Thursday, March 21, 2013

A Four-Letter Word

The Steubenville rape case has truly disgusted me.

Not only that, but the media coverage of it has actually made it worse. One would think, one would hope, that nothing could be worse than the actual assault itself... but when the media laments the loss of the boys' promising football careers, the sex offender charges that will stay with them throughout their lives, and their loss of innocence, it makes the whole situation worse. (Or so I think. Obviously it did not happen to me so I don't know.)

How can our so-called civilized society still blame the victim? HOW?? How is it a woman's fault if a man seeks her out and chooses to use her for his own pleasure? Because the woman is drunk and can't say no (or anything, for that matter), it makes it alright to use her? If she doesn't/can't absolutely say yes in a clear state of mind, she is saying no. (Of course, men are victims too in some cases. I am referring to a woman because in the case of the Steubenville rape, it was man to woman and that is most salient in my mind right now. I do not mean to leave male victims out of this in any way.)

People should not rape other people. It is literally that simple. It is a disgusting show of power and dominance. The Steubenville boys chose to inflict extraordinary physical and psychological harm to a girl. They chose to steal that part of her. They chose to use her. They chose to be rapists. That is absolutely not an acceptable choice to make, and they deserve to face the penalties for it.

-Jackie

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