No, this is not about the infamous Delhi gang-rape that had the nation outraged (and where is all that outrage now?) just a couple of months ago.
This is about the recent Steubenville rape of a 16 year old by a couple of “rising football stars” of her school. There are so many things wrong about this story. Where do I begin?
The rapists: Two high school footballers, worshipped for their performance on field, demi gods in their own right, believed to do no wrong. They carried a drunk, almost unconscious girl at a party and raped her (their actions fell in the legal definition of rape). They were certain they would get away with it, even when they were in the presence of dozens of witnesses. And more disturbingly, they truly believed they had done no wrong. It was all in the spirit of “fun”.
During the trial, both the boys broke down – at the prospect of the punishment that awaited them; one of them apologized to the girl’s family for “putting them through it” while the other apologized for “spreading the pictures” – not for the rape, not for the trauma. A text message sent by one of the attackers read, “There were messages recounting the events of the night. One the attacker allegedly wrote: “I’m pissed all I got was a hand job, though. I should have raped since everyone thinks I did.”
The witnesses: Perhaps the scariest thing about this rape is the number of young people who saw it. Did they try to stop it? No. They cheered, taped the act, spread it around through their phones, mocked and humiliated the girl then and later. The girl, who woke up with no recollection of what had happened to her till she saw herself doing the rounds on her peers’ phones and on the internet – there is a 12 minute video (no, I am not linking to it here) of the horrific incident online. “I did not stop it because it was not violent”, said one of the witnesses. Isn’t a violation of a woman’s body violent in itself? From the same article – which is terrifying – “Throughout this trial, the two defendants and a parade of friends who wound up mostly testifying against the defendants, expressed little understanding of rape – let alone common decency or respect for women.”
And make no mistake, the “she asked for it” mentality is not unique to India. She was inebriated, she was in no position to defend herself. So she was fair game? A typical reaction on twitter – “That’s not rape you’re just a loose drunk slut.” She would perhaps have faced the same questions – how were you dressed, why were you so drunk, where you leading the boys on, did you make any attempt to defend yourself, was it really rape?
The defence: CNN has caused a major uproar by openly sympathizing with the assailants, mentioning the victim in passing. According to this report from The Daily Beast, “a CNN correspondent lamented that it was “incredibly emotional, incredibly difficult” to watch the court proceedings. Only she wasn’t referring to the victim, or even to the crime, but to the “two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students,” who “literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart.”
And one of the fathers got up and declared that he felt responsible for his son’s actions, because he “wasn’t always there for him.” Um, so, children of absentee parent households are entitled to such crimes?
(image source: facebook)
Small consolation, if social media helped the young people there play voyeurs to the act, it also helped nail the assailants. Justice has been served, but the young girl is parbably traumatized for life.