Let's play another round of "BLAME THE VICTIM!!!"
An article describing the gang-rape of an 11 year old girl.
Some responses.
If you think that the way the article was framed was somehow NOT McKinley's fault, please read this. Hat tip to lyricaldiscord Alternately, you can read this article which deals with the same case.
And another entry explaining why victim-blaming = bullshit. Thanks to mindways for permission.
Dear World,
When an eleven year old girl is brutally gang-raped by eighteen men, there is only one victim present. It is not the males who committed such an heinous act. It is not the town currently 'reeling' from what happened. It is the girl whose life, whose body, perhaps even whose mind has been shattered from what was done to her.
She is eleven. It does not matter how she dressed. It does not matter that she hung on the playground with boys. It does not matter where her mother is. What matters is that a group of men, from middle-school age up through a 27 year old decided that they were going to hold her down and take turns forcing her to have non-consensual sex with them.
The rest of that does not matter. What happened was not her fault, or her mother's fault, or her wardrobe's fault. None of those things forced those men to hold her down and abuse her that way. She is eleven. I fail to see the point of the rationale "she dressed like she was in her twenties." HOW SOMEONE DRESSES IS NEVER AN EXCUSE FOR RAPE. Whether she was eleven, seventeen, or twenty-two; whether she is wearing a burlap sack, a bikini, or nothing at all, that does not give someone else the right to violate her, to force his will over hers, to harm her physically or sexually. This is a falsehood. NO ONE DESERVES TO BE RAPED. It is not a way to correct someone's behavior. It is not a way to prove a point. RAPE IS AN UGLY CRIME THAT DOES NOTHING BUT HARM.
Where was her mother? Again, how is this relevant? She is eleven years old. That is old enough for some limited freedoms; old enough to be given a chance to exist beyond the apron strings. Why is no one asking where her father is? Why is no one asking where the boys' mothers were? Why is it somehow her mother's fault for a group of boys deciding to rape a young girl?
Victim-blaming is wrong. No one ever 'deserves' to have this happen to them. No one is ever 'asking for it.' Talking about how tragic it is that these men will have to deal with the repercussions for this for the rest of their lives? That's disgusting. Do you know who will really have to deal with this for the rest of their lives? The victim. The eleven year old girl that was held down while eighteen men took turns raping her. WHILE VIDEOTAPING IT. Of everyone in this sick and twisted scenario, she is the only one who did not choose to participate. She is the one who is going to have to pick up the pieces of her life, to try to make sense of what happened to her and why, to try to find meaning where there is none. The rest of them? They are going to have to deal with the just consequences of their actions--that is, if they have any. If people--like her neighbors, like the author--don't decide that somehow she had it coming and choose to give her assailants a lesser sentence.
The article barely mentions the victim. It's barely even about her, except in places where it can point fault and blame. She is not a person to whom horrible things have been done; she is an object in an article about what a tragedy this crime is to EVERYONE ELSE. I just...I can't...arghh! I have very few words right now, save these:
Humanity, you make me sick today.
Some responses.
If you think that the way the article was framed was somehow NOT McKinley's fault, please read this. Hat tip to lyricaldiscord Alternately, you can read this article which deals with the same case.
And another entry explaining why victim-blaming = bullshit. Thanks to mindways for permission.
Dear World,
When an eleven year old girl is brutally gang-raped by eighteen men, there is only one victim present. It is not the males who committed such an heinous act. It is not the town currently 'reeling' from what happened. It is the girl whose life, whose body, perhaps even whose mind has been shattered from what was done to her.
She is eleven. It does not matter how she dressed. It does not matter that she hung on the playground with boys. It does not matter where her mother is. What matters is that a group of men, from middle-school age up through a 27 year old decided that they were going to hold her down and take turns forcing her to have non-consensual sex with them.
The rest of that does not matter. What happened was not her fault, or her mother's fault, or her wardrobe's fault. None of those things forced those men to hold her down and abuse her that way. She is eleven. I fail to see the point of the rationale "she dressed like she was in her twenties." HOW SOMEONE DRESSES IS NEVER AN EXCUSE FOR RAPE. Whether she was eleven, seventeen, or twenty-two; whether she is wearing a burlap sack, a bikini, or nothing at all, that does not give someone else the right to violate her, to force his will over hers, to harm her physically or sexually. This is a falsehood. NO ONE DESERVES TO BE RAPED. It is not a way to correct someone's behavior. It is not a way to prove a point. RAPE IS AN UGLY CRIME THAT DOES NOTHING BUT HARM.
Where was her mother? Again, how is this relevant? She is eleven years old. That is old enough for some limited freedoms; old enough to be given a chance to exist beyond the apron strings. Why is no one asking where her father is? Why is no one asking where the boys' mothers were? Why is it somehow her mother's fault for a group of boys deciding to rape a young girl?
Victim-blaming is wrong. No one ever 'deserves' to have this happen to them. No one is ever 'asking for it.' Talking about how tragic it is that these men will have to deal with the repercussions for this for the rest of their lives? That's disgusting. Do you know who will really have to deal with this for the rest of their lives? The victim. The eleven year old girl that was held down while eighteen men took turns raping her. WHILE VIDEOTAPING IT. Of everyone in this sick and twisted scenario, she is the only one who did not choose to participate. She is the one who is going to have to pick up the pieces of her life, to try to make sense of what happened to her and why, to try to find meaning where there is none. The rest of them? They are going to have to deal with the just consequences of their actions--that is, if they have any. If people--like her neighbors, like the author--don't decide that somehow she had it coming and choose to give her assailants a lesser sentence.
The article barely mentions the victim. It's barely even about her, except in places where it can point fault and blame. She is not a person to whom horrible things have been done; she is an object in an article about what a tragedy this crime is to EVERYONE ELSE. I just...I can't...arghh! I have very few words right now, save these:
Humanity, you make me sick today.