Rape Culture #3
January 3, 2013
A cell within the group Anonymous, called ‘Knight Sec’ decided to be a voice against the injustice that came of the gang rape of an unconscious, 16 year old girl in Ohio, by members of a football team – who also documented it all. She was unconscious because she was
“intentionally drugged with a ‘date-rape’ intoxicant.”
The community, police and justice system, that rallied behind theses boys (widely known by their nickname, ‘The Rape Crew’) and swept it all under the carpet, were given until the end of 2012 to come forward and apologise – make things right – otherwise Anonymous was going to publish the information they had gathered.
No-one apologised.
So here is the report that was leaked to the public on the 1st Jan.
It includes the following video footage of the boys admitting to the rape.
*WARNING: This Video Is Extremely Disturbing – Viewer Discretion Is Advised.
Michael Colin Nodianos Admiting To Rape from Commander X on Vimeo.
I only have one question (it would be great if guys help me out here with some insight):
Question #129: Knowing what WE were like as teens – is this type of guy more common now?
What terrifies me most is not what they did to her (although it literally makes my stomach somersault and heart ache), it’s what they think of her – as they laugh…and laugh…and laugh…
In this case, these men flaunted their misogyny through sadistic rape and even urinated on this poor girl – who is ruined for life. But this deplorable attitude can manifest in a number of different ways – domestic violence, forced prostitution etc – and it’s seeping through globally.
* Afgan girl shot in the head for ‘being a prostitute’ in front of a cheering crowd of Taliban men who were fighting over her – DIED.
* Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head for wanting an education – LIVED.
* Indian girl’s horrific gang rape – DIED.
* This girl – intentionally drugged, sodomised, urinated on, dragged unconscious from party to party – LIVED.
Etc…etc…etc…
And, of course, these are just the ones we hear about – 1 in 3 women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime.
I want my daughters to be able to go out and confidently participate in this world – but it chills me to think that these guys are out there.
So – is it worse than before?
Guys/Men? Thoughts?
Deep Breath.
x
PS There are no words to describe what I feel about the guy in the video – making joke, after joke, after joke. Just the manner in which he says the same type of thing over and over again, fills me with a strong and uncharacteristic desire, to smack his smug and idiotic face out. The cameraman laughing at all his jokes and egging him to keep going, would be next.
The following is what he wrote on Twitter:
Questions for Us 
I want to rip this guys head off. He make me feel so sick. I cannot believe humans can act this way towards each other. I can not even think of what this poor girls feel. Justice……what does it truly mean, because I see none for these girls or many others in the world who suffer daily at the hands of laws, beliefs, attitudes and religion.
Sickened……….
I feel so sickened too, Kristie.
I hope every girl in America sees this clip and runs in the other direction when they see him (and the others). Hopefully that was the last time his penis gets near another girl.
Just sickening. I pray to my atheist god that these bacteria go to jail (the main part, not the protected part). I pray they spend 20 years on the wrong side of being violently raped.
On the other side of the coin, I think that the reporting of rape and the reporting of this vile culture is on the increase but the actual rate of occurrence is on the decrease. What used to be swept under the carpet is now forefront on the net and in peoples’ minds. This shocking story would not have been news 10 years ago. Thanks to internet activists, it’s now global news.
We tend to have less of that “frat house” mentality in Oz, and where it has come to light (St Johns College at Sydney Uni) it has been stamped on. Like the Indian girl on the bus, we are talking about low intelligence scum from the backwoods. The good news – like other societal changes taking place rapidly (gay marriage; war; racism) the human race is trending in the right direction.
That’s heartening to hear. I think you’re right. I’ve always maintained that (in my opinion) we haven’t changed that much on the inside – BUT because Rape Culture is ‘fashionable’ at the moment (due to current cultural representations saturating our youth’s world), I do think a unique breed of ‘man’ is being created. How can the developing, neural pathways of boys submerged in Rape Culture not emulate what they’re seeing and – more importantly – experiencing? (Like the 8 yr old boy I learned of, who was getting a lap-dance on Grand Theft Auto).
BUT (positive one this time) in the same manner in which the Internet and technology has given wings to this mentality – it will also be the reason for its undoing, as you said.
There is more and more exposure and hopefully parents will really start paying attention to what their kids are watching/reading/seeing and give them the guidance they need to turn the culture around.
Thanks Harley.
PS I hope they get EVERYTHING that they deserve.
I didn’t watch it beyond a few minutes. Absolutely dreadful and how the adults colluded in covering up such a filthy crime I will never understand. We need a really big cultural shift. It’s very depressing but as you say we do have a collective online voice, and we can’t afford to stop talking. After today’s article in the Guardian on apologism for paedophilia though I do despair at how extensive and pervasive this culture of rape and exploitation is.
It’s sickening how those young men were so presumptuous and uncaring about the life of another person and it’s alarming to think how common this might well be.
I really, really hope that the collective voice starts to bring about change – I think it is. I am EVER hopeful.
But parents (especially) need to WAKE UP, stop being their child’s buddy and guide their kids through this saturating climate – that incites this patriarchal and misogynist behaviour. Where are these boys’ parents? Why don’t they have a moral compass??
Thank you for your thoughts.
x
I couldn’t even watch all of it. It made me sick to my stomach, and angry as hell. One has to completely lack any sense of decency and humanity to treat another in the manner these ‘boys’ treated that girl; and their parents and others in the town who helped shove this under the rug just make me want to rip my hair out.
What made me the angriest though, as comments on the CNN news piece which said that at least part of the blame rested with the girl’s parents for letting her attend a party where alcohol would be served. 1) She was drugged and 2) She was at a different party from where the “rape gang” picked her up and drugged her. And even if she had been at a party with alcohol, and had been drunk, NOTHING, nothing gave them the right to hurt her the way they did. And for that, all the blame rests with the rapists (and some with their parents and the town for condoning and covering up such behaviour). Not with her, and not with her parents.
As for your question, I really don’t know. I never went to parties as a teenager, out of personal choice, because I had seen what alcohol did to people, and was not interested in consuming it or being around others who did. But, based on what I see and hear, I think such guys aren’t necessarily more common, but rather they have more tools at their disposal to act out in such ways. And such crimes are being increasingly reported, so we hear about them.
In the report, it sounds pretty evidential that her ex planned this whole thing as revenge for her dumping him (or something like that).
It’s evil.
How can something so, so horrific – CAPPED with images of them laughing about it – be seen as ANYTHING else, than evil?
We have to put a stop to this through EDUCATION.
WE, as a society, are letting these boys down. And the ones who pay the price for guys feeling it’s OK to act as they please (however sociopathic it is) – are battered, broken and fearful women. Why?
Why should we live in fear for ourselves and our daughters? Because – what – boys will be boys? I can hear a lot of men shouting, “I’m not like that!” and I don’t doubt it. But we need to ask ourselves – if children reflect what they’re being taught – WHO IS EDUCATING THEM??????
It’s evil and its prevalence is what truly horrifies me.
I think you’re right about the technology. It might be their ultimate downfall.
Thank you so much for sharing.
x