Katherine Ryan has made headlines this morning after telling Louis Theroux in an interview that it is an 'open secret’ in her industry that one male comic is a sexual predator. Speaking of a time she repeatedly confronted said man during a comedy show they were both part of Ryan said that her accusations were edited out of the final show.
‘I didn’t inform our employers, I informed him to his face that he was a predator,’ Ryan said in an episode of Louis Theroux Interviews, clarifying that when she says predator, she means ‘perpetrator of sexual assault.’
‘No one has perpetrated any sexual assault against me, but this person I believe very strongly - and so do a lot of people, it’s an open secret - is a perpetrator of sexual assault,’ she continued. ‘I in front of loads of people in the format of the show, said to this person’s face that they were a predator, again and again. [Then] I got criticism for not naming who it was when I spoke about the original show after the fact.’
The same criticism has resurfaced now, with many on Twitter condemning Ryan for not outing the man to the public. But the real question is, why does anyone expect her to? Ryan clarified herself in the interview that she does not feel safe naming him without facing her own repercussions.
‘It is very dangerous for us to have this conversation,’ Ryan said. ‘I’m happy to have it, but it’s a litigious minefield because lots of people have tried to nail this person down for their alleged crimes. This person has very good lawyers, so am I going to put my mortgage on the line by saying who this person is or entering into any conversations like that? We’ve seen what happens to people who talk about alleged predators, it’s not really my story to tell.’
If you accuse too many men of sexual assault, people won't book you any more.
Ryan continued by explaining that confronting the comic to his face felt like the safest option for her, and that female comics regularly attack issues in this way because they are labelled a ‘troublemaker’ if they attempt to blow the whistle on men in the industry. In fact, she believes that’s what true cancellation looks like. ‘If you accuse too many men of sexual assault… people won’t book you anymore,’ she said. ‘It’s more of a quiet disappearing than cancellation.’
It's ludicrous to expect her to put her life on the line then. We’re living in a time where less than one per cent of reported rapes end in conviction, when women who do speak out publicly about famous men are vilified online and trolled into hiding. And that’s all out in the open, can you imagine the insidious network of protection and silencing that goes on behind the scenes when powerful men are accused of sexual misconduct? It’s never fair to expect women to go on the record about these crimes when the risk to our own reputations and mental wellbeing is so high, for such a pitiful reward of 0.8% chance of real justice.
Don’t put it on Katherine Ryan then, put it on the powerful men who protect this sexual predator and choose not to speak out themselves despite being much better protected than any woman in their industry.