April 24th R*pe situation

[ASugarr]

TW: Rape/Sexual Assult

Sadly a group of trolls on TikTok have made this consistent joke about April 24th becoming 'National Rape Day". It is unclear what their intentions with this joke are, however, please be careful on social media that day and be aware of this sick joke. This is to just ensure that your children are aware of this joke and to not interact with trolls that are promoting this.

@Cloud1921

My daughter (14) told me last week that there are boys at her school chattering about this on social media.

Her school are back from Easter tomorrow so I will be raising it with her head of year, but it seems to be more than a couple of lads on tiktok talking about it.

From what she's been saying some of the boys have been very unhappy with the recent talk about VAWG. I've already had to contact the school about the things some of the boys have been saying in front of their teachers that have been going on unchallenged.

Thank you so much for sharing and I certainly hope the head of year does something about this 🤍

God. Why do some men hate women and girls so much? Even if it's the best case scenario and it's a joke, it's not funny and will obviously be very upsetting for rape victims. If it's the worst case and men actually plan to hurt women and possibly even film it and share it, that's absolutely sickening.

Hahaha fucking ha. Such funny guys!

And only such a short time since 'steak and blowjob day' chortle.

Men and boys who want to sexually assault and rape will do it anyway. In the UK there's very little chance of consequences for them.

The wider issue of kids reading this shit. What are children/ teens of both sexes going to take away from this?

It's reminded me of when my DD got a message forwarded from one of her friends. Her friendship group all have various gender IDs and refer to themselves as trans. Anyway the forwarded message said on X date transphobes were going to go out and murder trans kids. Her friend said she was really scared.

Obviously had a chat to DD about it. She agreed it was
Preposterous
Scaremongering
Worrying it was circulating

I was too nice to also point out that she and her friends all look like bog standard schoolgirls so how would anyone know to target them.

Just ignore it.

Oh and a more cynical point.

Globally, every day is rape day.

Another couple of points.

No one has said this hilarious 'joke' is ok.

However.

Men joke about rape an awful lot. Mainstream comedians have joked about it (then when it was put out in the open and condemned, said essentially it's a joke get over it).
Men also make homophobic 'jokes' about being raped. Back to the wall etc. The phrase not 'bending over' for someone is not uncommon.

Mainstream het porn is awash with male sexual dominance/ female subjugation.

So in the round I think ignore it.

Just report it and forget about it.

By helping it go viral you'll just cause paranoia and hysteria, which is probably what the trolls want.

Thank you for your comments. This is mainly just so those who are parents or work with children are aware of this. And as @Cloud1921 kindly shared, this is being discussed in schools which means we need to be having a conversation with young people around this. I'd also like to add that although I'm not a minor or anything, last night an old #NotAllMen post on twitter got a reply from someone. They thought it would be funny to send a video of a woman being sexually assaulted. They sent this to many before it was taken down. These are the kinds of things I want young people to be aware of blocking and reporting immediately. And for young men to realize this isn't a joke. However, do take this information as you will.

I know every day is sexual assault day.

As does my daughter a CSA survivor.

Really easy to tell her to suck it up and stop being paranoid. She knows what it feels like to be raped, she knows many men and boys will be happy to do it to her, she's experienced it.

Yes it's not likely that we are going to see a purge style event next Saturday where all women and girls have to lock themselves away for the day as all men and boys go on a rampage.

I was only pointing out the kids in my daughters school are talking about it, that a good number of the boys are very unhappy with the focus on VAWG and that anger is likely fuelling some of this talk. It it's all over my local school it's probably in many many others too.

If it's not in your kids school I'm happy for you, if your in a position where you can brush it off casually good for you. But I'm not in that position.

The boys at my poor old mining pit town have been very vocal in front of teachers that girls are all just liars and when they cry rape the really wanted it, then talking openly about who they want to rape. Teachers just walk by and don't address it, because take jokes are everywhere right? Statistically my kid won't be the only child in that room who's been raped before, so whether you think oh well rape jokes will always happen, I'm in a position where I have to address that with the school because my daughter deserves to feel like at least the teachers will have her back.

So yes of course I've told her it's unlikely to happen, that it's just a bunch of boys being idiots. That that the ones talking about it you know to avoid because they are telling you who they are. But maybe there are some other parents who want to know what their kids are probably talking about.

That's horrifying Cloud1921 I'm so sorry.

I do think things like this can gain a life of their own. Once something goes "viral" as they say, it can be difficult for it to be avoided online. Best to stay vigilant.

Well, what do we do, here? Do we tell all women and children to lock themselves away and be afraid? Or do we report to the police and get the handful of people propogating it charged? Which do you think would be more effective?

@ArabellaScott

Well, what do we do, here? Do we tell all women and children to lock themselves away and be afraid? Or do we report to the police and get the handful of people propogating it charged? Which do you think would be more effective?

From What I've seen the original people posting about this have been reported to the police and to tiktok about this. I think people need to just be aware and ensure young people are safe while others are dealing with those who have started this.

'ensure young people are safe' - what exactly do you think we should do?

Absolutely everything I've seen has been people condemning it, but by doing so they're spreading the word. So what began as a joke by a small bunch of idiots is going to frighten a lot of people and potentially encourage some men to do real harm.

Some teenage boys say hideous things. Before the internet, that used to be confined to the schoolyard and to graffiti. Now they've got a megaphone and not only that, other people seem to want to amplify their voices.

@ArabellaScott

'ensure young people are safe' - what exactly do you think we should do?

Ensure any young people you know use the platform TikTok that they are doing so safely and if they are of an age to understand this subject matter, have a discussion about this so they know what to do. To report and block. And if it physically happens to them to report to the police. Plus educate boys! That's the biggest thing. Use this to talk with your sons or young boys you may work with on how dangerous this is.

@Cloud1921 that is not what I hear from boys chatting when my son had mates around, they don't all behave like that and a lot are mixed friendships , are you not looking at a new school as I also know any such talk like that in ds school would be shut down and result in punishment not ignored by teachers .

@Cloud1921 your daughter should not be hearing things like that at school and school should be educating any such talk at the very least.
Sounds like your daughter has been through a traumatic time and I hope she is doing ok and wish her the best., she should feel protected at school.

OP, this is both victim blaming and pointless. As NotTerf says above, it's more likely to exacerbate any issues than actually help anyone. Maybe sometimes it's good to listen to women with more experience and knowledge than yourself, yes?

Let the police deal with it.

@ArabellaScott

OP, this is both victim blaming and pointless. As NotTerf says above, it's more likely to exacerbate any issues than actually help anyone. Maybe sometimes it's good to listen to women with more experience and knowledge than yourself, yes?

Let the police deal with it.

Okay sure. Just thought people should know as it's becoming a topic with young people and I want boys to understand just how harmful these silly jokes can be.

Let the police deal with it.

In theory, yes, but the police largely don't have a great track record on dealing with rape and misogyny.

As an aside, I wish these boys understood how destructive rape can be both mentally and physically. I know several women who were raped years ago and still dealing with mental scars. Where I grew up, a girl had so much physical damage from a rape that she has had an ostomy bag ever since. Well, I'm sure many men and boys do understand and that's why they like to joke about it and encourage it, but I would like to think most who go along with rape jokes wouldn't actually want to hurt women and girls.

It all makes me so scared for my daughters.

The best outcome here would be, if they're already talking about it in schools, that somehow they have a good conversation about rape culture led by the adults. I don't know how realistic that is though.

Indeed the Police should deal with it but equally the SM sites that they are posting on and who are hosting this should remove the content immediately and permanently ban those who produced it. People have been banned from Social Media platforms for a lot less.