Innocent until proven guilty - not in America if you're a male foreigner accused of something really bad.

I always wondered what happened to the legal concept in American law, "Innocent, until proven guilty"?

Guess that doesn't apply if you're a man, especially a foreigner and the charge is rape.

I'm referring to the case of Nafissatou Diallo's accusation of rape against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

What am I referring to?

I'm talking about this double standard that exists when a man stands accused of raping a woman. Once again, the American media go to great lengths to try and trump his presumption of innocence, by withholding the accuser's name.

But that's a fallacy in this day and age, isn't it?

It's not like in the information age, this information cannot be found - http://www.parismatch.com/Actu-Match/Monde/Actu/Nafissatou-Diallo-l-accusatrice-de-Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-292019/.

That link by the way, came from the English language Wikipedia entry which I started with ...

... and I note it too doesn't actually list Diallo's name there (The French language Wikipedia on-the-other-hand has a specific entry for Diallo.)

And let's be clear about something - It's not like we're talking about non-adults here. These are two adults.

But yet because the accuser is a woman, the American media thinks it's okay to get around that whole "innocent until proven guilty." thing. Sure, sully the guy's reputation (And while I'm not making any presumption of guilt - that's what a court case is for, it's hard to ignore the reality that it seems like the case is falling apart (h/t to The Disaffected Lib).

Note in the New York Times article, that they go to great lengths to indicate the accused's name, nationality, and foreign status, but leave out the accuser's name, why? What fucking bullshit.

Rape is a crime, and a very serious one to accuse someone of. I can't for sure know who's telling the truth, so I'm only speaking in generalities here. Till we reach the day when falsely accusing someone of rape is treated in exactly the same way under the law as an actual accusation  - with the exact same penalties, such double-standards in the American media (and by extension, American society), and continue to damage the true pursuit of real equality and justice for all.