Author incorrectly assumes that the NYT blames the 11-year old for getting raped. Give her some bonus points because she also invokes 'rape culture'

InfinitelyThirsting · 2011-03-11T04:19:09+00:00

The rape culture bit is ridiculous.

However, a lot of the language that the NYT used is honestly ridiculous. I think this author is completely spot on here:

Instead of wondering how it was possible that a whole town could turn against a child who was brutally raped, he superimposed their victim-blaming onto his story and turned it in as news. Instead of finding just one single person to express sympathy for the girl or outrage at the rapists, he tacitly approved the prevailing opinion that she (and her parents) were responsible for what happened.

It’s a reporter’s job to ask questions. Some good ones might have been: What’s it going to be like for the child who was brutally gang-raped to live with this for the rest of her life? Why does it matter that she dressed like a woman in her twenties? Does a woman in her twenties deserve to be gang-raped? Where were the suspects’ parents when they were taking turns assaulting a child?

Mr. McKinley’s failure to do his job has me asking some questions of my own.

My emphasis added. If you're going to blame the victim's parents, then blame the suspects', too. And what the girl wore has absolutely no bearing on anything. Men are not animals. A decent man wouldn't rape a woman, period, much less gang rape an eleven year old.

2011-03-11T02:18:18+00:00

Saw that. Horrible misrepresentation of facts. Horrible idea that anyone would blame someone, much less and 11 year-old for their own rape, as well...

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