Steubenville Rape Case

[littleacceb]

This story about a bunch of high school football players raping a passed-out girl and documenting it on various social media is horrific, but the fact that adults close to the boys organised its cover-up is just beyond belief.

I'm sure that every one of the boys' mothers thinks that they raised their sons to be nice young men, but clearly something got really f*ed up along the way. How on earth do you raise your child to never, ever do anything like this? Where do you even start? My brother is 20 and is such a sweet boy with lots of good female friends and a steady girlfriend; to ask him "you know that no means no, right?" just seems so stupid.

[rainsom]

I have severe issues with hacking and the like, but in a way I'm still very happy that the Anons. brought this to light.
Is it crowd thinking, heard thinking that keeps groups of guys quiet on these issues? It's very sad that in the video only a couple of guys say stuff like, "what if that was your daughter".
Ack I worry but what can I do...

[bunchamunchycrunchycarrots]

I posted about this in the feminism section - it's just a hideous example of the rape culture we live in, hero worshipping an excuse to absolve absolute scum of any responsbility for their depraved behaviour. So many conspired to cover this up. The parents having to piece together the evidence of what their child endured from photos and videos posted online. The video/photo evidence from mobiles being 'accidentally' deleted by the investigating police. It's an awful, awful sickening example of the worst of humanity. I hope every single person who knew, who saw, who did nothing or who did something to that girl, gets some form of karma at the very least. That poor girl.

[MrsPoglesWood]

I used to dislike the hacking groups, thinking they were totally irresponsible. My age I guess. However in the last year when I have followed them on Twitter they have been utterly brilliant at exposing rapists, mysoginists, internet trolls and their supporters. The work they have done in relation to the Steubenville case has been brilliant. I hope the whole world has watched that video and will condemn the boys, their parents and the school for their disgusting views. I am aghast that the community is supporting them. Bad luck Steubenville girls!

[Catchingmockingbirds]

The video/photo evidence from mobiles being 'accidentally' deleted by the investigating police

Oh my gosh that's awful

[Booyhoo]

i haven't heard of this story before now. so so disgusting. i have to be honest and say i know a young 'man' who i could imagine being involved in something like this and his family would lie to whoever they needed to to protect him over this.

how do we make sure our sons aren't rapists?

i think we raise our children (both sexes) to think of women as, 'as human as men', as a default position

to make it natural for them to question why this would happen as opposed to accepting that this would happen

to voice our own opinions on the matter when we see it on the news from when our children are old enough to understand it

we make it as unnatural a concept to think less of a woman as they would about their brother/father/ male friend

we give them the confidence and support to challenge it when they see it in others

we inform them well and give them the tools to inform others if/when necessary.

and i guess we hope that we aren't the only ones doing it.

[FestiviaBlueberry]

Yeah I think if we are the mothers of boys, it's up to us to make sure they know girls are as human as them.

And that sex is something you do WITH someone else, not TO them.

That if both parties aren't enjoying it and fully, actively participating, you need to STOP.

And that they and no-one else, are responsible for their own feelings, actions and behaviour.

[bunchamunchycrunchycarrots]

That's a poignant statement festive, given that a mother of one of the group involved is the prosecuting attorney for the state, and has done her best to get several of these scumbags off. One of them is featured in a video laughing about the attack, admitting to raping the girl, and hasn't even been arrested.

[bunchamunchycrunchycarrots]

This is the police's own website launched in response to the hackers website. It disputes a lot of the connections alleged between the people involved in the investigation and the football team/school. The bloke in the video, still hasn't been charged/arrested as far as I can see, although the police have said elsewhere that video isn't new evidence.

[MaureenShit]

why is the boys mothers fault OP?

why not the father?
why not just in their nature?

[littleacceb]

Mostly because I think men should go out and bring home the bacon, while women should stay home and raise children, Maureen.

Or... Because I'm a mother and I was just considering it from my own perspective. Soz bout that.

Nature v nurture is hotly debated when it comes to individual rape. I struggle to believe that an entire group of teenage boys who just happen to be in the same football team all suffer from the same inherent psychiatric condition. Unless Steubenville's history of pollution is more sinister than we thought.

We were discussing at dinner last night and really felt that the slut shaming is a big contributor. This idea that a person's human rights are invalidated because they dress a certain way, act sexually assertive, or have too much to drink is generally accepted by both men and women in equal measure, and that just has to stop.