Today I read that 17 year old, Trent Mays and 16 year old Ma’lik Richmond were found guilty of raping a 16 year old drunk girl in Steubenville Ohio. Each boy was sentenced to the minimum sentence of one year in a youth facility. Mays was given an additional year for transmitting nude photos. For a few minutes as I looked over the photos of the sobbing boys I felt something that felt like sadness for the rapists. I realize that their victim will live with the disgusting way that she was violated for the rest of her life but these boys who brazenly carried out the revolting acts of abuse against an unconscious girl were victims too. They were victims of a society that demonstrates that such abuses go unpunished, a society that teaches young men that humiliating women is funny, that drunk girls are fair prey and that if you are an athlete there are coaches, school administrators and even entire towns that will rally behind you.
The details of the rape shared by the media offer me the perception that those boys carried out their crimes like little demigods, completely unafraid of any consequences even as photos and videos were taken and put on the internet. They stood before the court and tearfully made apologies to the victim, their parents and their coaches and I have to ask myself if they are really even capable of fully understanding the depth of the crime they committed against heir victim.
I wonder if after this sentencing, coaches will start having conversations with athletes about gender equality. I wonder if schools will implement zero tolerance policies for student athletes involved in sexual violence. I wonder if mothers and fathers will have conversations with their children about what to do if they see another child drinking, vomiting and vulnerable. I wonder if parents will start conversations about sex, rape and respect. I wonder if ministers and youth leaders will recognize their responsibility to talk to kids about the relationship between religion and equality. I wonder if people will realize that rape jokes, and stories that demean women lead young men like Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond to a lifetime on the sex offender registry. I know that no one wants to bear this responsibility but the truth is that Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond didn’t get where they did on their own, a lot of people helped them get there. The question is,”Who is going to protect other kids from the same fate?” Are you?
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Reprinted from the Wondering Wanderer blog
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I commend Ms Wilson’s point of view – however it is inappropriate to place the rapist in a victim catagoroy along with victim. Yes the whole society contributes to ideals that the rapist internalized but they are responsible for their actions. My brother is their age and would never participate or condone such behavior.
It is clear to me that, in an age where politicians loudly proclaim themselves to be ‘tough on crime”, that the boys were not tried as adults. One only suppose that if they hadn’t been middle class. ahtletic stars and darlings of the community, that they’d have been on their way to adult prison. Clearly we only try juveniles as adults when we are prepared to discard them at the first opportunity. One can, really, only blame these young men for their horrific crime. One can’t spread the blame to the community, or even their parents. If they were, under… Read more »
One can, really, only blame these young men for their horrific crime. One can’t spread the blame to the community, or even their parents. If they were, under different circumstances, have been old enough to be tried as adults, they were old enough to make adult decisions and face the adult consequences of same. I don’t know about that. As you say these were local athletic stars. In short that means that they were useful. Useful to the school for putting checks in the win column. Useful to the community for getting their town and school on the map. I… Read more »
“I wonder if people will realize that rape jokes, and stories that demean women lead young men like Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond to a lifetime on the sex offender registry.” I made a joke about murder the other day, I haven’t committed a crime. People joke about ALL topics, so how exactly does a rape joke lead a person to raping? Did someone go home from the comedy show after the elmer fudd rape joke and rape their husband/wife/etc? I’d say the victim blaming and general ignorance of consent have a part in influencing a rapist, but a general… Read more »