During the second defamation case introduced by author E. Jean Carroll towards former President Donald Trump, his lawyer drew consideration to one among her books — a little-known Nineteen Eighties work referred to as “Female Difficulties: Sorority Sisters, Rodeo Queens, Frigid Women, Smut Stars and Other Modern Girls.”
Trump lawyer Alina Habba requested Carroll in court docket final week to clarify the title of her e-book, a set of essays, with the lawyer making an attempt to point out that the author had as soon as written about “smut stars,” based on Business Insider. The line of questioning went nowhere, with the choose sustaining an objection from Carroll’s lawyer.
But the point out of Carroll’s e-book through the carefully watched trial has had one tangible consequence: Used copies of the e-book at the moment are fetching 1000’s of {dollars}. On Friday morning, a used copy of “Female Difficulties” was listed for about $2,141 on used e-book web site AbeBooks, however by Friday afternoon the e-book was now not available. Another copy was available on Amazon for $999.99. Bibio is promoting a duplicate for $199.
On Friday, a federal jury dominated that Trump should pay $83.3 million in damages for defamatory statements he made denying he sexually assaulted Carroll, a surprising verdict provided that her attorneys have been searching for $10 million for reputational hurt and different unspecified punitive damages.
Megan Cerullo
Mention of the e-book through the trial prompted New Yorker author Emily Nussbaum to purchase a duplicate and tweet in regards to the e-book, which on the time was blurbed by creator Hunter Thompson, who referred to as her a “wild author,” and novelist Richard Price (“extraordinarily humorous and barely horrifying”).
“I heard this e-book from 1985 got here up in court docket final week, so I purchased it and I’m studying it and it is *GREAT*,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “Got it on-line for $80, properly price it.”
Carroll is healthier identified as we speak for her authorized battles with Trump, however she constructed a profession on offering recommendation to girls via her “Ask E. Jean” column in Elle journal. Her 2019 nonfiction e-book, “What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal,” was referred to as an “entertaining and rage-making romp of a learn” by The Guardian.
That e-book additionally detailed her alleged sexual assault by Trump in a dressing room within the Nineteen Nineties, with Carroll writing that she encountered Trump on the Bergdorf Goodman division retailer when he requested for recommendation on a present for “a woman.” Carroll stated they ended up within the lingerie division, the place Trump allegedly coerced her right into a dressing room and sexually assaulted her.
Trump denied her allegations, claiming he had by no means met her. That led to Carroll submitting a defamation lawsuit towards him. In May 2023, a jury discovered Trump chargeable for sexual abuse and defamation in a separate case, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages.
The present defamation case is targeted on feedback Trump made in 2019, which a choose has already dominated have been defamatory. The proceedings have been designed to find out the damages Carroll ought to obtain.
Still, not all of Carroll’s books are getting the identical increase. Copies of “What Do We Need Men For?” are available on Amazon for as little as $3.51 a duplicate.
