Amanda Knox was freed today by an Italian court.
For those of you out of the loop, Knox is a 24-year-old American woman who was accused of murdering her British housemate while both were students doing a year abroad in Perugia. Knox and her Italian boyfriend were originally convicted on what the vast majority of American observers considered to be circumstantial evidence, with no motive, and after another man unconnected to Knox and her fella had already been convicted of the crime. The murder of the young English woman, Meredith Kercher, took place in 2007, and the story has had sensational coverage throughout the European media, particularly in Italy and the UK. The allegations — never proved to the satisfaction of most — that Knox and her beau had killed Kercher as part of a bizarre sexual ritual were captivating; the prettiness of the young women involved and the luridness of the story spun by the prosecution generated tremendous global interest.
In the fall of 2000, I taught a semester abroad in Florence. I traveled with one other teacher and 45 Pasadena City College students, two-thirds of whom were female. The vast majority of Americans who study abroad are women, for a variety of reasons, and our trip was no exception. We warned our students about the attitudes that many Italians have towards young American women; we advised them about the different “street environment” they could expect to find in Florence. But even I, who had traveled extensively in Italy before going as a professor, was stunned by the attitudes we encountered. The reputation of American “girls” as sexually undiscriminating, freed for the first time from the watchful eyes of parents and at least most of their peers, was nearly universal. And while it is certainly true that for the young and not-so-young, travel is almost invariably an aphrodisiac and a notorious compromiser of inhibitions, the beliefs about American women students were grounded far more in myth and media than in reality.
Young American women abroad, especially in Italy, pay a high price for that myth. None higher, presumably than that paid by Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox.
Some of the young women on our trip did have flings with the locals; a couple did find Italian boyfriends, as Amanda Knox did. There were some heartbreaks and some missed-period scares. I half-jokingly told my students, in one of our pre-trip meetings, that I had only three rules for them: No jails, no hospitals, and no unintended pregnancies. We had a couple of students picked up by the cops (and then released, for smoking marijuana with local lads), we had one tragic incident that left one of our guys paralyzed for life from the waist down. It was an eventful trip. But though there was a lot of drinking and quite a few short-term affairs, for the most part our students emerged unscathed. And whatever they were doing, they treated Florence and the rest of the country with respect and the kind of wide-eyed wonder so natural among youngsters from the New World making their first serious visit to the heart of the Old.
I hated the contempt for our students that I so often heard from some in Florence and elsewhere. Though it was often tinged with anti-Americanism (and this while Clinton was still in the White House), it was directed almost exclusively towards our female students — particularly the ones who were perceived as more attractive, or who wore more revealing clothing. I saw how shattering the endless street harassment was for many of the young women on the trip. And I saw how much worse it was in Italy than anywhere else in Western Europe.
That mixture of prurience and contempt was on full display in Perugia, where Knox was tried. The prosecutor devoted extensive time to discussing the defendant’s sex life and her clothing, including her taste in (or lack of) underwear. He was positively obsessed with her vibrator, as if female masturbation was indicative of a propensity for homicide. Her diary, replete with the personal details one would expect in a private journal, was read repeatedly in court.
Before, during, and after the time I taught in Florence I never believed that Yanks abroad ought to be above the law. A dual citizen myself, I have no patience for “ugly Americans”. At the same time, I have no patience with reflexive anti-Americanism of the sort that many of my students, no matter how polite, ran into all too frequently. In particular, I was and am disgusted by the mix of prudish censoriousness towards — and predatory fascination with — the sex lives of young women from America who come to Italy to study.
When I look at the face of Amanda Knox, I see someone who looks a great deal like many of the students I taught. When I hear the details of her private life discussed with both salacious enthrallment and feigned repugnance, I think of the experiences of so many of my students who went abroad with me. When I hear the twisted, groundless narrative that the prosecution offered, something along the lines of “American girl is sexually curious and open about it and she smoked pot: therefore it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to stabbing one’s prudish roommate to death”, I’m enraged and indignant. What happened to Amanda Knox — and I am nearly as convinced of her innocence as her parents — could have happened to a dozen young women I knew and taught in Italy.
Make no mistake, I grieve the loss of Meredith Kercher and the horrible way she died. But I have little doubt that if Knox had been a little less pretty, a little less sexual, and a little less American, she’d never have spent a day in prison for her roommate’s murder.
I rejoice in her freedom today.
—Photo AP/Pier Paolo Cito
If anybody wants to understand the reasons why Amanda Knox was convicted of murder, I recommend reading the translations of the official court documents and court testimony. They are available online at the Meredith Kercher Wiki website:
http://themurderofmeredithkercher.com/Main_Page
Amanda Knox is free.
Ironically if you’re a guy and in Seattle your statistical chance of getting laid just tripled.
In my opinion, the American woman myth played a huge role in setting the stage for the framing of Amanda and Raffaele, referred to in the press as “diaboilical lovers” even though they had met less than a week before the murder, both students. As an American woman who moved to mainland Europe, fresh out of college, naive as an American can be about the rest of world, I was often in the course of daily life, caught off guard by propositions, attitudes of European males, even though nothing in my clothing style or attitude would sollicit such reaction in… Read more »
Yeah, I remember going back to my native Eastern Europe for the first time since I’d passed puberty, and I had that same experience. I spent the summer there, and things that I wore here without a second thought–plain shorts and flip flops, for example–suddenly were cause for me to get my ass grabbed by random men on the streets, be followed, and have obscenities yelled at me. I get cat calls here, too, but they don’t really bug me and usually aren’t invasive. It was a different story there.
While Amanda Knox’s release from Italian prison took the spotlight, two exonerated men who spent a combined four decades in prison were quietly set free on Tuesday. Obie Anthony, 37, and Michael Morton, 57, each insisted on their innocence throughout their many years in jail serving life sentences for murder. And each man was eventually freed with the help of the nonprofit Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/exonerated-men-texas-california-freed-decades-jail-155719961.html —————————— I wonder why these 2 men released from US-jails are not mentioned in the GoodMenProject. They spent many more years in jail than Ms. Knox. And they are… Read more »
The judge has said that they likely know the real story and might have even done it.
Id say that if she was a different gender, you would be declaring him guilty instead in the victim.
whenever i have travelled in europe….most recently in spain…
my observation was that invariably the loud, foul-mouthed and crass were american…
its really quite pathetic…and knox is a perfect example of the typical American sorority chic……vacuous, drunk, doped-up, not in control of her sexuality..
it is amazing to see the contrast between the behaviour of american students and spanish students…
btw: sexual exhibitionism is not a sign of sexual liberation… infact its the opposite….
It’s not sexual liberation or sexual repression, it’s just about some people choosing to be comfortable with who they are and doing or not doing what makes them happy, and gets or doesn’t get them off. That could be waiting until marriage, expressing yourself in clothing (whether it shows skin or not), or having sex with a boyfriend who makes you feel good. Abroad, I’ve noticed the that Americans get stereotyped, but most are just in Europe to learn, get experience for a resume, and enjoy the culture, even if it involved meeting boys or drinking.
I spent some time this summer traveling in Italy with my teenage daughter. I noticed she got a lot of looks (from young and not-so-young men), but no one treated her with disrespect – perhaps because she was with me. However, I also noticed a pattern everywhere we went; the Italian women were generally very friendly while the men were often condescending and haughty. This was the case in restaurants, hotels, cabs and so on. There were definitely exceptions (like the artist we met in Florence), but it did become a noticeable pattern. It’s sad because while we saw plenty… Read more »
Aside from one single run-in with a carabiniere over something that was my fault, I’ve never encountered Italian men that were especially ‘condescending and haughty.’ I wouldn’t begrudge them a certain froideur if it did exist. I remember “the Years of Lead” and I have no doubt that relexive anti-communism on the part of the US was a leading factor in things like Operation Gladio. This on top of the established fact that the same US sentiments led to the rehabilitation of Mafiosi and Fascisti in the immediate aftermath of WWII, again because of America’s hard-on that communists might actually… Read more »
I want to highlight something Hugo mentioned in passing, and I want to thank him for mentioning it at all:
There was this young woman named Meredith Kercher who was murdered when she was away from home.
She is never coming back to her home or her family. She will not be trying to “get on with her life.” She was not be greeted at the airport with a media circus like Amanda Knox was in Seattle yesterday.
It’s very disappointing to me but maybe not surprising that “Amanda Knox” is the household name but Meredith Kercher is not.
Thank you for sharing this Hugo, my condolences to Amanda. I think you hit the nail on what really went on there. Without a doubt slut shaming was part of it.
Really you’re going to make this a feminist issue. This pretty rich white American girl is innocent, she couldn’t commit a murder because she is such a delicate flower. That doesn’t sound like feminism, feminists are going to have to deal with the contradiction women can do anything men can do and women are always innocent, women are capable of the same evil men are, women murderers are more rare yes but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Ok “slut shaming”. I don’t care who she slept with how bout murder shaming. The murder was allegedly part of a rape,… Read more »
I never got how the cartwheel thing could possibly be legitimate evidence. It might be insensitive and inappropriate in the situation, but it doesn’t indicate murder. At 20, I could see myself doing the exact same thing, ESPECIALLY if I didn’t do it. My thought process would go something like this: I’m not guilty of the murder, so what can they do to me? I didn’t know or like the girl that well (she’s just a roommate, I barely talk to any of my former roommates), I’m stuck in a room for hours without even a magazine or book. They’re… Read more »
Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. If I were guilty, I’d be a LOT more cautious and careful. Luckily, she’s learned how to appropriately handle situations like that, to deal with other cultures and corrupt authority, and matured. It’s terrible that Meredith, Raffaello, and Amanda’s families had to go through that whole ordeal.
Totally agree, Aya. Not to mention the fact that there’s some confusion over whether she was actually doing cartwheels or if she was doing yoga poses to relieve the physical stress of sitting in an interrogation room for countless hours. Would it change everyone’s mind if the Italian press said she was doing the sun salutation instead? Or would that have also “proved” she was a crazy killer because only weirdo West Coast pot-smoking hippies (who are all clearly murderers) do yoga?
Do alot of women out there ever get tired of playing their “victim cards”? I constantly hear about how horrible women have it and ive had beyond a bellyful.What do you women think of the male suicide rate of american males and how they are responsible for well over 70% of all suicides in this country? I can guaruntee the myth of male privilege is an absolute lie and beyond the mental issues that drives alot of men to off themselves there are just as many mentally healthy,albeit disenfranshised males out there who don’t not have any leg up,privileges,support system… Read more »
I think the Italian justice system and press played up the “sex-crazed young American girl” angle, much more than the American press would have. But, in her hometown and many parts of the American press, there was the opposite stereotype. There was a general sentiment that she was a nice girl, a good daughter, attractive, and a good student, so therefore it’s impossible that she could be a murderer. Somehow women like her just don’t commit murder. The average college-aged American girl could never kill someone, obviously, so obviously she just CAN’T be guilty. I thought she was probably not… Read more »
The degree of irrelevant public scrutiny Knox was under was incredible. Sollecito (also acquitted) faced some scrutiny (his porn habits) but didn’t get nearly the sketchy coverage Knox did. That’s indisputable.
I don’t agree with Hugo’s final statement- that the only reason she was in prison was because she was a pretty American because Sollecito, a Italian guy, also was imprisoned. Even if the original verdict was wrong, Knox would still have been imprisoned due to her slander of Lumumba. Anyway, she’s served her time and, barring conviction on appeal, deserves to live her life away from the media circus.
AP of today: The jury did find Knox guilty of slandering bar owner Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, a bar owner in Perugia who once hire Knox. Knox implicated Lumumba in the murder … ….. The maximum sentence for slander is three years in prison, but Knox has already served four years. She was also ordered to pay 22,000 euros to Lumumba. ————— Not really so innocent… I would be nice, if Hugo could sometimes write an article about 100s of innocent, but convicted exonerated MEN in USA who spent decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. It should be… Read more »
I just want to point out that every feminist site mentioned Troy Davis on the day he got executed and everyone was seriously appalled. What he went through was awful. He was practically tortured with all of the execution dates, then killed mercilessly after the majority of the witnesses recanted. If women’s sites cared about Troy, why is it wrong for Hugo to care about Amanda?
Before I even clicked on this article — and I use the term very loosely — I knew it would be written by Hugo. You know, this website shouldn’t actually be called the “Good Men Project.” It should be called the “Apologists Project.” Almost every piece of content on this site is about how men are such oppressors, rapists, terrible, inferior creatures and how women are always helpless, angelic victims who are far superior to men and who are completely incapable of doing something bad. I don’t even get why I bother reading this site. It has almost nothing to… Read more »
Colin–this. You wondered on another forum why women find you to be a jerk, and this is why. You take every opportunity to play the victim card you claim that all women play. You go on the defensive even when it has nothing to do with you. Women are just as likely to slut-shame as men. I admit that freely. That doesn’t mean it that slut shaming doesn’t need to just stop. A vibrator, sexy panties, and marijuana do not a cold blooded murderer make. All they make is a sexual girl comfortable in her body who enjoys soft recreational… Read more »
Please explain to me how this is being a jerk? This website is supposed to be about men and things that affect men. If I wanted to read more feminist swill, I would go to feministing or one of those other places. You’re going to have an almost impossible time finding men who consider female masturbation deviant. With that said, “deviant” sexual tendencies are used in court cases ALL THE TIME. Trying to paint someone as sexually deviant for the sake of character assassination is criminal prosecution 101.
You know, blogs like this make money from page views. Everyone who comes here and bitches about how crappy the site is — you are supporting it just by reading it.
And that’s wrong, Colin. Prosecutors who use this tactic are corrupt. They try to pull at emotional, sensational heart strings of jurors because they lack actual facts. Just because it happens often doesn’t mean that it’s ok. A married man who drinks and has a few porn videos on his computer isn’t necessarily a morally corrupt evil doer who strangled his wife. It’s also quite a leap to say that a woman who likes to sleep around and enjoys the occasional pot brownie is a murderous seductress. Feministing is a site that focuses on issues that affect women, gays and… Read more »
Sorry for the weird formatting…I’m on my phone. :/
Hostility toward either sex is wrong. The hostility here is toward men. That’s what is so wrong. It’s the same hostility that can be found at Feminsting (and similar sites) but that is to be expected simply based on the name. This is far more disappointing.
Eric M,
But you’ve forgotten that it is envogue and socially acceptable to male bash.An example: every other commercial on television is hell bent on making the guy (usually white guy) look like a complete fool,inept and a tool.Remember America’ funniest home videos program where they repeatedly would show guys getting hit in the testicles and everyone would laugh.Its also acceptable to bash a male on his bank account and penis size.Not looking to play the woe is me card here but it is truly disgusting and speaks volumes.
As much as feminists via their blogs, magazines, and websites complain about media representation, they never object to that media representation of men and boys and idiots and the punch-line of violence against men. I agree. It all speaks volumes.
Is it corrupt and unfair? Absolutely. Does it happen all the time? Absolutely. Has it been happening to men all over the US in divorce court, and custody hearings, and criminal hearings, etc, etc, etc for a very long time? Yes. Have you heard any objections or seen any articles written about it by hugo, or any other feminist? Not one. Also, I have read feministing and it is, without a doubt, anti-men. You barely need to read any articles before you find one that is male bashing, one where men are assumed guilty even if they’ve been proven innocent,… Read more »
You’re right about a lot of the rape cases on a lot of feminist sites. It’s sad that a lot of feminists have to go on the defensive because rape victims are very often treated like subhuman liars because of a choice of clothing, race, or having had sex in the past. What can we do to respect victims while also not crucifying the accused with accused without proof? I really don’t know. Yet, most of what I read and see on Feministing simply has to do with gay rights, abortion rights, slutwalks, attractive women doing smart things, preventing violence… Read more »
minus the ‘with accused’ (-_-)
Colin, it’s absolutely wrong that men are put through the ringer in a lot of custody cases. It’s not ok to think that men can’t be good caregivers or that they must be abusers just because a woman broke up with them. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s not ok to slut-shame women into false convictions (or in general) or to paint women as false rape accusers just because they’re known to enjoy sex or wear short skirts with no panties.
I agree with you. Completely. My point is this. We’re on a website that is supposed to be about men, men’s issues, and living life as a good man. This is the very place where the serious problems that men face should be discussed and addressed, but it doesn’t happen at all. Instead, we get article’s like Hugo’s “Accidental Rapist” (really any Hugo article) which villifies men and deifies women. There are tons of websites that are dedicated to women’s causes, but this is not billed as one of those websites, but that is what it does. I think that… Read more »
Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly active on this site when the Troy Davis tragedy occurred. If they didn’t mention anything, they really should have, as it’s an issue that deals with race, class, corrupt authority, and a man wrongly accused.
The analysis of her character, what you term “slut shaming”, is essential in a trial of this matter because outward looks are deceiving. It is foolishness to believe that attractive people, or people that remind you of acquaintances, cannot be murderers. The real objection seems to me to be that an American woman’s behaviour is used to judge the worthiness of her character and whether her testimony should be believed or disregarded.
Using a vibrator and going without underwear says nothing about someone’s character. A strong libido has never been shown to be a character trait positively correlated with a propensity for homicide. That’s character assassination, not good lawyering, and it is fortunate that even the Italian appellate judges agreed.
What about her false allegations against an innocent man? Hypocrite Hugo.
she served time for those charges already…
Still doesn’t make her a murderer. It makes her a false accuser. She also withstood a hostile interrogation in a language she didn’t understand, and was coerced into confession and allegations. Read more about the story. Still doesn’t make her a murderer…
I’d like to see how well you’d hold up at 20 against a team of foreign police officers during a multi-hour interrogation in which you were denied food, water, a bathroom, and a lawyer and while they smacked you in the back of the head. Not to mention that the interrogation was in a language she barely knew. Add to that the reason the cops zeroed in on Amanda and concoted the crazy story that she planned to murder Meredith with Patrick Lumumba was because, when he texted her telling her he wouldn’t need her to work that night, she… Read more »
We don’t even know if she actually “accused” this guy…..that is what the police say, but there was NO LAWYER present…..these “so-called” police also dressed up as doctors and went into her cell and told her she had HIV and made her tell them who all of her sexual partners were. Then it MYSTERIOUSLY got leaked to the press…….THEN they told her she didn’t have HIV…..I mean COME ON……SERIOUSLY, if that doesn’t SCREAM what a COMPLETE FUCK UP this whole case was, I don’t know what does…..(please excuse my language, but people who come on here and spout off crap… Read more »
You are ascribing American morals to a different country; generally murder is considered aberrant behaviour, if the accused has other aberrant behaviour, as judged locally not in downtown NYC, then it points to propensity to commit other aberrant actions. I notice the US media is very quick to paint the Italian police in the worst light possible and the accused as some American princess held in thrall by a vile culture. She is far from innocent, in fact she’s guilty and served time for other offences when she tried to blame an innocent man to get herself off the hook.… Read more »
Compelling post, Hugo. I too taught a semester abroad in Florence; this was in 2002 and together with an art history professor. What you point out about the ‘reception’ of Americans and American (pretty) girls in particular, rings very true to me. But as a native Norwegian advising college students in the Midwest about study in Norway, it was my many countless conversations with students who went abroad to study there that came to mind. You’d think in a country that so values gender equality, women’s rights, progressive values, and information from all sides that “reflexive anti-Americanism” would be ruled… Read more »
Isn’t Knox 24 now?
Whoops, phira, my bad. Changing it now.
Oh my, concerned about a fact? Wonders never cease.
Hugo writes: “The prosecutor devoted extensive time to discussing the defendant’s sex life and her clothing, including her taste in (or lack of) underwear. He was positively obsessed with her vibrator, as if female masturbation was indicative of a propensity for homicide. Her diary, replete with the personal details one would expect in a private journal, was read repeatedly in court.” ======== This is called the establishment or destruction of credibility and is a necessary process. Everybody’s testimony needs to be seen in the light of what the true merit of the person is. Considering they are trying to properly… Read more »
“Also, I love how you cover the male students now (life-time) paralysis from the waist down in half a sentence, but go on & on about the so-called harassment the female students endured (weep).”
Right, every good feminist knows that it’s much harder for a woman to endure a cat call than for a man get paralyzed from the waist down.
Yet another clear demonstration of feminist hostility toward males and total insensitivity toward a male suffering.
Or could it possible be because this article is about a feminist issue so going in depth about this young man’s misfortune would be somewhat off-topic? If you want to read about paraplegia perhaps you should google that instead?
Perhaps it is out of context to show concern for anything so trivial as a young man being paralyzed, since feminism has no concern for men, no matter how horrific the problem. Evidently, in the feminist view, a woman being catcalled is far worse than a young man being permanently paralyzed.
His evident lack of concern of the young man’s horrific and permanent suffering compared to the compassion he shows for women being catcalls is wholly consistent with his feminist values – where men don’t matter, except to take blame for any and all problems.
“Yet another clear demonstration of feminist hostility toward males and total insensitivity toward a male suffering.”
Come on, really? Why do you come on this site to make such over-general and stupid comments?
The vast majority of the content on this site is about male suffering. This isn’t some zero sum game. I’m a feminist in the sense I think women should be equal in our society. That doen’t make me, by definition, insensitive to male suffering. In fact I founded GMP BECAUSE of male suffering.
If you don’t like the content leave and don’t come back.
Nobody’s mad at you for being a feminist. We’re mad that you’ve given this huckster another platform.
“The vast majority of the content on this site is about male suffering.” BULL. “If you don’t like the content leave and don’t come back.” Ban him. That is what feminists do with people who disagree. But you will have to work at it for a while. The comment section of your website is increasingly filling with the sentiments of people that don’t buy, and don’t like, the drivel that Hugo and company peddle to the world. You can’t ban them all. Eventually you will have to close comments to stop the rising tide of people that don’t buy this… Read more »
I do think men who get off on female suffering would like you to believe it’s a zero-sum game.
I can’t believe people here seriously think that a woman masturbates can be used as evidence that she would kill someone. If that charge was leveled against a man, the cries of MISANDRY would never, ever stop for a million billion years. They would all have heart attacks from the joy of finally having a genuinely unfair charge leveled against men. But if a woman does it—I mean, seriously, EVERYONE does it—that’s evidence that she’s a murderer. Wow.
The problem here is the fact that no one is actually saying that. Show me a man who thinks what you’re saying we purportedly believe. Seriously. You know, for once, I would love to see you in particular, to own up to the incredible anti-male bias you hold. You know, like when you were completely wrong about the Duke Lacrosse case but lead the crusade to crucify the guys.
Tom Matlack:
The vast majority of the content on this site is about male suffering.
——————————
This is not true.
There is not much on this website, which could be considered as supportive to men’s rights.
Tom – “Come on, really? Why do you come on this site to make such over-general and stupid comments?” Where to start? In short, to hopefully (over time) correct the stereotyped, anti-male articles regularly posted here. I keep coming back because I hope there is hope but am less optimistic daily. Your stated objective is noble but you have a serious blind-spot. Evidently, due to feminist influences, GMP’s definition of a good man vs. a bad man is truly contorted. I’m not the best man in the world but I have been married and faithful to my first and only… Read more »
God bless you, Eric.
How is using a vibrator, having sex, keeping a salacious diary, or wearing sexy or no underwear relevant to credibility in a murder trial, in any way, shape, or form? Women who love orgasms also love murder? That’s actually exactly his point: the stigma attached to women’s sexuality can apparently totally discredit their morality and cast doubt upon their innocence in killing another human being. How fucking childish and silly. He didn’t mention the paralyzed student more because THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT HIM. IT’S AN ARTICLE ABOUT AMANDA KNOX AND SLUT SHAMING. Jesus Christ. You do realize he didn’t… Read more »
Correct. The article is not about him. BTW, where is the article on this young man’s tragic story? Exactly. Evidently, it wasn’t important enough to write about, unlike cat-calling.
Those young women in the group being cat called was clearly far more tragic and worthy of writing about than a young man getting permanently paralyzed.
Don’t come on this site with that header and think you are funny. DSL. If you have something thoughtful to contribute that is fine. Repeating the same old dogma over and over again is a waste of all of our time.
That is a hysterically funny sentiment coming from a man who does nothing but practice dogma.
The GMPM repeats the same old man-hating / woman-victim dogma over and over again.
I love how Hugo wants talk about Amanda Knox’s acquittal, but decided to shut down comments when the DSK case was dropped.
http://www.hugoschwyzer.net/2011/07/01/dsk-and-the-only-good-girls-get-justice-narrative/
Why the personal attack on Hugo? Has he ever done anything to you? If you have something to say then write your own post for GMP (Lisa would be glad to let you as long as you can put two words together). But stop chasing Hugo around and making him into some evil character he is not.
Hugo is a chauvinist pig and having him at the GMPM reflects very badly on YOU.
Hugo, to be honest I have watched a lot of the coverage about this (my wife is obsessed) but you broke the news at least to me that she is free. A first for GMP. I have a niece who just got back from a summer studying in Italy, who is beautiful and young and smart. I think of her when I think of Amanda. I watched the clip of her pleading for her life. And I agree with everything you wrote. This is actually one time that I think the sensationalism of modern journalism isn’t such a bad thing… Read more »
You’re so welcome, Tom. Thank you.
I don’t know all the details of this case but I do know that Knox changed her story and accused an innocent man of the crime. Not guilty but not so innocent either.
Perhaps the “slut-shaming” has more to do with being american because if she was either black or a man she wouldn’t have had the public support that she did.
And less of a drug user . . .
It’s not so much “slut-shaming” as it is her overall life style, featuring lots of drug use. Had she not been such a major drug user, her reputation would not have been as negative in the Italian press.
REALLY???……her overall lifestyle….the fact that she was a GREAT student and was furthering her education in another country……yeah…..okay……and a MAJOR DRUG USER….the girl smoked a little pot…..that does not make her a MAJOR DRUG USER…..people, get your facts straight before you start spewing false details all over the Internet!
Some people don’t consider “Pot” to be using drugs, but it is.
She served the four years already for defamation of character and perjury.
And lost a civil suit and had to pay punitive damages to the other man, something like 40,000 GBP
Actually, the cops took the text on her phone from her boss and put words in her mouth–she didn’t just up and say, “Yeah, Patrick did it!!”. This was mostly the cops deciding he was in on it, keeping Knox in interrogation for 50 hours (without an attorney or a translator), and striking her. Also keep in mind, that Knox and her boyfriend was falsely accused by someone who was already serving time for the murder (whose DNA was all over Kerchner’s body) as part of a deal to get a reduced sentence.
I totally agree with “Reality”