What These Cases of High-Profile Accusers Reveal About the Credibility Gap
By Rachel Elizabeth Barkley, JD MBA R&B artist Casandra Ventura, who is known professionally as Cassie, took the stand in…
What These Cases of High-Profile Accusers Reveal About the Credibility Gap
By Rachel Elizabeth Barkley, JD MBA
R&B artist Casandra Ventura, who is known professionally as Cassie, took the stand in the federal trial of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs on May 13th. As the prosecution’s star witness, Cassie’s testimony provided a foundation for establishing the government’s charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Because Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges, the prosecution’s success hinged on the credibility of Cassie and other witnesses.
Cassie is the latest in a long history of high-profile survivors serving as witnesses in or bringing cases against high-profile men. As always, there has been considerable skepticism regarding Cassie’s testimony. Some social media users suggest that Ventura has an ulterior motive or hidden agenda, despite evidence of Combs’ abuse being leaked by CNN in May 2024. These responses exemplify the Gender Credibility Gap, a phenomenon in which women and other gender minorities are perceived to be less credible than men based on gender stereotypes and societally ingrained prejudices. This gap manifests across a variety of different industries, including medicine, academia, and law.
Megan Thee Stallion, Halle Bailey, Amber Heard, Blake Lively – all these women have experienced the same response from social media users, and new and legacy media alike. This complex, which is known colloquially as the Misogyny Slop Ecosystem (MSE), capitalizes on the societal reluctance to believe women, particularly women of color, and reinforces harmful narratives about accusers, framing them as gold diggers, women scorned, or attention seekers. Here, our collective reluctance to value the accounts of survivors of abuse and unwillingness to vilify rich, powerful men accused of misconduct, greatly impacted the outcome of the case.
In her book, Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers, Deborah Tuerkheimer refers to the manifestation of the credibility gap in the criminal legal system as the credibility discount. This discount impacts survivors reporting sexual violence at every step of the legal process, from the initial report to law enforcement to the trial. It affects all people who hold marginalized identities, including women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, immigrants, disabled people, and other folks lacking social status, economic power, and institutional support. Because jurors were unable to challenge their preconceived narratives around Cassie, who is a biracial Black woman and a victim of misogynoir, Combs was acquitted of the charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
How can we combat this system of disbelief and mistrust? How can we tackle the danger caused by the MSE and the credibility discount? To combat these high-profile cases, we can increase media literacy. We can challenge misinformed narratives about the case that we see online and question our widely accepted beliefs about victim-survivor credibility and people who are marginalized. In our communities, and at large, we can educate ourselves and others about the deep-rooted systems of oppression that cause harm. We know about the Cassies, the Megan Thee Stallions, the Halle Baileys, the Blake Livelys, and the Amber Heards, but there are survivors in our lives who are experiencing the effects of the credibility discount outside of the public eye. They matter too and we must commit to doing our part to dismantle the systems that disenfranchise them.
The trial, which took place at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse in lower Manhattan, ended July 2nd. Combs was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He faces up to 10 years in prison concurrently or 20 years consecutively.