Rape Apologists

I have thus far received two anonymous comments that suggest the victim was "inviting rape" by drinking (their words, not mine), and that all three of these teens, including the victim, are to blame.  Please let me make myself perfectly clear:  I WILL NOT PUBLISH ANY COMMENT THAT SUGGESTS THIS GIRL IS TO BLAME. I WILL NOT TOLERATE RAPE APOLOGISTS AND THEIR VICTIM-BLAMING ON THIS BLOG.  Also, if you were not ashamed of your own opinion then you would OWN IT WITH YOUR NAME rather than choosing to post anonymously.  Take your rape defense elsewhere.  This blog and this author are not interested in it. The rest of you, please continue reading. Thank you.

A 16 year old girl went to a high school party, and like many high school students she indulged in too much alcohol.  She was so drunk that she could neither defend herself nor coherently comprehend what was happening around her.  She was vulnerable.

Two young men, Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, took advantage of her vulnerability.  These two young men decided that her intoxication was invitation for digital rape.  WITHOUT CONSENT, these two males inserted their fingers into this young, intoxicated girl's vagina, and to make matters worse other students actually video recorded her violation.  One of the young men reportedly tried to force this girl to perform an unnamed sex act on him, but she was too drunk to oblige.  If that isn't rape, if that isn't sexual assault, then I don't know what is.

To add insult to injury no one stepped forward to defend this girl. No one stepped forward to take her home. No one stepped forward to try to make these young men leave her alone.  Every person who witnessed it was silent, except to spread the video of her violation around the school, except to label her a drunken slut.

As if that in itself were not appalling enough, when this young girl's rape was finally brought to adult attention practically the entire town of Steubenville, Ohio rushed to cover up the assault.  Adults who should have been outraged and disgusted instead felt sorry for high school football "heroes".  No one seemed to care that these "heroes" were actually rapists.

The case finally gained nationwide attention when the hacker group Anonymous posted videos and images of the girl's assault online.   In my opinion, the intervention of Anonymous is what actually led to a trial in a case that an entire town wanted to sweep under the rug.

Yesterday both accused rapists were found guilty in a juvenile court.  Their sentencing was minimal: a minimum of one year for Richmond and two for Mays.  Both young men will have to be registered as sex offenders.  This may be justice, but it is a very lenient justice if you ask me.

Unfortunately the main stream media does not agree with me.  The main stream media is engaged in the demonization of the rape victim and the glorification of her attackers.  Even CNN shockingly chose to focus on the "ruined lives" of the rapists rather than the meager justice eked out for the victim.

Many people are shamefully saying that this young girl was asking for it.  Many people are guilty of victim-blaming.  Many people are focusing on the negative effect this trial will have on two rapists rather than the negative effect this rape will have on the victim.  This is the shame of an entire nation. This is the shame of rape culture.  These people, these defenders of rape, are rape apologists.

I am not a rape apologist.  If a person is too incoherent to say no then the no is implied.  I do not care if the incoherency is a result of alcohol or physical illness or mental illness or simply fear.  If a person cannot control their own body then the no is implied, and no means no.

Intoxication is not an invitation for rape or sexual violation.  Drunkenness is not a request to have your body and personal space violated.  If the only way you can get a person to have sex with you or allow you to touch their body is to get them drunk first then clearly that person does not consent and you should not be touching them.

What is wrong with our society?  What kind of people pity rapists and blame the victim?  What kind of culture teaches young men that it is not only acceptable to violate a female, but that performing that violation is some kind of macho rite of passage that should be recorded, celebrated, and boasted about?

I am sickened.  I am disgusted.  You should be too.

I Speak Loudly

I wanted to write this entry last night, but I found that I could not.  I was too upset.  I was too angry.  The words I needed to say were caught in the back of my throat like a spoonful of peanut butter.  So I took the night to think about it.  Now I know how to say what I need to say.

Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite authors.  I am madly in love with him, despite the fact that he is both dead and homosexual.  Wilde's books were used against him at trial.  He famously said, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.  That is all."  He was right.

He also said, "The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."  Laurie Halse Anderson dared to write such a brilliant book.  Her YA novel Speak confronts controversial and scary topics, specifically that of teen rape.

Melinda, the main character, is brutalized.  She goes to a party a happy, carefree girl.  She leaves that party a broken, terrorized, victimized young woman.  She doesn't know how to talk about what happened to her.  She doesn't know how to put voice to something so horrific that words cannot compare to the pain she will eventually have to face.  Melinda is a victim of rape, and she chooses not to speak about it.  Melinda, like so many victims of rape, chooses not to tell.  Her story is moving and so very real.

And unfortunately, we live in a society where teenagers are raped and they, like Melinda, cannot speak.  They, like Melinda, do not tell.  Melinda's story resonates with those teens.  It also teaches something important, something of pain, to teens who have not had to live through something so awful.

There is an awful man out there.  His name is Dr. Wesley Scroggins.  He lives in Rebulic, Missouri.  Scroggins is a fundamentalist Christian.  He is calling Speak "soft-core pornography," and he specifically objects to two rape scenes depicted in the novel. He is fighting to have Speak removed from public schools, libraries, and curriculum.  He wants to ban this book.  I object to this on several levels.  I find Scroggins and his claims abhorrent.

First, When did rape become soft-core porn?  What kind of world are we living in that a man like Scroggins can read a rape scene that is vile in its truth and somehow see pornography?  Dr. Scroggins, you need help.  If you see porn in rape, if the scenes in Speak are turning you on, then I think you are the one with the biggest problem, and that problem does not stem from this book!

Second, banning books like Speak hurts victims.  If we don't speak against this, we become partners in shaming the victims, and make no mistake--Dr. Scroggins is placing shame on rape victims.  That is unacceptable to me.  There is no shame in being raped. The shame lies with the rapist.  I will not rape people with my words, and I will not sit quietly while a man tries to ban a book that may offer solace to those victims.

If you have had the misfortune of experiencing something truly tragic, truly awful, truly horrific then you know how very important it is to have books about those issues out there and easily accessible.  There is some kind of catharsis, some kind of relief, in reading a book and seeing yourself in the protagonist.  It provides a kind of salve for the soul when you can say, "Me too.  That happened to me too.  I felt that way too."  You can't take that away from the children and teens who need it the most.  Most rape victims never report it.  Many of those victims are under age 18.  They need this book.  They need to read it and be able to say, "Me too."  Speak gives them words where there are none. 

So we can't sit quietly while yet another important text is banned from our schools.  We can't just look the other way, and that is what Scroggins is asking us to do.  He is asking us to pretend rape doesn't happen, to sweep it under the rug because it is unpleasant, to view it as something sexually satisfying (porn!) rather than viewing it is the horrible thing it is. 

So I am Speaking Loudly and you should too.  Join the twitter feed #SpeakLoudly. Read other blogs on the subject:

Laurie Halse Anderson responds to Scroggins here (she's the author).

Veronica Roth speaks against Scroggins from a Christian perspective here.

CJ Redwine has perhaps the most moving story.  She shares her own story quite bravely here.

Janet Reid says, "Truth is not pornography."  She is right.  You can read her blog here.

We Spoke Loudly.  Will you?