and now for something extremely important
My good friend vitrescent posted about this, so I thought I would too, mainly because it's something that really hits home for me.
The New York Times recently published an article on print about the gang rape of an 11 year old girl. As Ella said, there are so many things wrong with the article it's hard to even articulate. In fact, I'm just going to quote her here.
"There is not one statement sympathizing with the victim. In fact, when talked about her (obviously they cannot say much as she is a child/victim but still), they point a finger at her mom for not keeping an eye on her and they emphasize the way she dressed was inappropriate. When speaking of the boys guilty of the rape (allegedly eighteen of them--EIGHTEEN), it states it's tearing the community apart and those boys will have to live with it for the rest of their lives. THOSE BOYS WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. The girl? Very well, fine, thank you.
This isn't journalism. And this girl is eleven. If you find it in yourself to write to the New York Times, please do so or they'll keep printing articles like this one. There's also a petition here and I'm sure I'm missing a few others.
To write: Links.
Victim blaming in the media contributes to the prevalance of sexual assault."
I am outraged, and I will tell you why. In the petition at Change.org, it states that 1 in 4 American women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. I am the one in that statistic. I know firsthand what that little girl went through. I was younger than her when it happened to me.
When I was thirteen, someone came to my gym class and talked to us. I can't remember the general subject matter, but there was some talk of this subject. The man told someone that if anyone had been a victim of rape that as far as he was concerned, they could still call themselves virgins, because virginity to him was something that could only be given and not taken. I remember confessing to a friend afterward about what had happened to me, and she asked me how I could talk about it with a smile on my face. It was because someone told me I still had something to give and absolved me of the guilt I'd been carrying around since I fully understood what sex was.
I tell that story because it's important to understand that victims often blame themselves. I can say that in a sentence and it means something, but actually explaining my own experience attaches it to something that's real. This girl, whoever she is, has enough to deal with without someone else blaming her for something she probably already feels responsible for, and that is just one of the issues she'll have to deal with because of what has happened to her. No amount of make-up, provocative dress or poor choices can make this her fault.
Please, at the very least, sign the petition.
The New York Times recently published an article on print about the gang rape of an 11 year old girl. As Ella said, there are so many things wrong with the article it's hard to even articulate. In fact, I'm just going to quote her here.
"There is not one statement sympathizing with the victim. In fact, when talked about her (obviously they cannot say much as she is a child/victim but still), they point a finger at her mom for not keeping an eye on her and they emphasize the way she dressed was inappropriate. When speaking of the boys guilty of the rape (allegedly eighteen of them--EIGHTEEN), it states it's tearing the community apart and those boys will have to live with it for the rest of their lives. THOSE BOYS WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. The girl? Very well, fine, thank you.
This isn't journalism. And this girl is eleven. If you find it in yourself to write to the New York Times, please do so or they'll keep printing articles like this one. There's also a petition here and I'm sure I'm missing a few others.
To write: Links.
Victim blaming in the media contributes to the prevalance of sexual assault."
I am outraged, and I will tell you why. In the petition at Change.org, it states that 1 in 4 American women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. I am the one in that statistic. I know firsthand what that little girl went through. I was younger than her when it happened to me.
When I was thirteen, someone came to my gym class and talked to us. I can't remember the general subject matter, but there was some talk of this subject. The man told someone that if anyone had been a victim of rape that as far as he was concerned, they could still call themselves virgins, because virginity to him was something that could only be given and not taken. I remember confessing to a friend afterward about what had happened to me, and she asked me how I could talk about it with a smile on my face. It was because someone told me I still had something to give and absolved me of the guilt I'd been carrying around since I fully understood what sex was.
I tell that story because it's important to understand that victims often blame themselves. I can say that in a sentence and it means something, but actually explaining my own experience attaches it to something that's real. This girl, whoever she is, has enough to deal with without someone else blaming her for something she probably already feels responsible for, and that is just one of the issues she'll have to deal with because of what has happened to her. No amount of make-up, provocative dress or poor choices can make this her fault.
Please, at the very least, sign the petition.