Things may be about to get very messy for pickup artist and most-hated-man-in-the-world candidate Roosh Valizadeh.
S. Jane Gari, the author of Losing the Dollhouse, a memoir dealing with emotional abuse, writes in a recent blog post that an Icelandic woman has come to her to tell her story of being raped by Roosh.
Up until this point, as Gari notes, Roosh has responded to accusations that he is a rapist — a conclusion many have come to by simply reading his own deeply creepy and unsettling accounts of his past sexual exploits — by proudly declaring that not a single woman has come forward to accuse him of rape.
“You would think that one girl would have come forward by now and say, ‘Roosh did it. He raped me,'” Gari reports Roosh as saying during his bizarre recent press coference. “Not one has come forward. Not one.’”
“Now she has,” Gari declares.
One of Roosh’s victims read my blog back in November and reached out to me, asking for my help in exposing him. She finally agreed to be interviewed after seeing how he continues to spout his poisonous, misogynist rhetoric with sickening bravado. I hope her courage will inspire other possible Roosh victims to come forward as well.
Here’s the story of the woman Gari calls “Susan” to protect her anonymity. (You can find more details on her blog.)
When Susan left a nightclub with her friends, Roosh, approached her on the street and insisted on walking her home. She asked him to leave her alone. Later, when she became separated from her friends, she noticed he was following her.
“You have a beautiful but sad walk. I know a great place to have a drink. You can join me. It will be fun,” he said.
Susan, Gari writes, told him several more times she didn’t want his supposed help, but he continued following her anyway.
When they reached Susan’s house, Gari continues, Roosh
asked politely if he could just use the toilet. Sleepy and still drunk from her night out, she acquiesced and let him in to use the bathroom.
Up until this point, Susan’s story matches one of the stories in Roosh’s book Bang Iceland almost exactly. The disappearance of Susan’s friends, which Roosh saw as an incredible bit of luck for him; Roosh following her home despite her clear and repeated protests; his insistence on coming in to use the bathroom — all of this is in Roosh’s own account.
It’s at this point that Roosh’s and Susan’s stories diverge wildly.
In Roosh’s version of events, she thanks him for walking him home, and after heating up some soup on the stove, joins Roosh on the couch
putting her legs over mine. Her wet feet were tiny and I compared them to my hands, which were a few inches larger. I went into horny creep mode and started rubbing her legs while talking.
Yes, even in Roosh’s own account, he comes across as a creepy predator.
After a brief conversation, they start kissing; she gets up, pours herself a bowl of soup, then heads into her bedroom.
“I followed her,” Roosh writes.
It went so fast in her bedroom that even I felt weird. Clothes ripped off. “Do you have a condom?” Jam the dick inside. Barely any kissing. I was too drunk to feel anything and she was too drunk to produce much in the way of lubrication, so after five minutes we stopped having sex, if that’s what you want to call it, and lay on our backs. She fell asleep and started snoring.
The next morning, Roosh says, he got up and left while she lay there sleeping.
As Roosh tells the story, in other words, he had brief, bad sex with a woman who was so not into it she was bone dry, and so drunk she passed out shortly after he gave up. It’s not clear even from his own account whether she was lucid enough to give meaningful consent. (This, by the way, is NOT the Icelandic woman Roosh has said he had sex with even though “in America” she would have been considered too drunk to give consent; that story comes later in Roosh’s book.)
Susan’s account of what happened after Roosh emerged from her bathroom is even more troubling. As Gari tells the story, Roosh asked her if she was home alone. When she said yes,
he asked her to touch his penis. When she refused, Roosh grabbed her.
Susan started crying and said, “Why are you doing this? You’re crazy.”
He laughed and overpowered her with force, saying, “All girls like this. It’s every woman’s fantasy. You don’t even know what you’re saying. You’re drunk, but I like drunk girls.” And then, according to Susan, he raped her.
So which account is more plausible — Roosh’s story of drunken but consensual sex or Susan’s story of forcible rape? If the latter, is Roosh’s version of events a lie, or is it his attempt to convince not only his readers but himself that what happened was just bad sex, not rape?
It’s worth noting, as I did in a previous post, that Roosh has admitted elsewhere to using force to get his way during sex. In Bang Ukraine, for example, Roosh describes using “muscle” to hold a woman down after she told him she wanted to change positions when the two were having sex. “I refused and we argued,” he wrote.
She tried to squirm away while I was laying down my strokes so I had to use some muscle to prevent her from escaping. I was able to finish, but my orgasm was weak.
Afterwards I told her she was selfish and that she couldn’t call an audible so late in the game.
This, too, Roosh presents as perfectly consensual sex.
Even if Susan’s account of Roosh raping her is 100% true, it’s unlikely Roosh will ever be prosecuted for this alleged crime. “He’s an American and she lives in Iceland.,” Gari notes. “She feels she has no recourse.”
Gari ends her post by urging any woman who may have been victimized by Roosh to step forward as Susan has done.
As Gari is careful to point out, Susan’s allegations against Roosh “have not been brought formally, nor has he been found guilty of a crime in court.” And I should note as well that I have not spoken to Susan myself; I am simply relaying what Gari has written. You can draw your own conclusions from the story she tells. I know I have.
Alan – no worries – I have much worse memories than that!
The trouble is that I didn’t get the attitude I have now until I had ‘hit the wall’ – 25-30 – by then the worst of the ‘unwanted attention’ was over.
Jesus, Bina.
You know a few years ago John the Other used to tell stories about being threatened by feminist flash mobs and David mocked them as obvious lies. Times change, I guess. Now we celebrate broken noses, doxxing, and “hunting neomasculinists,” and (in the parts you snipped) lament police with the temerity to talk people down and send everyone harm unharmed.
Ok then. I guess that’s who we are now. Good to know.
There is zero doubt in my mind that the Icelandic woman is telling the truth. It is not really all that surprising that she’s the first one to come forward as rape victims are often crucified in the media when they speak up. Can you imagine what MRAs will put her through if they discover her identity?
Roosh is a bully and I can just imagine what he would do to a woman when he has her under his control. I bet he wouldn’t dare try this nonsense with a woman in the U.S. where he knows he would be subjected to arrest and prosecution.
@Orion
That’s incredibly unfair. The people who went to those meet ups likely only knew what was being reported in mainstream media — that there were “pro-rape” meet ups occurring (which we know wasn’t the purpose of those meet ups) . Things were escalated by the media before they even got started. This was a mob, not a feminist protest.
And of course this plays right into Roosh’s hand. Now he can claim that he’s not the dangerous one, it’s those awful, violent feminists.
Jeez. Now I feel bad for all the poor guys out there who genuinely do just have to use the bathroom, because there is zero way for us to tell and now they probably will end up having to find an alley.
They really do hate other men almost as much as they hate us.
Kupo,
Sorry, I was trying to be witty an ended up being unclear. The John the Other anecdote was more a joke than a serious comparison. You’re right — many of the counter-roosh demonstrators were not feminists, most of the demonstrations were not feminist demonstrations even if some feminists attended, and while some feminists may have engaged in violence they are not representative of feminists in general.
When I said “I guess this is who we are now,” it sounds like you thought I meant “I guess we feminists are a violent mob now.” I can see how that’s a fair reading of my words, but what I meant was, “I guess we WHTM commenters celebrate mob violence now.”
I don’t know where some of you people are from, but around where I am, “go piss in an alley/hedge” isn’t really an option, as doing that could land you on the sex offender registry. Unless things have changed in the past few years and I wasn’t aware. So that complicates things further.
@ kupo and Orion
This seems to be the conversation in social justice circles since Roosh’s mom’s home/his home was doxxed and the counter-protests around the world. From the reports David collected in an earlier post, I doubt that the doxxing or broken noses were typical. That doesn’t make those actions OK. But I also wonder if the Tumblr Bina shared was the full story or just the author’s characterization of what happened? Did the broken nose man start a fight or had a protester punched him just ‘cuz? The Tumbler blog doesn’t say.
From what I read, people here disagreed on whether it was OK to feel any schadenfreude over his family’s dox and if the Daily Mail was wrong to do what it did, with many different and interesting perspectives on the issue. There were some who said he wasn’t really doxxed. It doesn’t help that the definition of doxxing is diluted, as Sarah Jeong, a legal and digital security expert, puts it. Jeong concludes her blog by defining doxxing as, “the publication of a physical residential address, or information protected by law (social security numbers, medical records, and so forth).” To me, this means that, yes, he/his mother were doxxed by the Daily Mail. (Again, not feminists.) David himself came out against the publishing of Roosh’s mom’s address.
Meanwhile, on Twitter, there have been people who identify as being part of social justice who’ve accused those being against the doxxing of Roosh/his mom of being rape apologists. Yes, really. Some are going as far as to argue that some or many “SJ” types or “SJ Twitter” can be guilty of the same tactics or bad faith arguments as MRAs & etc. One of the reasons I post here rather than Twitter is because people here seemed to not be like that. No one here accused David of being a rape apologist or pro-rapist for being against publicizing his mom’s address.
Speaking of Twitter, Zoe Quinn said, “Roosh is the Fucking Worst and has used photos of me for articles on “sluts” but laughing at him seeking help over his fam getting doxed? That behavior is fucking gross as hell no matter who it’s directed at. Be fucking better than that God damn.” She goes on to say that, “also so often doxes are totally wrong. there’s a whole other zoe quinn in Boston.”
I think it’s possible to feel some schadenfreude over knowing that everything about the rapist Roosh is a lie (e.g. there’s nothing wrong with living with one’s parents, but it is one more example of his gross hypocrisy) without supporting doxxing, even of him. But I also wonder if “punching up” becomes an excuse to justify some shitty activists’ shitty behavior.
@Ashara Payne
Back before the Enlightenment, it was believed that children could only be conceived if both partners reached orgasm, as both had to release seed. On the one hand, this meant that it was the husband’s duty to make sure the wife enjoyed herself; on the other, if a woman ended up pregnant after being raped, it meant she enjoyed it, ergo it wasn’t rape, that filthy, filthy wh*re.
I’d be very curious to see what happened with the Montreal one. In the end, my dad got out of the hospital that day, so I wouldn’t have attended anything anyway, but I never a heard a word of a counter protest once the official ones were called off.
Lightcastle, there was a synompsis in Bina’s quote; did you miss it or did you want more info?
I think Roosh wanted the meetups to be as controversial as possible so that some people would react violently.
Slightly off topic, but here’s a short piece discussing ‘creep shaming’ and why it’s important.
@ Kat
Sorry for the late reply! I forgot to subscribe to the comments. >.<
An immediate example that comes to mind is Krystian Bala, who wrote the book Amok. A man was ogling his (ex) wife, so Bala tortured and murdered him. Of course, Bala said it was "just fiction."
There was another man who conspired with his highschooler girlfriend to murder her mother, which unfortunately succeeded. The wrote about it in a journal titled something like The Raven, which was a short story about rescuing a girl from her hellish life by stabbing the mother to death. Though, his case was unusual that he did try to take all the blame–at first.
There are a few more examples of people writing / confessing and trying to pass it off as someone else writing it, of course.
Susan is a very courageous women. I am sure that her courage will inspire others to speak out against Roosh. Pretty soon more women will be able to place his face with the fake name that he had given them.
The Icelandic woman interviewed is telling the truth, and I will tell you how I know: She quotes Roosh in her story as saying “You were walking beautifully, but sadly.” (This line BTW is not part of HIS story.) Watch this video from Romanian TV in which he uses a similar line, to the effect that the target seems “sad.” What drunk girl, separated (albeit temporarily) from her friends does NOT seem “sad?”
He is a predator. He seeks victims who are vulnerable (not within their herd), and he targets them.
I will say, about the original article… of the 7 comments, the vast majority support Susan. That’s nice to see, despite the two assholes who commented.
Thanks to everyone who pointed out examples of criminals boasting about their crime in novels and such!
Teaching women to say “Fuck off” to a guy that is being creepy but offering to do something like carry bags, walk them home or give them a ride isn’t effective unless they also learn how to not care when the ‘nice guy’ suddenly starts being pissy and insulting for their having dared to say “No thanks, but since you’re being so persistent, FUCK OFF.”
If a ‘nice guy’ gets worked up and insulting when you tell him “no thanks” or even “fuck off” he doesn’t deserve anything but pepper spray or a taser used against him.
Roosh’s picture being widely circulated now is a really good thing…for women. Makes his skeevy dirty ass identifiable on the street, in the pubs, and anywhere else he might turn up that’s not owned by his family.
@ Miss Andry
What I was referring to is straight-up allegations about Roosh’s (alleged) criminal conduct, because people could put themselves at risk of being sued etc. I am however aware that libel laws are different in the US from the UK (where I live). I’m probably a bit hyper-vigilant because I recently got in a social media argument (over something unrelated to MRAs etc) and had someone suggest I could be ‘liable’ (I was pretty paranoid for the next few days). If you thought I was attacking something you said, apologies and that wasn’t the intention.
Well a quick look at the Red Pill subreddit will tell you there are a lot of Redpillers who are into the whole ‘Dark Triad’ thing – i.e. try to turn yourself into a psychopath because Teh Chicks Love the Bad Boys.
And the whole ideology ties into this sucky, ‘selfish-realist’, asshole-libertarian ‘get what you want and don’t worry about anyone else’ mentality. But apart from that, I really get the impression that a lot of the ‘red pill’ mentality is about proving yourself better than other guys (through your ‘notches’) more than anything else. Which explains why Roosh and his ilk don’t care about women’s sexual pleasure, or even their own to some extent (okay, he has a thing about ‘getting his nut’, but he’s not ashamed to describe really crappy sexual encounters) – it’s the fact of having got laid (without paying for it), not the actual sex.
That Roosh creature is a sack of shit! Having beer poured on him is the least of what he deserves.
It’s the ‘not paying for it’ that is so crucial here. Roosh could have saved himself a fortune in travel expenses and seedy motels/apartments if he had only been prepared to visit prostitutes or keep a ‘conquest’ as a girlfriend. But I expect he views prostitutes as ‘icky’ despite the fact that they are most likely tested and will insist on protection AND are actually gonna be good at it and at least feign enjoyment etc. he also probably views clients as utter failures who are losers.
Having an actual girlfriend would be impossible now because he has absolutely no respect for any woman who sleeps with him.
It’s like the old cliche of not wanting to join any club that would accept him.
He probably could have got a girlfriend when he was younger but he left it so long that it became too big of a deal, till by the time he did lose his virginity he hated women for making it so hard, so decided to ‘pump and dump’ as punishment/revenge.
I did a similar thing after my first love broke my heart, I ended up shitting all over my next boyfriend (not intentionally, but I never allowed myself to develop any feelings for him, and he was so besotted with me I ended up thinking he was pathetic and hated him).
Young love can be really tough and unfortunately some men just seem to respond badly. He is an extreme example but I do worry and wonder how many other men out there follow his example or take that path unilaterally.
90% of men I meet on dating sites just want sex, but they’re not even prepared to go on a date, they just expect to come to my house and presumably feed them too!
Then I read incredibly disparaging comments by these MRAs about women on sites such as OKCupid and POF which make out like everyone is incredibly unfuckable and horrible and that they are left with ‘the dregs’ and just want to give up with men altogether because these men don’t come with ‘misogynist’ tattooed on their foreheads.
I did have one date with a guy that was in a coffee shop. It was ok but he said ‘no pressure’, so I didn’t bother to dress up or fix my hair or put on much makeup. He couldn’t wait to leave. I realised his ‘no pressure’ meant ‘no pressure for him to impress me’.
We lived a mile apart (never happens!), he had a crappy job, he was nothing special to look at and avoided answering most of my questions.
I don’t know what I did wrong but he never contacted me again. I was probably too fat and old. I barely respond to anyone now, I’ve had so many bad experiences.
I really wish I found women attractive as I’d rather be in/looking for a lesbian relationship. Sorry if that’s offensive, I should probably stop reading about Roosh the Doosh, it’s making me too angry.
I hope more women will come forward and expose him. The thought that he visited my native East-European country and preyed on the women there makes me truly sick…
@Kat
When I was a kid I remember reading in a collection of ‘strange but true’ stories that Edgar Allen Poe was a suspect in the murder of a young woman; since that’s kind of a recurring theme in his work he could be an example of what you’re asking about. I haven’t been able to find any mention of that on the Internet though and I think the book I originally read it in was a Readers’ Digest, so I guess there’s a pretty solid chance of it all just being speculation.