Steubenville; Who Is Guilty?

A teenage girl gets fall down drunk at a party and ends up being raped. Who is really to blame? In the case that made headlines in Steubenville Ohio the two football players Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond (aged 16 and 17) were found guilty, but the court of public opinion did not have the same verdict with many pointing the finger at the 16 year old victim.

In a study in London in 2010 a staggering 71% of women thought the victims of rape should claim some responsibility. You didn’t read the wrong; women thought that the victims should take some blame, stating that they should not have dressed provocatively or gotten drunk.

Knowing those statistics explains why in the Steubenville case, the victim herself fell under heavy criticism for reporting the crime. Many felt it was her fault for getting so drunk that she could not advocate for herself. Two teenage girls are now under arrest for bullying the victim online; one girl even posting that the next time she saw her it would “be homicide.” As far as they were concerned it was her fault and by reporting the crime she had ruined the lives of the young men found guilty of rape. The backlash and threats were so intense that the victim’s family had to hire security to protect them.

The crime caused a rift in the town; those who supported the victim and those supporting the men. Steubenville is a small community that was once a thriving industrial town. These days the town’s passion is the high school football team “Big Red.” The teenaged football players seem to have an elevated status around town and parents have been turning a blind eye to their partying. It was a regular occurrence in Steubenville. This is not the first accusation of a sexual assault at one of these parties, last April a 14 year old girl was allegedly assaulted. Adding fuel to the fire was the string of texts between the victim and one of the young men that raped her, at one point Trent Mays, a quarterback pleaded with her to not press charges as it would ruin his football career. Later Mays had texted his friends stating that the football coach would “Take care of it” and that “He was joking about it so I’m not that worried.”

Staggeringly there were several witnesses to the attack. Not only did no-one try to help her or stop the assault, but they took photos and videos on their cell phones. It was this evidence spreading like wildfire on social media that blew the case open. The testimony from some of those witnesses exposes a shocking level of arrogance, one athlete had tweeted that “The song of the night is definitely ‘Rape Me’ by Nirvana.” It revealed an unsettling level of ignorance too, when a fellow player was asked why he didn’t stop Mays or Richmond as they assaulted the unconscious victim that he knew was drunk "It wasn't violent; I always pictured it (rape) as forcing yourself on someone."

It would be easy to blame social media; kids post photos on multiple sites and some of the stuff out there is very graphic. Scroll through Tumblr and it won’t be long before you come across porn. Are kids becoming desensitized? Do they see those images and think ‘anything goes?’  The partygoers in Steubenville saw no problem in posting photos of this girl naked and being violated. Was it because she was from out of town and no-one really knew her? Would it have been different if she attended the same school? Did they think that because she was drunk that it was her fault?

So who is to blame? In the case of Steubenville I think it goes beyond the two young men found guilty. Who bought the alcohol? Whose house were they partying at? Who is teaching their kids the difference between right and wrong? Maybe a clearer definition of rape and sexual assault should be part of a health curriculum in schools?

In Scotland recently they ran a PSA that addressed one of the issues brought up by Steubenville. The campaign was named “Not Ever”, the running theme is that no-one asks to be raped; not ever. Maybe it’s time this was tackled here, clearly some of the men in this case had scant knowledge about what constituted rape and I’m sure this was not an isolated case.

Ultimately I think parents need to step up to the plate; talk to your kids about staying safe and looking out for their friends. Talk to your kids about what constitutes assualt and rape, and talk to them about advocating for someone that can't speak up for themself.