This is rape culture
Photo Credit: GoogleImages.com
Sarah Van De Weert, Staff Writer
I have been following the Steubenville rape case very closely since it began this summer and finally, a verdict has been reached. The two Ohio high school football players, Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’Lik Richmond, 16, were found guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl.
Their punishment? Richmond will be held at a juvenile detention facility for at least a year and Mays for at least two years. Both are required to register as juvenile sex offenders and the juvenile system can hold them until they are 21 years old.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office has ordered a grand jury to convene in April to investigate additional charges against others.
The fact that the victim is finally going to see justice for what happened to her makes me and a lot of people happy.
But I’m still very much enraged about this case. Why?
First, how the media is covering the verdict. ABC News made excuses for the rapists. This is what a reporter with CNN News said on air:
“I cannot imagine how emotional the sentencing must have been…a 16-year-old, sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, they still sound like 16-year-olds. What is the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially?” Candy Crowley, CNN. Not one word about the victim.
“…Incredibly difficult to watch as these two young men who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students literally watched as they believed their life fell apart.” Poppy Harlow, CNN. Not a word about the victim.
My second issue with this case is how the public is reacting. These are real tweets from real people on the day of the verdict:
“There is not justice in Steubenville today. The girl asked for it and wanted it, in my opinion They gave it to her. No crime. Appeal!”
“Disgusting outcome on #Steubenville trial. Remember kids, if you’re drunk/slutty at a party, and embarrassed later, just say you got raped!” (Writer’s note: As you read these tweets, let’s remember that victim was passed out, unresponsive and some people even thought she was dead.)
“Steubenville: Guilty. I feel bad for the two young guys, Mays and Richmond, they did what most people in their situation would have done.”
Let’s look at what the public has to say about the victim. Remember, this content has been reprinted, word for word, from Twitter:
“Steubenville football players found guilty. Too bad the girl can’t also be sentenced for being so stupid and putting herself in danger.”
“F*ck that whore, seriously. Bottom line she’s a whore. She GOES. She would have f*cked anyway because she got trained before SOBER.” [sic]
“She’s the town whore anyways. She’s hasn’t stop drinking yet. Just pray, cause God’s gonna get her worse then anyone can.” [sic]
This 16-year-old girl was brutally raped, urinated on, then forced to experience the shame and embarrassment of having videos and pictures passed around to the entire world – and she’s still being blamed for it after the perpetrators have been found guilty.
Not just that, but her life is being threatened. Two girls, who are now also in jail, made threats to the victim on Twitter, menacing her with homicide and bodily harm.
All because she was raped, which, by the way, is still illegal, in case anyone has forgotten. I’m pretty sure the media has. And a lot of the population has, too.
Otherwise, why are we still trying to support men who rape? Why are we still blaming the victim for being raped? Why is rape, as one user on Twitter said, “what most people in [the boys’] situation would have done?” And why are we accepting this kind of attitude in our society?
This is rape culture. This is a problem.
You would think that, by 2013, rape victims wouldn’t be blamed for being raped. Or that the rapists would go to jail and no one would care that they were star athletes because they raped an innocent girl. This is what life without rape culture would be like.
But we don’t live in that world. We live in a world where people are more upset that the careers of their star athletes are ruined than the fact that their star athletes raped someone. A world where it’s okay to rape and urinate on a girl who is passed out and then send videos and pictures of it to your friends. A world where it’s automatically the victim’s fault that she was raped because she was drunk.
This is 2013 rape culture.
I’m pissed about it.
You should be, too.
