Deshon Watson’s lawyers appeared on a sports radio station in Houston on Friday to discuss the 23 civil cases against the Cleveland Browns quarterback, all of them by women who claim that various levels of sexual inappropriateness were experienced during meetings. for a massage with Watson.
Towards the end of the interview, attorney Rusty Hardin made a cheerful comment that was equally ignorant and angry and potentially of interest to NFL investigators.
“I don’t know how many men have had a massage now, which may have ended happily sometimes. Okay? ”Hardin began. “Maybe there is no one in your listening audience who has ever had it happen to.
“I want to point out that if it happened, it is not a crime. Okay? Unless you pay someone extra to give you some kind of sexual activity, it’s not a crime … Doing something or saying something or being a way to make yourself uncomfortable is not a crime. “
Hardin said there was sexual activity by mutual consent between Watson and some of the women. Based on the fact that 23 women have filed lawsuits, not all of Watson’s masseurs have met with their consent to what happened during their interaction with him.
Hardin is trying to win his client points in the public opinion court, but at this point it doesn’t matter if what Watson did is criminal or not. Two grand juries have refused to charge him, meaning he is free from criminal investigation, but his innocence is still under investigation in civil court.
Hardin’s saying “making someone uncomfortable is not a crime” is callous, untrue, and not the point at the moment. What matters now is whether Watson was involved in conduct for which he can be held accountable in civil court. The civil court has a very different standard from the criminal one. The NFL’s personal conduct policy also has different standards.
What always matters is consent.
While Deshon Watson is facing civil lawsuits against 23 women, the NFL is investigating whether the Browns defender has violated the league’s personal policy. (AP Photo / David Richard)
To think you’re having fun mentioning a “happy ending” in a radio interview and minimizing the women who make accusations again is the reason the culture of rape continues.
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That’s why a culture like the one in the front offices of Washington commanders has been booming for years.
Therefore, although Watson faced these numerous accusations, the Cleveland Browns acquired him from Houston Texas, signed with him the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history, and gave fragile and completely unsatisfactory answers when pressed why they did so, given Watson’s considerable baggage.
That is why women of all walks of life, of all backgrounds, keep silent about their stories of sexual harassment and violence. Selected families and friends may know them, but as women we have been shown time and time again for decades that supervisors or human resources officers or the police and the legal system that provides “justice” for a very small population of citizens, will do nothing with the consequences.
So mostly we keep them to ourselves.
Hours after the interview, Hardin tried to clarify his comments with a statement. In part, it read: “In a radio interview in Houston today, I mentioned that a massage that has a ‘happy ending’ is not illegal, which means that it is not illegal for someone to have sex by mutual consent with a therapist after a massage, unless sex is for payment. Deshon didn’t pay anyone for sex. I used the term hypothetically and did not describe Deshon’s case.
“I told others that it is not good to do something that a woman does not agree to do. These women claimed to have been attacked in their pleas. I was speaking in a hypothetical situation. If there is sexual contact by mutual consent after a massage, this is not a crime or a ground for civil action. I wasn’t talking about what Deshon did or didn’t do, or expected or didn’t expect. “
Hooray for the interview, followed by a statement from yikes. Watson may be crazy, but whatever he pays Hardin during billing hours is too much.
Hardin has done quite well over the last year. He initially hinted that all the accusers were liars. He now says there was sexual contact between Watson and at least some of the therapists, but this was by mutual agreement, although nearly two dozen lawsuits show that not all were, not in the eyes of women.
His statement and clarification still make women fat, suggesting that they are all prostitutes and spread the word. What became clear was that Watson had hoped at least for a sexual encounter with many, if not all, of the women he had arranged meetings with, and had little or no interest in therapeutic massage; if he wanted sex workers, he could certainly find them and pay for the anonymity and discretion that would protect him from the situation he is in now.
Some of the women who accused Watson of wrongdoing have worked with him more than once; some prosecutors said his behavior escalated with each visit until it became unbearable. These women generally ran their own microbusiness and having a client like Watson could be a boon, so they tried to put up with it until they could.
This is a known difficulty for many women.
Understandably, a woman excited by a potential NFL quarterback as a regular would give him a second chance even after the initial meeting made her feel upset. Maybe she had misinterpreted his actions the first time, and he would have been better the second time. Or maybe she could internalize a little discomfort if it meant having a client with deep pockets with a lot of teammates who might also need a masseur.
Deshon Watson obviously doesn’t care how he made some of these women feel. Rusty Hardin obviously doesn’t care how Watson got some of these women. The Cleveland Browns obviously don’t care.
Attempts to drop incidents like the ones Watson was accused of are the reason they keep happening. Ignoring the concept of consent and the right of a person to say yes or no is the reason they keep happening.
That is why women are still so often afraid of what else will happen to them if they tell the truth. People like Dan Snyder will be protected, lawyers like Rusty Hardin will denigrate prosecutors, quarterbacks like Deshon Watson will get guaranteed contracts.
It’s been a long time since it stopped.
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