Interesting Additions to my Previous Entry

[shadowravyn]

First of all, this in no way changes any of my previous entry about the way the article was framed, especially in regards to the victim-blaming that I still feel was very prevalent in the NY Times article. However, more information has come to light making the reporting more complex, as there are several more issues at play.

BUT LET'S BE CLEAR.

Comments

[etherial]

The mother should have chosen to steer her daughter into more age appropriate clothing.

Have you seen what clothing is marketed towards 11-year old girls lately? Any clothing-related blame here belongs to Wal*Mart, not the mother. And, frankly, there is a constant give-and-take for dealing with kids. Too much pushing and they run in the direction you were warning against.

11 is a perfectly appropriate age for someone to travel home alone from school or to have unsupervised outdoor time alone. 11 is not an appropriate age for someone to be having sex, which is why, even if she was wearing skimpy lingerie and on her hands and knees literally begging to show them a good time, it's still rape. Thus, again, clothing=red herring.

However, what if this is a witch hunt fueled by racial tension?

Yanno, I totally had that thought myself, until I remembered that they took videos of themselves raping an 11-year old. Sadly, it is much more realistic that they felt this was a means of relieving the racial tension by taking their frustrations out on her.

[acousticshadow2]

So what if clothing is marketed towards 11 year old girls... a responsible parent says "let's compromise" You don't get to wear negligie, but I'll give in and allow the miniskirt. So yes... it is the mother's fault. There were pleanty of things my mother put her foot down on and said absolutely not you are not leaving my house in that. and sure I bucked and I got away with pushing the evelope as far as I could, but that doesn't mean the mother doesn't have the obligation to be a mother. But even if the girl was running around naked it isn't an excuse to rape her. I'm just saying that from what little little little I know from a badly written article it seems like some parental neglect might be an issue.

and while it may be appropriate for an 11 year old to walk home. I do think parents should be aware of who their kids are hanging out with and have an active role in their kid's lives. This came out because of a cell phone video. Why didn't this come out because the mother was frantically searching for her 11 year old baby? Why didn't this come out because the girl comes home a wreck and the mother concerned figures out what was wrong and calls the police? The mother in the article (badly written so it is quite likely we aren't getting the correct information, hense devil's advocate) seems not at all there. As if the mother isn't involved at all in the well being of her child even post rape.

Also, devil's advocate again for what was trying to be said. after a rape takes place it does change a community. People are scared to trust. They KNEW the men and boys who did this. It is a bad place for a community to be. I think this SHOULD be an issue that is concentrated on. people who knew the girl should be given counceling. The school should have things set up to help the kids deal with both the fact a rape happened and the fear that would come as the aftermath.

Also, yeah someone took a cell phone video, but do we know that the cell phone video showed ALL of the people accused? We lack evidence. I'm all for the punishment HARSH HARSH punishment for any man or boy who did this, but the fact that so many are accused simply gives me reason to step back and consider if there are more things going on. If it comes out all of them did do it. Well, screw them all they are a bunch of bastards. I guess I just feel I'm not getting all the information and thus I can't make good judgement calls on a lot of stuff. I'm left with the feeling that this little girl will never be the same. I feel very very sorry for her.

Also on the Devil's advocate side, if I were her, I wouldn't want the attention from the media. I wouldn't want to think about what happened. Maybe we aren't getting more of her as a focal point because she doesn't WANT to be a focal point.