2013 Resolution: Ending Rape

There have been 2 very disturbing rape stories in the news lately.

1) A gang rape in India
2) The teenage girl in Steubenville

A Gang Rape in India

 This 23 year old woman - The. Same. Age. As. Me. - was gang-raped so severely that she ultimately died.

She had just finished watching a movie and was accompanied by a male friend... something I - and many of my friends - have done countless times, thinking we would be safe.

She, however, was not.

When getting onto a bus (still with her friend) she was gang-raped and beaten (her friend was also beaten) to "teach her a lesson" since her attackers felt she should not have been out with a man at night, even though it was only 9pm.

6 men raped and beat her for hours before dumping her and her friend, naked, on the side of the road.

Horrible.

And they are not the only victims.

• When I heard this story on CNN, they reported that in New Delhi alone, a woman is raped every 18 hours. EVERY 18 HOURS!?!
• Further, "official data show that rape cases have jumped almost 875% over the past 40 years -- from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011." (CNN)
• During protests begun by outraged Indian citizens calling for safety for Indian women since the original rape story, 2 other gang-rape victims have been found: a 10 year old girl who was raped, killed and dumped in a canal and another 14 year old girl who was raped by 4 men. (thestar.com)

This is absolutely disgusting.

Perhaps an even more disgusting story is the case in Steubenville:

The Teenage Girl in Steubenville

If you haven't heard of this case yet, you soon will because the online hacktivist group, Anonymous, has gotten involved making it viral.

Though this is alleged now, it was highly documented with teenagers' use of today's technology via twitter, instagram, etc. in what The New York Times called "a graphic, public diary."

Basically, 2 hometown hero football players paraded around a 16 year old girl to 3 different parties even though she was too drunk to resist or respond.... or even remember much of the evening. She was so drunk that she vomited several times and could not walk. They removed her clothes, touched between her legs, tried to get her to perform oral sex, took pictures and video of her and possibly urinated on her. Other students referenced "Rape Me" by Nirvana and described her as "dead" or "asleep" and other very awful things recorded in a video from someone's phone.

I think the most upsetting thing about this story is how no one interfered on her behalf!?! 

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

                                                                                         - Edmund Burke

Where were the good men (and women) when this evil was happening?

Oh, don't worry. They were just busy with social media tweeting, texting and instagraming this episode. WHAT???? Did social media suck away their souls, conscience and heart?

I have no idea how they could have not only stood by to watch this but also took time to document it.

Fortunately, technology can be used for good. As I mentioned, Anonymous has gotten involved and they are gathering evidence from the internet to put pressure on the town and the courts to take this case seriously, even if it does involve some of the town's favorite football players. Equally, a Steubenville blogger also has been using technology to try to seek justice in this case; you can follow her continuing coverage here.

How can teenage boys and men do this? What on earth gives them the notion that they have the right to a woman's body like that? To touch and violate and abuse?

How do we stop this??? 

I know this isn't a happy post but rape is not a happy thing. And though these few women have gotten a ton of coverage and support, there are countless more who have been violated but don't have this much coverage or support - and more still who don't have any because they never report their rape.

I struggled with how to end this post. I remembered an essay I read by Andrea Dworkin where she called for One Entire Day Without Rape. I wrote a post about it almost 2 years ago and she wrote the essay in the early '80s. However, rape continues.

Hopefully, for 2013 we in America and India and the whole world over can adopt her resolution for One Entire Day Without Rape. As a baby step at the very least, a beginning, to a world where 16 year old girls and 23 year old women and any woman will be safe.

More information on India: 1, 2, 3, 4.  And on Steubenville: 1, 2.