Jessica O’Rear
The Signal
Rape is an extremely touchy subject. It is almost treated as taboo due to its violent and degrading nature.
The recent gang rape of an 11-year-old Cleveland girl has caused a number of mixed emotions among the community.
Some locals have voiced anger, shock and sympathy while others have expressed apathy, denial and skepticism. Accusations such as “where was this child’s mother?” and “what do you expect, the girl was dressed provocatively?” have been thrown around, seemingly as a way to shift blame onto the middle-school victim.
The girl’s relatives have been torn apart as a result of this tragedy. Threats against the family forced them to move out of Cleveland, and the girl has been placed in foster care.
No matter what the girl was wearing and regardless of whether or not this child made comments about “wanting to have sex,” the fact remains that this child was just that – a child. An 11 year old cannot consent to having sex with an adult or even another 11 year old.
To make this heinous violation more horrific, police claim it wasn’t just one man who committed the offense; it was a multitude of men over a course of several months on several different occasions.
Eighteen suspects – 13 adults and 5 juveniles – have been arrested in the case, ranging in age from 14 to 27.
You have to wonder if any of these men had the slightest bit of a moral compass telling them that what they were doing was wrong. Where were their mothers? If parents are to blame here, then maybe these mothers and fathers should also be on trial for raising sons who rape juveniles.
The U.S. Department of Justice completed a National Crime Victimization Study in 2005 and found rape to be one of the most under-reported crimes. Victims commonly experience shame, guilt, depression and fear. For a child to have experienced this callous act and then for people to try to hold her partially responsible is revolting.
Victim blaming is, unfortunately, not unusual in our society, teaching us that we need to focus on “not getting raped” rather than teaching us NOT to rape. In January, a Toronto police officer who was invited to participate in a safety education program at York University advised students that they could avoid being raped by not dressing like “sluts.”
In response to this officer’s ignorant remark, thousands of people rallied together April 3 in an organized SlutWalk to protest abuse of victim’s rights and raise awareness. Men, women and children marched the streets of Toronto in hopes of changing the mentality that victims willingly attract rapists.
Rape is rape, no matter how you candy-coat it. If consent is not absolutely, positively given, if your partner is under 17, or if your partner is intoxicated or incoherent, having sex with her or him is a crime.
Instead of blaming a child for rape, we need to come together and support her. We should try to find out what we can do to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again. Not only should we teach sex education in schools, maybe we should teach rape defense classes as well.
Yes, we shouldn’t mark “He Done It” on the forehead of an accused rapist before he has his day in court, but neither should we try to hold the victim accountable in any way by implying “she asked for it.” As for the child, hopefully she and her family will be able to somehow, someday, move past this nightmare.
If you are the victim of rape and need someone to talk to, please don’t hesitate to visit the UHCL counseling center. You can also anonymously call the national RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit RAINN online at http://www.rainn.org.
