Although this topic has been extensively covered in the media recently, I feel intensely aware of the Steubenville rape case that has been a hot topic on the news. Whether it’s because I am a student at St. Edward’s, and our school likes to think that they are teaching us to become aware of and move to right social wrongs. Whether it’s because I am a woman living in a rape culture where men generally act superior and we are conditioned to simply “take it”. Whether it’s because I am first and foremost a human being with respect for other human beings. I cannot say. What I do know is that the Steubenville, Ohio rape case sickens me to my core.

Let us disregard for a moment CNN’s appalling take on the case verdict. Because the rapists do not need anymore coverage. Let’s think for a moment what this incident, what this rape, actually means. Let’s just focus for a second on the victim and how her life was destroyed not only by rape but by rape in the most public sense ever. Is it not bad enough that a young woman has had her life tainted forever by the stigma of rape, especially in a small town? But that girl had the worst moment she will ever experience plastered across social media:

Ordinarily this image might appear to be the drunk antics of friends. However, to those of us who knows what happens next this is a sickening display of disregard for this girl’s body and dignity. This is a girl who simply did what all of us have done before: got drunk at a high school party.But she ended up raped, humiliated, shamed, and threatened, and all on social media. Perhaps the most chilling detail of the entire case is that the victimized girl did not even know she had been raped until finding out about it via social media. Partygoers had uploaded pictures and videos where they laughed and joked about the rape, making light of a horrific incident. Witnesses did not stop there. They tweeted throughout the night their support of what took place and their apathy for the rape they were party to.

 However, after all of this, I was most glad to see the immediate response against the rapists and other partygoers who simply stood by, taking pictures and videos on their smart phones and let a girl get raped. It is encouraging to see how people are starting to finally see and listen to the injustice that is present today in the rape culture we live in. I think that one of my favorite comedians said it best:

There is no other way to put it. Men don’t worry every time they go out drinking whether or not they are potentially going to be raped. Why should women have to?

~ by mhuey on March 25, 2013 . Tagged: Anonymous, CNN, Instagram, Kumail Nanjiani, rape culture, social media, Steubenville, Steubenville rape verdict, Twitter, youtube