If ever there were a time to start listening to Ke$ha, it's now.

For those of you only loosely acquainted with the Supreme Court case that singer Ke$ha - real name Kesha Rose Sebert - is currently embroiled in, you might be aware of the fact that she is looking to break free from her six-album deal with Sony, but not the reason why.

Ke$ha's request to break her contract is specifically tied to her work with super-producer Dr. Luke, real name Luke Gottwald, who she claims raped her in 2006.

Ke$ha, now 28-years-old, has alleged that Dr. Luke drugged her and then later raped her, shortly after her 18th birthday.

It is important, of course, to note that he was never formally charged and he has strenuously denied the claims.

However, the fact that he hasn't been charged is not strong enough to dismiss the idea that he might have done it.

Especially considering that by the time any of abuse allegations made it to court, the two cited incidences of physical violence or assault were beyond the American statute of limitations and, therefore, inadmissible.

You'd be forgiven for assuming, in 2016, that we now have a legacy of women's rape claims being taken seriously.

One only need glance at the Bill Cosby case, though, to see that there are enough legal loopholes still in place to ensure that justice isn't always served appropriately.

The news that Ke$ha's request to be let out of her contract has been denied in the Supreme Court means she will have to see out her deal with Sony, continuing to work in close proximity with the man she claims took advantage of her.

The most interesting thing about the Ke$ha case, from an entirely outside perspective, is that it is only now that people have started to take it seriously.

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Ke$ha has been surfacing on various social media channels for months, pleading with people to help drum up support for her contract break, but far outweighing the couple of supportive tweets from fellow musicians, have been the posts gently ridiculing her for her 'cry face,' or posting unflattering pictures of her asking the question 'is this the face of innocence?'

It seems that even in 2016, though we might see more rape cases going to court, we're still finding new ways to discredit a woman's testimony.

The message here is that if you want your assault claims to be taken seriously, you have to have had a record of saintly behaviour yourself.

Take Janice Dickinson's part in the Bill Cosby drama, for example.

While many of the testomonies in Cosby's ongoing investigation have had to be thrown out due to issues with their timeframe, Dickinson's claims were rubbished by the population well before they landed in front of a lawyer.

Because Janice Dickinson's behaviour is perceived regularly to be uncouth or dramatic, we assumed her claims against Cosby are overblown.

The public reaction towards Ke$ha has not been quite as ubiquitously vitriolic as that leveled at Dickinson, but there are similarities.

Ke$ha has regularly sent herself up. Her music and the videos that accompany them have been described variously as 'harmless fun,' 'really bad' and made for six-year-olds.

And because she has positioned herself as something of a comedic figure, her public pleading about her contract has been cast in an amusing light, instead of being seen for what it actually was - a distressed, frightened woman's cry for help.

It appears that we are more than happy to take the side of an unquestionably wronged woman, but when the woman in the frame divides opinions, our support is not so unequivocal.

In an age, though, where we have begun to celebrate women for their flaws, differences and shades of grey, we should probably start recognising that women with only saintly records, though perhaps not myths, are at least few and far between.

A rape claim is a rape claim; it should always be taken seriously.

Images: GETTY

Further Reading:

The Feminist Hashtags That You Should Look Out For

Game Of Thrones Has A Problem With Girls

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Natasha Bird
Former Digital Executive Editor

Natasha Bird is the Former Executive Editor (Digital) of ELLE.