Brandy Zadrozny’s Daily Beast story about a rape ring in the Gaslamp Quarter and the shady pickup-artist industry behind it all is shocking.
Zadrozny joins hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts this week to discuss some of the issues the story unearthed. She describes how men have turned picking up women into a money-making pyramid scheme, and explains the role of the so-called “manosphere,” a corner of the internet where the philosophies and strategies of pickup culture are touted.
In her story, Zadrozny notes that since 2010, the San Diego district attorney has only filed charges of rape by intoxication just 28 times, rejecting 80 percent of all the cases that have come across her desk. She says it’s a stat that’s likely similar in cities across the country. It’s a hard crime to prosecute, she says, but that doesn’t mean law enforcement officers should be let off the hook.
“This did become not only a look at this crime, but also a look at the pickup industry,” she said. “And then moreover, a look at the way that San Diego – an it’s not unique in this way – but the way that San Diego handled rape by intoxication charges in the report, which is to say it doesn’t handle them very well, and it doesn’t do much of an investigation and when an investigation is complete even then most of those cases aren’t ever prosecuted.”
Also on the podcast, Lewis and Keatts go through a lighting round of topics covered by VOSD this week. They discuss the Wonder Bread factory and the owner of the building who could be forced to sell her property if Measure C passes. They bemoan the death of a program at Lincoln High that lets students take college classes. They note the city’s big climate plan doesn’t include limiting natural gas, and how San Diego Gas & Electric is pushing a new $600 million pipeline to bring us more natural gas.
Lewis also admits that turning 40 wasn’t as easy as he thought and extols the healing powers of cheesesteaks.