Steubenville trial and rape culture

[Magtig]

POSSIBLY 50 TEENS, MALE AND FEMALE, AT DIFFERENT PARTIES SAW THIS GIRL COMPLETELY UNCONSCIOUS AND BEING CARTED AROUND FROM CAR TO PARTY TO CAR TO PARTY AND NOBODY TRIED TO HELP HER? Wasn't anybody concerned about her safety? That she may have alcohol poisoning? THAT SHE COULD DIE?? Didn't anybody wonder if somebody may have slipped her a Roofie? ALL those people seeing and posting pics of an unconscious girl and the best they can do is call her a "whore" and "raped" but none - girls or boys - could call authorities or a hospital or 911 or anything?

Yeah, that's a problem that scientists have done alarming studies on for some time now (see: Milgram experiment). The only way out of it is to think (awareness) our way out, apparently. It's one of those awful and inescapable parts of human nature that we've inherited from millions of years of evolution.

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Shifting gears back to rape culture, my friend said something recently that made me think, "Fuck yeah! Let's try putting the guys on the spot for a change."

• Jeff Frost Speaking of Hey!Zeus, isn't it interesting that a crowd that typically has a hardline stance on taking responsibility for your own actions always seems to find ways to blame rape victims instead of rapists?
• Friend: Yep...
  
  "What was she wearing?"
  
  "Where was her boyfriend?"
  
  "Has she 'cried rape' before?"
  
  "Is she a virgin?"
  
  "Was she drinking?"
  
  "Was she being flirtatious?"
  
  "Was she behaving provocatively?"
  
  ....
  
  WHAT THE GODDAMNED FUCK!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?
  
  How about this:
  
  "What makes you think you have the right to force yourself on another human being and shove your filthy cock into them?????!!!!????"
  
  Why the FUCK don't we ask THAT question for a change?????

[allegro]

Yeah, that's a problem that scientists have done alarming studies on for some time now

That's no excuse.

@Jinsai : I was totally serious about being a teen in the 70s: The drinking age in Michigan was 18 but we teens didn't drink much or none at all (I very rarely drank, maybe I had a glass of Reunite wine twice in my teens?) I didn't know anybody who drank, either, but we smoked a LOT of pot. But not booze, we knew kids who drank beer sometimes but they nursed one Miller GIQ for hours. This "all teens drink" stuff is completely foreign to me because I didn't drink and didn't see it happen, I've never seen a passed-out person EVER actually.

edit: note that I am not condoning pot usage, I'm just saying we didn't drink.

[Jinsai]

Oh come on now. There was drinking, you can't fool me. I've seen Dazed and Confused, I know what's up.

Still, I don't think responding to this story by addressing the issue of teen drinking (especially not with the suggestion that we fix the issue by legalizing pot) is going to accomplish much. Teens will still drink, and they'll drink even more if adults tell them not to drink so much. And yes, teens today are fucking stupid. They've apparently invented something called butt-chuggging.

Stupidity isn't the issue for me here though, it's morality, and when some jocks rape a passed out girl, the only response to that should be "fuck you, we're trying you as an adult you sack of shit, rot in jail." Not "oh, they had such promising futures, but now they have to go to juvie for a whole year." We've somehow become so addicted to drama that our news anchors project automatic sympathy for some crying rapist. Meanwhile, twitter blows up and some truly disgusting people have been provoked to harass the rape victim?

[allegro]

Oh come on now. There was drinking, you can't fool me. I've seen Dazed and Confused, I know what's up.

That was in Texas. And they're drinking beer. NOT vodka.

Stupidity isn't the issue for me here though, it's morality

My stupidity comments were aimed only at all those kids who did absolutely nothing to help. Those who did nothing should be charged with criminal charges, as well.

Still, I don't think responding to this story by addressing the issue of teen drinking

I was not and am not "responding to this story" alone. I'm talking about two distinctly different topics. I think I've made that clear about 900 times but it appears that nobody wants to discuss that in the GENERAL HEADLINES thread. Sorry.