Column: What the sexual assault charges against Sean Combs, the Alexander brothers and others reveal

When I first heard the phrase “rape culture” years ago, it sounded so dystopian that I wanted to believe it was an exaggeration.

But then came shocking revelations from all corners: the Catholic Church sex scandal, the Boy Scout sex scandal, the Fox News sex scandals, the Bill Cosby sex scandal and the numerous revelations of the #MeToo movement.

Any doubt about the existence of rape culture simply crumples under the weight of reality.

“I don’t always use that term because it is too vague,” said Wayne State University social psychologist Antonia Abbey, whose research focuses on male sexual violence and aggression against women. “I will use ‘patriarchy’ or ‘misogyny,’ the idea that throughout history, men have had power over women and children.”

Because of #MeToo, and all the firings, resignations, civil lawsuits and criminal charges the movement produced, it really did seem possible for a moment that we were on the verge of a true cultural shift. Maybe men of power and privilege would finally understand that women are not objects to be used for their subjugation and pleasure and would, you know, keep their hands off.

If a recent series of bombshell criminal charges against rich, powerful, famous men prove true, this view was far too optimistic.

Last week, a federal indictment charged three brothers associated with the high-flying world of luxury Manhattan and Miami real estate with drugging and raping dozens of women. If even half of what’s in the indictment is accurate, it would make it painfully clear that a subset of privileged, narcissistic men still believe women exist for their domination and gratification. And perhaps nothing will ever change that.

The Alexander brothers — twins Alon and Oren and their brother, Tal — are accused of a veritable crime wave. For more than a decade, according to Manhattan U.S. Atty. Damian Williams, the brothers “alone and together” repeatedly and violently sexually assaulted and raped women after drugging them with cocaine, mushrooms, GHB and other substances. Lawyers for the brothers have said they are innocent of the charges.

“Our investigation is far from over,” Williams said in a statement announcing the sex trafficking indictment. He urged any other victims to come forward.

The recent accusations against music entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs are also mind-boggling. Williams announced in September that a federal grand jury had returned a three-count indictment of Combs alleging crimes so heinous that a judge has refused three requests to free him on bail. He remains in a jail cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting trial.

The indictment accuses Combs of running a criminal enterprise for the last 15 years in which many women, and some men, were systematically drugged, sexually assaulted, punched, kicked and threatened. A lawsuit filed last week accused another music titan, Jay-Z, of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl at a 2000 MTV Video Music Awards after-party in Combs’ presence. Jay-Z has vigorously denied the charges, and a lawyer for Combs has said he has “never sexually assaulted anyone.”

Sean Combs at a gala before the 2020 Grammy Awards in Beverly Hills.

(Mark Von Holden / Invision / Associated Press)

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From 2008 through this year, the grand jury alleged, Combs and his staff organized a number of what they called “freak-offs” in which sex workers were hired to have sex with victims who were often drugged to make them compliant. Combs videotaped the encounters and used the tapes as collateral “to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims,” according to the indictment.

American celebrities aren’t the only recent subjects of such charges. There’s also the grotesque case of Dominique Pelicot, the Frenchman who admitted drugging his wife, Gisele, and allowing dozens of men to rape her in their home. President-elect Donald Trump has been found liable for sexual assault, and several members of his inner circle have also been implicated in allegations of sexual misconduct, some of which have been vehemently disputed.

Rape culture, Abbey said, “doesn’t disappear in a generation or two, just like racist beliefs don’t disappear.” It wasn’t even very long ago, she noted, that the last states to eliminate a marital exception for rape did so. (Oklahoma and North Carolina finally outlawed marital rape in 1993, though loopholes still exist.)

One of Abbey’s recent studies, published in the journal Psychology of Violence, found that up to 30% of men admit using coercive techniques against women who clearly did not want to have sex. “That’s part of this idea of rape culture,” she told me, “just the fact that the line between seduction and coercion is blurry, and people think, ‘If I can get away with it, it’s OK.’ If we didn’t have a society that condoned it, it would be rarer.”

It’s easy to see how a victim could be ensnared by a more powerful perpetrator under such circumstances.

“Someone famous and powerful pays attention to you — what a boost for your ego,” said Abbey, while emphasizing that she does not blame sexual assault victims. “A record deal! Come live at my place! For many, it seems like a dream come true, a ticket to the top.”

What exactly is it going to take to end rape culture? At this dark moment, I am at a loss.

Bluesky: @rabcarian.bsky.social. Threads: @rabcarian