Thursday: Little Girls Do Not Cause Men to Rape Them

Posted: March 10, 2011 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: morning reads, torture, Violence against women | Tags: gang rape, victim-blaming | 47 Comments

I’m going to devote this morning’s post to the horrifying gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in Texas. I will discuss the shockingly misogynistic mainstream media coverage of the story and provide links to reactions from other newspapers and blogs. I will also provide examples of similar gang rape cases involving victim-blaming.

Yesterday, Minkoff Minx wrote about the shocking case in Texas that broke over the past couple of days–an 11-year-old girl raped by at least 18 boys and men–perhaps as many as 28. I’m sure you have all read about this case by now, but I think it deserves to be discussed further, particularly because there have been a number of similar shocking cases reported in the past couple of years in which very young female victims have been blamed for the violence committed against them.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE

Here is what happened to an 11-year-old girl in Cleveland, Texas, last November, according to James C. McKinley, Jr., the misogynistic reporter assigned to cover the story for The New York Times.

The affidavit said the assault started after a 19-year-old boy invited the victim to ride around in his car. He took her to a house on Travis Street where one of the other men charged, also 19, lived. There the girl was ordered to disrobe and was sexually assaulted by several boys in the bedroom and bathroom. She was told she would be beaten if she did not comply, the affidavit said.

A relative of one of the suspects arrived, and the group fled through a back window. They then went to the abandoned mobile home, where the assaults continued. Some of those present recorded the sexual acts on their telephones, and these later were shown among students.

That sounds pretty horrific to me. A 19-year-old boy picks up an 11-year-old girl (he took her from her own home, by the way–she wasn’t just hanging around the neighborhood begging to be raped) threatens her with physical harm, and then rapes her. And then he invites a bunch of his friends over so they can rape her too.

But what is misogynist reporter James C. McKinley most concerned about? You guessed it. He’s worried about how this will affect the lives of those poor boys and men who were somehow forced to rape a little girl.

The case has rocked this East Texas community to its core and left many residents in the working-class neighborhood where the attack took place with unanswered questions. Among them is, if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?

“It’s just destroyed our community,” said Sheila Harrison, 48, a hospital worker who says she knows several of the defendants. “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”

I have news for James McKinley. Little girls do not cause men to rape them. I don’t care what articles of clothing those little girls are wearing or how much make-up they have on their faces. They are not responsible for the actions of rapists. These young men weren’t “drawn in.” They made their own choices to commit a horrible crime. I frankly don’t give a shit that they “have to live with this for the rest of their lives.” What exactly does McKinley imagine it will be like for an 11-year-old who was raped by 20-plus men? Does McKinley even have the ability to imagine what that will be like? Or does he simply think of the victim as some kind of throwaway? A girl who deserved to be punished for her “dressing older than her age” and talking to teenage boys on a playground?

Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands — known as the Quarters — said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.

“Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” said Ms. Harrison, one of a handful of neighbors who would speak on the record. “How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?”

I have a better question. What were those “young men” thinking? Where were their mothers and fathers? What kind of family produces children so cruel and soulless that they grow up to rape little girls and use their cell phones to record her ordeal?

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