1000 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(03/25/13 2:32am)
While writing my column this week I struggled to find the right words to articulate what I was feeling, which was offended, shocked and saddened. This week, two football players from the athletically prominent Steubenville High School were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl. The arguments against rape and sexual assault don’t need to be made — most everyone realizes that both are heinous and unacceptable crimes. If this is true, though, how can we explain the disappointing and skewed news coverage of the trial? The Steubenville controversy disturbs me because it points to the larger societal problem of perpetuated rape culture. Society as a whole needs to work on changing attitudes towards rape and its victims.
Throughout the Steubenville trial, media outlets such as CNN almost exclusively played the role of rape apologists. Again and again the public was asked to empathize with the convicted boys. The New York Times used a photo of the boys crying to accompany their news story. CNN drew notable criticism for their coverage of the trial, which attempted to humanize the two convicted boys by focusing on their athletic talents and their academic achievements rather than their crime. CNN reporter Candy Crowley posed the question: “What’s the lasting effect … on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape?” CNN’s Poppy Harlow discussed how the boys had to watch their “lives fall apart” and CNN’s Paul Callan said being labelled as sexual offenders would “haunt them for the rest of their lives.” A better concern to raise would have been the emotional impact the crime and the highly publicized trial would have on the victim, and what the trauma meant to her future, but this perspective was rarely explored.
The central issue in this case became that the victim had been drinking prior to being assaulted by the boys. Despite numerous text messages written by the victim on the night of her assault, which read “I said no” and “[the boys] were taking advantage of me,” along with testimony that she had never been seen more intoxicated and photographic evidence that she was at one point passed out unconscious and being carried away by her eventual rapists, the victim’s credibility and honesty were constantly questioned. Had she been aware of what she was doing? Had she actually consented to the sex acts? For those who don’t know, rape wasn’t the only charge in the trial. The defendants also circulated nude photos and video of the girl and bragged about their sexual triumphs on social networking sites. Who would consent to that? The victim’s classmates can also be seen in the video laughing and taking no action to intervene.
Let me make something very clear: if a girl (or anyone) is passed out or clearly intoxicated at a party, the right thing to do is to call her an ambulance, a cab or at the very least leave her alone. Women do not invite rape, ever, and the fact that issues like intoxication level or choice of attire are even brought up in criminal rape trials demonstrates how twisted our view of the crime is. Those boys made a conscious choice to impose themselves upon a girl in a compromising situation. The girl should not be shamed; the boys should.
I am not condoning irresponsible drinking practices. The safest choice would be to go to a party, remain completely sober and be aware of your surroundings. But there is something unjustified in the fact that women are taught by their parents, rape prevention seminars in college, and other sources to anticipate rape if they happen to get drunk. Instead of sympathizing with guilty men so easily, parents and institutions should focus on teaching respect and decency.
Rape culture needs to be eradicated, and there are many ways we could do that. I am not saying all rapes are committed by men, or that the victims are exclusively female. That is not the case, and all types of sexual assault are abhorrent. Generally, though, parents, schools, and the news media should teach men to respect a woman’s space, privacy, and vocalized opinions instead of focusing on indoctrinating women with a constant sense of fear.
In sexual education classes, the importance of consent should be discussed frankly alongside things like birth control and STI prevention. We should focus more resources on funding PSAs and ad campaigns about consent and how to navigate difficult situations such as parties with alcohol. We also need to encourage media outlets to be more responsible with their coverage of delicate topics such as rape and to present a factual and unbiased, rather than emotional or sensationalized, view of the issue.
The Steubenville case effectively proves that rape culture is pervasive and yet almost unacknowledged in American society. There are resources available to educate oneself about issues such as these, but most people are not proactive or concerned enough to take advantage of them. Some people don’t think twice before labeling a girl a “slut,” making a rape joke, or feeling sympathy for a convicted rapist. We are all responsible for the perpetuation of unfair stereotypes, such as the mistaken conviction that victims, drunk or sober, could ever be “responsible” for their rapes or that boys are only being boys when they commit sex crimes. We need to be more conscious of our actions and words to combat this trend. We need to train ourselves to speak more delicately, reach out to victims, and sift through the biased coverage that news networks offer us until things change in a more permanent way.
(03/18/13 4:25am)
Crime in Charlottesville should serve to remind us that the community we live in is not always a safe one. And the University’s policies and actions make such a community even less secure. The statistics do not lie: one in four college-aged women are sexually assaulted, yet the University has not expelled a single student for sexual assault in over 10 years.
(02/27/13 3:13am)
This semester has brought to light, for me, a topic that was never really talked about during my first year — suicide. Events of this year, both here at the University and around the country, have demonstrated that suicide is an important topic, one that needs to be understood and openly addressed.
(02/19/13 6:10am)
Sexual assault against women is all too common, and the University is no safety bubble — as the disturbingly frequent emails from University police regarding fondlings and other forms of assault against female students make clear. Though there are groups on grounds such as the Sexual Assault Resource Agency that help victims of assault, few efforts have been made to prevent the assault in the first place.
(02/19/13 4:14am)
A female University student was abducted at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning near 513 Rugby Road, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house, according to an email sent to the University community by University Police Chief Michael Gibson.
(02/15/13 2:50am)
Human rights groups from around Grounds joined forces Thursday to raise awareness about sexual and domestic violence by participating in a global campaign called One Billion Rising.
(02/12/13 3:34am)
It’s safe to say this has been a politically charged year at the University. Before we even set foot on Grounds, students and faculty alike took up arms to defend the name and position of University President Teresa Sullivan. We were praised across the nation as defenders of justice and democracy as we protested the un-Jeffersonian nature of the entire ordeal in newspapers, in our every day discourse and here in Charlottesville. And here we are, again in hot water, calling into question not the decision of an easily demonized Board member, but rather the very foundation of the university we call home: the honor system.
(01/29/13 5:25am)
LAST WEEK, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the Pentagon would be lifting its ban on women serving in combat. This announcement has been met with mixed reactions — some are all for it, and others see it as a potentially dangerous decision. So who is right? Should women be on the front lines?
(01/23/13 3:07am)
We as a culture believe that sports is a pillar of the community. Acknowledge the fact that NFL games air on Sunday right after church, and it becomes clear that sports is a kind of secular religion for a consumerist society. A “hero culture” naturally grows out of our love for sports; we see coaches and athletes as people whom we should admire. It takes guts and determination to play the game, and from that we infer that other virtues off the field must follow.
(01/16/13 3:52am)
Cases such as the gang rape incident in India, the offenses of Jimmy Savile in Britain and the rape of a 16-year-old in Steubenville, Ohio have again brought the issue of rape and sexual assault to the forefront of society. One would assume that the increased attention to this issue would increase legislative attention. On the contrary, Congress failed to renew one of the main pieces of legislation implemented to protect women, the Violence Against Women Act. The legislation was meant to enforce and implement policies — by providing funding — to prevent violence against women while also providing services for those who were raped, sexually assaulted or abused.
(01/15/13 3:19am)
About two weeks ago, a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi, India boarded a bus at night when she was raped by a group of men, beaten, and thrown onto the side of the road. After days of struggling to stay alive, the woman, accompanied by a male friend who tried to save her, finally passed away in a nearby hospital.
(12/09/12 8:01pm)
“No man is an island entire of itself,” read the seven banners The Seven Society distributed around Grounds just before sundown Saturday.
(12/05/12 4:39am)
A number of recent hate crime incidents brought supporters of the LGBTQ communities to the Rotunda Tuesday afternoon. Events, especially in the last month, have made these protestors concerned that the University’s “community of trust” has been irrevocably violated.
(12/04/12 6:30am)
Grace Brown is a self-professed introvert. Calm and contemplative, she prefers to keep her thoughts to herself and to digest the world from behind her camera’s thick lens. Through her looking glass, she quietly snaps shots of men and women, girls and boys, young and old and rich and poor. She silently captures intimate images of hurt and heartbreak, sadness and betrayal and hope and empowerment, all in the same frame. She doesn’t push, pry or ask questions. She doesn’t need to — her pictures say it all.
(12/04/12 4:15am)
On Halloween, one of my best friends was drugged at a party at a fraternity’s satellite house. She told me about it the next day after a morning visit to Student Health, feeling scared, confused and alone. I did my best to comfort her, knowing there wasn’t much I could do to alleviate her pain. She was extremely fortunate in that the man or men who did this to her did not assault her, and her friends took care of her all night. I spoke with the president of the fraternity in question and Assistant Dean of Students Michael Citro and received satisfactory responses that were apologetic and assured me that the Inter-Fraternity Council would work to increase their efforts to educate members about the reprehensibility of such actions.
(11/26/12 2:58am)
In the last month on Grounds, there have been two attacks thought to have been motivated by the race or the perceived sexual orientation of the victim. Neither of these attacks resulted in serious physical harm. For a moment, the lack of serious injury seemed significant to me. “The University community is one of love, diversity, and respect,” I thought to myself, “and while there will always be minor and isolated incidents of intolerance, we can sleep soundly knowing that we are ultimately good. These cuts and bruises will quickly heal.” Yet immediately, that reaction felt inadequate.
(11/20/12 6:28am)
A second-year College student sustained injuries after being punched in the face Thursday night near Brooks Hall after speaking out against a homophobic slur. “I was punched for standing up for who I am,” said the student, who wished to remain anonymous.
(11/14/12 7:42am)
University Dean of Students Allen Groves spoke at Student Council’s representative body meeting Tuesday evening, addressing lingering concerns about the sexual misconduct policy and recent incidents involving students.
(11/12/12 5:54am)
Charlottesville Police charged Runk dining hall employee Matthew Beaulieu with abduction with the intent to defile, a class 2 felony, after he attempted to abduct a female University student Thursday evening.
(11/12/12 3:10am)
The University fails student survivors of sexual assault. The U.Va. Office of the Dean of Students and Women’s Center — our go-to contact points for survivors — systematically perpetuate this failure as a matter of policy.
