Surviving Diddy? Cassie, Her Lawsuit, and the pattern of abusers

We may never know what happened between Diddy and Cassie, but we know how abuse works.

On Thursday, November 16th, 2023, Cassie, an R&B singer once signed to Bad Boy Records accused Mr. Combs of rape, and of repeated physical abuse over a decade. In the suit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura — and who had long been Mr. Combs’s romantic partner — says that not long after she met him in 2005 when she was 19, he began a pattern of control and abuse that included plying her with drugs, beating her and forcing her to have sex with a succession of male prostitutes while he filmed the encounters. In 2018, the suit says, near the end of their relationship, Mr. Combs forced his way into her home and raped her.- NY Times.

Despite the way Diddy is viewed, it doesn’t negate anything that he was accused of in this suit, in this episode our goal is to help folks understand what abusers look like, how and why they seem to get away with their behavior, and touch a little on the challenges of being a survivor in that situation. To help with this, I’m joined by, Wagatwe Wanjuki.

Wagatwe is an antirape feminist theorist and activist best known for her work on Title IX and campus sexual assault. She strives to bring sexual assault prevention to the 21st century through online public education, using an intersectional survivor-focused and trauma-informed lens. Wagatwe believes that a rape-free world is possible, but we have to create it together. 

I’m including a link to the full report in this post, so you can take a look at it on your own. Diddy is one of the most well-known people in the world, and a staple in hip-hop, so this news definitely hit folks like a ton of bricks, since the news dropped, Diddy and Cassie came to terms on a settlement pretty quickly for an undisclosed amount, leading some people to question the validity of Cassies claims. 

Below are some supporting links:

https://wagatwe.myportfolio.com/

https://www.patreon.com/wagatwe

https://www.nsvrc.org/organizations/157

https://www.blackmen.build/

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-He-That-Controlling/dp/0425191656/ref=asc_df_0425191656/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=343221129552&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13542874719928548875&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9073504&hvtargid=pla-433820743808&psc=1&mcid=66a030df79f33b298767ec5a0357a130&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=67797266103&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=343221129552&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13542874719928548875&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9073504&hvtargid=pla-433820743808&gclid=CjwKCAiAgeeqBhBAEiwAoDDhn9DrOXnjlmY00_PIMD0dWOb4UO2Ur0IeZgPd6IXd2UFMCKE5kKPfFxoCHxAQAvD_BwE

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