Blaming the victim of a sexual assault and rape is a common ploy by abusers. Perhaps they think it gets them off the hook for their "uncontrollable urges that were triggered by the way a girl dressed." It seems there are also plenty of others who want to castigate one who is viciously violated because she had on certain clothes or makeup. The small town of Cleveland, Texas is becoming polarized by the gang rape case of an 11 year old girl.
Background on gang rape case:
On November 28, 2010, an 11 year old girl was observed in front of an abandoned trailer in Cleveland, Texas. Later, loud music was heard in the trailer and nearby house where the girl had been forced to strip and was brutally raped by several males. Others were called on cell phones and invited to join the orgiastic melee. Some began video taping the barbaric assaults on their phones, and the videos soon went viral online. The girl and several males were identified, some being star athletes from the town high school.
So far, 18 males from ages 14-27 have been arrested, and
the count for the rape suspects may go as high as 28.
Blaming the rape victim:
Some of the comments in the media:
- "she dressed older than her age"
- "she had a history of being promiscuous"
- "she shouldn't have gone riding with two men"
- "she consented to to a "train" of sex encounters"
- "she bragged of wanting to be a porn star on Facebook"
- "(the accused perpetrators) didn't know her age, and she claimed she was 17"
CNN reported today that a man named
Quannell X, who has past connections with radical Islam groups such as the New Black Panthers, decried the young girl for not trying to stop the rapes and not yelling out.
The girl has been moved to a different town and school because of threats of violence and death against her family.
These comments seem to validate that rape is okay if:
- the girl seems to want it because of someone's perception of her appearance or behavior
- the girl is of the "age of consent" (17 in Texas), by her statement or by the pretended ignorance of the abusers
Really?
It doesn't matter that rape is always a traumatic violation of the deepest sense of personhood?
It doesn't matter that rape is always about power?
It doesn't matter that the victim was a CHILD?
It doesn't matter that it wasn't just the perverted pleasure of one man, but possibly
2 dozen or more men and boys viciously violating a little girl?
It doesn't matter that sex with children is
illegal (for good reason)?
It doesn't matter that video taping such acts and then distributing them is considered child pornography, and is also
illegal?
It doesn't matter that sexual abuse survivors bear emotional scars for their entire life, sometimes with severe Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD)?
Rape of any kind is never okay and should not be tolerated for any reason.
Sexual abuse is never asked for nor deserved. Gang-rape should never be known among civilized people. Men of honor would stand up against these horrific degradations against females (and boys, too) and let their colleagues know there is zero tolerance for such behavior, and legal punishment is certain.