By Beth Byrd
Editor-in-Chief
The saying goes that if you’re not “for” something, you’re against it. But in light of the ongoing Steubenville, Ohio, rape debate, the reverse of this saying is just as accurate.
People enjoy pointing fingers when atrocities happen. The high school football players who raped a drunken 16-year-old girl in August 2012 are easy to blame for the crime.
Other onlookers think the rape victim contributed to the situation, as she should have stayed sober and should have chosen better friends.
The people who get less attention, but are just as guilty, are the bystanders – including not only the teenagers who watched a couple of boys take advantage of an intoxicated classmate but also each person who hears about these situations and takes no action.
By nature, humans don’t like to challenge the status quo. It’s uncomfortable, as it places someone in a position to be ridiculed, harassed and singled out.
We have a “whatever floats your boat” mentality, at least when it comes to problems we would rather not address.
However, it is through situations like the Steubenville rape occurrence that we get to visualize how ignorance is not so blissful.
The two boys responsible for the atrocity were found guilty of rape March 17, and their actions were well documented via Twitter as well as through photographs and videos their friends took while the football players violated their unconscious victim.
Statistics hint that our generation is suffering the consequences of our inability to grow a spine.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s website, more than 84,000 women reported being raped in 2010.
In addition, Rana Sampson of the United States Department of Justice released a 2011 report, “Acquaintance Rape of College Students,” that revealed that females between 16 and 24 are four times more likely to be raped than women of other ages, and “almost 25 percent of college women have been victims of rape or attempted rape since the age of 14.”
Patricia Leavy, author of “Low-Fat Love” and commentator, is correct in saying rape stems from the misconception that women are simply objects, as she points out in her March 20 Huffington Post article, “Why Girls and Women Participate in Rape Culture: More Lessons from Steubenville.”
Rape victims are in no way responsible for the actions of their violators. Even the Steubenville victim, who clearly made bad choices that made her susceptible to rape, cannot be blamed that her friends took advantage of her drunken state.
But I have to wonder how many rape cases could be prevented if females stopped willingly objectifying themselves by posting pin-up-style Facebook pictures or wearing clothing suitable for a red-light district.
Females say they aren’t “for” rape, but I have a feeling fewer women would become a statistic if they gained some self respect.
Leavy adds that females contribute to “rape culture” by labeling some girls as “sluts,” thus fueling the tendency for certain women to be easy targets for disrespect and harm.
But perhaps if more women had the nerve to speak out against behaviors, actions and lifestyles that made females more susceptible to rape, more girls would stop placing themselves in potentially harmful situations.
In the same way, men shouldn’t point fingers at women for creating a sexually charged atmosphere.
Ann Voscamp, a Christian author, speaks out against common excuses for bad male behavior in “After Steubenville: 25 Things Our Sons need to know about Manhood” on her blog, “A Holy Experience.”
For instance, she recalls a time when her church elders overlooked a man’s inappropriate touching of young girls in the church by telling her that “boys will be boys.”
“When the prevailing thinking is boys will be boys – girls will be garbage,” Voscamp said, adding that “Real Manhood never objectifies women. Real Manhood edifies women.”
Other factors – including derogatory nicknames for females and the sexualized portrayal of women in movies and songs – contribute to a culture that accepts female degradation as “comical” or “entertaining” but stands confounded when people treat females in the atrocious, degrading ways encouraged by musicians, movie stars and the media.
“The cultural brainwashing of boys is done systematically from a young age through television, movies, music, and a tradition of idolizing virile professions like college and professional football,” says Carl Gibson in the March 20 Huffington Post article, “Patriarchy Dominates Media’s Steubenville Coverage.”
Gibson concluded that “this cultural rot will continue” until men begin to view women as equals – as humans – and firmly stand against treating women like toys. While I heartily agree with Gibson, I can’t imagine this cultural sickness being completely healed until women themselves choose to act like humans instead of false advertisements.
Beth Byrd is a senior journalism major.
