The jury has returned a verdict in the E. Jean Carroll / Donald Trump battery (rape) and defamation case: The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse of Carroll, as well as defamation, but not for rape. In total, Trump is ordered to pay Carroll about $5 million.
Throughout the case, Carroll was asked to defend her existence existentially—all for a crime she did not commit, but which was committed upon her. Three tropes in particular stood out in the Carroll trial. It is past time to bury, once and for all, the false tropes about rape that still color judicial proceedings and certain courts of public opinion.