As many of you might have heard two boys have been
charged in a date rape case in Steubenville, Ohio. This particular case has sparked a national
outrage against the community of Steubenville for covering up and actually
sympathizing with the rapist these heinous acts.
“On the night of August 11, 2012, when a
heavily inebriated high school girl was publicly and repeatedly sexually
violated by her peers, several of whom documented the acts in social media. The
victim was transported to various parties, undressed, photographed, sexually
assaulted, and orally penetrated. She was also penetrated vaginally by other
students' fingers, an act defined as rape under Ohio law. The jocular attitude
of the assailants was documented on Facebook, Twitter, text messages, and cell
phone recordings of the acts. The incident and ensuing legal proceedings
generated considerable controversy and galvanized a national conversation about rape and rape culture. Two students, Ma'lik Richmond and Trent Mays,
both 16 at the time of the crime, have been convicted in juvenile court for the
rape of a minor.”
For those that are confused, rape culture is consider to be “a
concept used to describe a culture in
which rape and sexual violence are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate,
or even condone rape.”
“Rape culture is when
you’re tired of hearing about “rape culture” because it makes you
uncomfortable, as your attempt to silence discourse on the subject means we
never raise enough awareness to combat it – and that’s part of why it
sticks around.”
Rape culture is why even though the evidence
is there and the victim was willing to testify both rapists received the minimum
sentence they could. Despite possibly evidence that the girl was drugged, they
still are getting off almost scott-free. Even though evidence is still coming
out that the coaches knew what happened and covered it up to save their “promising
football careers.”
“On March 17, 2013, Judge Thomas Lipps
tried Mays and Richmond as juveniles and found them guilty of rape. Each
defendant received the minimum sentence for their convicted crimes, with the
possibility of remaining in juvenile detention until age 21. The judge set the minimum sentence of
one year for Richmond, who was found guilty of using his fingers to penetrate
the girl while she was unconscious. Mays, who was found guilty of penetrating
the girl while she was unconscious and disseminating pornographic pictures of
her, was given the minimum sentence of two years. Because the girl was a
minor, Mays was charged with and convicted of the dissemination of child pornography,
which is the reason for his additional year in juvenile detention. Whether or
not Mays and Richmond will be added to the sexual-offenders registry depends on
a future hearing to evaluate their behavior once they have turned 21.”
To add insult to injury major news
networks shared the name of the victim on national television, allowing the
16-year-old to be blasted with hate mail and death threats. Despite of this her
family has pulled together and is trying to find the good in everything.
“My family and I are hopeful that we
can put this whole ordeal behind us. We need and deserve to focus
on our daughters future. We hope that from this something good can arise. I
feel I have an opportunity to bring an awareness to others, possibly change the
mentality of a youth or help a parent to have more of an awareness to where
their children are and what they are doing.”
“This does not define who my daughter
is. She will persevere, grow & move on."
-Mother of Steubenville rape victim.
And small signs of progress as being made as seen by the Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine when he said the following the arrest of the two girls who threatened the Steubenville victim via Twitter after the guilty verdicts were announced:
“Threatening a teenage rape victim will not be tolerated. If anyone makes a threat verbally or via the Internet, we will take it seriously, we will find you, and we will arrest you.”
Those words were also a statement against a culture that minimizes or even glorifies violence against women and holds athletes to a different standard by which even criminal behavior is deemed acceptable.
I
pray she will persevere, grow and move on. I pray that we all can, but we must
never forget that people are still willing to protect themselves where rape is
involved. We will stand behind you 16-year-old beautiful girl. We will support
you and stand with you as you face those horrible tough and trying time each
day. We are proud of you for facing your attackers in prison and saying “I may
have drank, but that didn’t mean it was ok for you to rape me.” R.I.S.E. is
here for you and whatever you may need.
Thank you for being so strong.
Thank
you for standing up.
Thank you for speaking out where no one else would.
More info about the articles:
http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/20/what-about-the-victim-the-steubenville-rape-victims-recovery/#ixzz2OUJqyG1u
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_culture
http://rantagainsttherandom.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/so-youre-tired-of-hearing-about-rape-culture/
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173324/steubenville-and-challenging-rape-culture-sports
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