prompted this mini-rant was an editorial on an Italian website that started “It is now an epidemic. In the waste of time, some women have fun denouncing wealthy men, accusing them of harassing and, after having blackmailed them, receiving rich sums, non-pay, start legal proceedings. They aspire to see their friends behind bars. So that fake scandals erupt and yet overwhelming and disgraced for those involved, who go from fact to the role of “jailers” to that of victims.”

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Tuttosport 9 October 2018

This is, sadly, a common take from many men within the world of football.

When it is a case of ‘he said, she said’ we are told we can’t believe her without evidence, evidence, evidence, yet the very same people have absolutely no problem believing the man’s denial without a shred of the same.

The plain truth is that rape stats tell us, in a case of ‘he said, she said,’ the woman is, overwhelmingly, likely to be telling the truth or, at the very least, a version of it that is closer to reality than what the accused man is offering:

rape infographic

If you’re a man who thinks it’s tough to be a man right now, that you are being persecuted and can’t just be yourself, listen to this.

Then come back and tell me how sh*t things are for you: