WHY DO WE STILL BLAME RAPE VICTIMS?
Apparently, we haven't made enough headway against the patriarchy.
Here in lovely Upstate NY, 2 local firefighters are charged with statutory rape, using the internet to entice a minor for sexual activity, sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a minor. Allegedly, the 2 30-something year old men were having sex with 16 year old girls in the fire department's Explorer's program.
Here is an article with some information: http://democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/NEWS01/70608011/1002/NEWS
To make things worse, on local call in shows in the area, the vast majority of the public seem to feel that these poor, married, 30 year old men are the true victims, that they were HELPLESS against the womanly wiles of 2 16 year olds.
What. The. Fuck.
Over and over, people keep singing the same tired song: "Have you seen how teens dress these days?", "These girls are so physically developed", and my personal favorite "How were these men supposed to say no?".
Now, lets stop and work this through logically for a moment.
Statutory rape is bad. Sex with minors is bad. Rape is about control and power. These men were in positions of power in relation to these girls, correct? So even if these girls threw themselves at them (and we don't know that they did), AS ADULTS, THE MEN TRUSTED WITH THEIR CARE SHOULD SAY NO. I don't care if the girls stripped for them every day and twice on Sunday.
The reality is that rape victims don't ask for it. The fact that they are 16 and happen to have breasts is not an invitation to be raped by men in positions of authority. The public needs to pull their heads out of their collective asses and stop blaming the victim.
Victims do not ask to to assaulted.
Children do not ask to have their trust abused by people in power.
Crap like this just reinforces the fact that as a society, we view our women and girls and having no value outside of a sexual one.
I'm going to write to my local paper, elected officials, swing by the website of my local rape crisis center.
What are you going to do today?
Here in lovely Upstate NY, 2 local firefighters are charged with statutory rape, using the internet to entice a minor for sexual activity, sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a minor. Allegedly, the 2 30-something year old men were having sex with 16 year old girls in the fire department's Explorer's program.
Here is an article with some information: http://democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/NEWS01/70608011/1002/NEWS
To make things worse, on local call in shows in the area, the vast majority of the public seem to feel that these poor, married, 30 year old men are the true victims, that they were HELPLESS against the womanly wiles of 2 16 year olds.
What. The. Fuck.
Over and over, people keep singing the same tired song: "Have you seen how teens dress these days?", "These girls are so physically developed", and my personal favorite "How were these men supposed to say no?".
Now, lets stop and work this through logically for a moment.
Statutory rape is bad. Sex with minors is bad. Rape is about control and power. These men were in positions of power in relation to these girls, correct? So even if these girls threw themselves at them (and we don't know that they did), AS ADULTS, THE MEN TRUSTED WITH THEIR CARE SHOULD SAY NO. I don't care if the girls stripped for them every day and twice on Sunday.
The reality is that rape victims don't ask for it. The fact that they are 16 and happen to have breasts is not an invitation to be raped by men in positions of authority. The public needs to pull their heads out of their collective asses and stop blaming the victim.
Victims do not ask to to assaulted.
Children do not ask to have their trust abused by people in power.
Crap like this just reinforces the fact that as a society, we view our women and girls and having no value outside of a sexual one.
I'm going to write to my local paper, elected officials, swing by the website of my local rape crisis center.
What are you going to do today?
