More on same
Mar. 17th, 2011 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakSome follow-up on yesterday's post beneath an lj cut this time, discussing what papers call euphemistically "sexual assault on a minor" and a community's response to this:
The more I google in the hope of some evidence of sanity, the worse it gets. I have my own double gender related double standard, it seems, because when I read about "Quanell X also asked people to donate money to the defense funds for two of those arrested in the case", the emotional response is simply "what an utter asshole", but then the article in question quotes a woman and I see red again:
"She lied about her age. Them boys didn't rape her. She wanted this to happen. I'm not taking nobody's side, but if she hadn't put herself in that predicament, this would have never happened," said Angie Woods, who lives in Houston but grew up in Cleveland.
And this type of victim-blaming response to the case is not limited to Cleveland, Texas. According to this article, Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo concluded that clearly, preventive measures were called for. Such as making it clear to children, teenagers and adults that rape under no circumstances is acceptable behaviour? Why, no.
"There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed like a 21-year-old prostitute," Passidomo declared.
"And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it's incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn't happen to our students," she added.
At least finally some people decided to show support for the victim as well as the rapists (and the fact this is newsworthy is in itself a sad comment): nine women assembled to show solidarity with the victim. Not in Cleveland, in Houston. Compare that with the number of people reported at the town hall meeting who felt the girl was to blame. Who are shown in the video linked in this article.
You know, in addition to what's been done to the girl, the next horrible thing: the lesson already taught to both women and men, girls and boys, who hear about this case. If you're raped, it's your fault, and/or your parents' fault. Don't report the rape, and deny that it happened if someone else does, because if you do report it, your community will ostracize you, threaten your family and call you a whore. On the other hand, feel free to rape anyone you want, with as many fellow rapists as you want; just make sure not to record the whole thing, and possibly check the age of your victim, but even if you don't, don't worry: your community will be behind you and back you up.
It's not like this is anything new. Or limited to Cleveland, Texas. But still, every time it happens the nauseating vileness of it hits me anew and makes me want to scream.
Completely unrelated, other than me being relieved to read about people showing the best they're capable of instead of the worst: article about the 50 workers staying in Fukishima.
The more I google in the hope of some evidence of sanity, the worse it gets. I have my own double gender related double standard, it seems, because when I read about "Quanell X also asked people to donate money to the defense funds for two of those arrested in the case", the emotional response is simply "what an utter asshole", but then the article in question quotes a woman and I see red again:
"She lied about her age. Them boys didn't rape her. She wanted this to happen. I'm not taking nobody's side, but if she hadn't put herself in that predicament, this would have never happened," said Angie Woods, who lives in Houston but grew up in Cleveland.
And this type of victim-blaming response to the case is not limited to Cleveland, Texas. According to this article, Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo concluded that clearly, preventive measures were called for. Such as making it clear to children, teenagers and adults that rape under no circumstances is acceptable behaviour? Why, no.
"There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed like a 21-year-old prostitute," Passidomo declared.
"And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it's incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn't happen to our students," she added.
At least finally some people decided to show support for the victim as well as the rapists (and the fact this is newsworthy is in itself a sad comment): nine women assembled to show solidarity with the victim. Not in Cleveland, in Houston. Compare that with the number of people reported at the town hall meeting who felt the girl was to blame. Who are shown in the video linked in this article.
You know, in addition to what's been done to the girl, the next horrible thing: the lesson already taught to both women and men, girls and boys, who hear about this case. If you're raped, it's your fault, and/or your parents' fault. Don't report the rape, and deny that it happened if someone else does, because if you do report it, your community will ostracize you, threaten your family and call you a whore. On the other hand, feel free to rape anyone you want, with as many fellow rapists as you want; just make sure not to record the whole thing, and possibly check the age of your victim, but even if you don't, don't worry: your community will be behind you and back you up.
It's not like this is anything new. Or limited to Cleveland, Texas. But still, every time it happens the nauseating vileness of it hits me anew and makes me want to scream.
Completely unrelated, other than me being relieved to read about people showing the best they're capable of instead of the worst: article about the 50 workers staying in Fukishima.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-17 12:12 pm (UTC)And jeez! even if she had been a 21 yr-old prostitute (which is an equally disgusting idea to put forth, btw) RAPE IS STILL WRONG AND DAMAGING AND THEY WERE EIGHTEEN MEN!!!!!!!
Where was the mother of this girl? WHERE WERE THE MOTHERS OF THESE ASSHOLES WHILE THIS WAS HAPPENING? Will they carry a stamp on their IDs that reads 'rapist'?
I'm a bit touchy (and generally incoherent) about this subject, you may have noticed...
no subject
Date: 2011-03-17 12:34 pm (UTC)But you know what? We don't have to wonder so much why these eighteen men/boys were capable of forcing a girl to have sex with them and filming themselves while doing so, and not a single one getting a clue that they were comitting a major crime. If they grew up with parents who taught them that rape is always the victim's fault and this is how you treat women.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-18 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-18 05:58 pm (UTC)