I feel like I should say, for the record, that I never was a Brand fan. His verbosity annoyed the fuck out of me - he was clearly doing it for the attention. My spidey senses turned up the ick meter to it's furthest setting when I even saw his face. Whilst many of us tuned in for a while to his proselytising and preaching, hearing at least some kind of truth in it, I don't think I'm the only one to get bored of it and read him as a spiritual narcissist.

That's all very well and good now he's behind bars, removed of reputation, voice, and other freedoms. It's easy to say I knew it when a jury found the man guilty.

It is, however, suprising how many people say 'but he's reformed, a different man now'.

Poor guy. Ten years and some in jail. Can't see his kids. He's Christian now (because what, religous men don't rape? Tell that to the priests), he has children, he only felt her up and she is only accusing him because he's famous, she was drunk, how do you know she was telling the truth?

I'm sure it's because of the crime itself. Can one be a reformed serial killer or child pornographer? Is it okay to not do the crime for - I don't know, let's say twenty years, for the helluva it - and profess to finding our Lord and saviour Jesus and thus redemption and absolution outside the court of law? Of course not. He did what he did, and thus must face the consequences of his actions - and yes, there was evidence, which came out in court, and was found enough to convict him.

And sexual violence is violence, however you frame it.

Now of course all the retro-clips come out, paraded on Facebook feeds to say see! - he was a creep extraordinairre, amongst the rampant misogyny of the time, where making jokes about women and talking over the top of them as if they did not exist, objectifying and belittling and raping and being part of a culture that accepted it - we are at last appalled by the times, at last.

Someone had to go first (let's exclude the other male entertainers for now, whose interactions with young children were allowed for so long, because they seemed like such good, clever, funny, entertaining men) - and I hope there's a domino effect, because despite the reasons, the justifications and the conspiracies, he was found guilty of raping women - and perhaps more, as the voices gather to be believed at last.

His celebrity status clearly compounds things for some people who cry for his freedom. How can a man so worshipped fall so low? What does that say about us, that we allowed it, turned a blind eye, refused to see? For some, disbelief is the only option. It makes them too uncomfortable to accept their hero - any celebrity - might be a fucking asshole.

Whilst some call it karma and suggest a longing for the man to be raped in prison himself - I mean, that's just perpetuating the cycles of violence that have got humanity in this damn mess in the first place - I'd say simply that this is the kind of justice that says this kind of culture is unacceptable. The more it is called out, dissected, and talked about, the more we can work toward a culture of real consent. And no, that's not signed contracts, but normal human behaviour - men taught to respect women, and to recognise that is never okay, under any circumstances, to coerce women by any means to submit sexually - whatever this looks like.