Serena Williams is right. It starts with personal responsibility.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Maybe you see that rape is horrendous, but if you don't put yourself in a place where rape

could easily happen, it won't. It's not enough to say that the girl made some mistakes, too,

along with the rapists, and that doesn't negate the crime, but when are girls going to wake

up and realize their behavior will be consistent with their lack of self respect and quit allowing

themselves to get in this corner.

 

The rapists will always bear the responsibility of the crime, but it starts with two in the process

a lot of the time. Do you allow your daughters to get in this situation? It starts with teaching,

loving and warning of consequences of your actions. I wonder how the parents feel?

 

Human nature, being what it is, and the increasing lack of respect of morality in our country

leads us into these problems every time we go away from them.

 

It's a hard lesson to learn, sometimes. I feel bad for this girl, but Serena Williams is right.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2344226/Outrage-Serena-Williams-says-Steubenville-rape-victim-lucky-shouldnt-position.html

[KahrMan]

Your first sentence is kind of ignorant.  Seriously?  What about the women that get raped in their own house?

 

Serena is not right imho.  A women should be able to get drunk at a party without getting raped.  I just don't understand blaming the victim.  

Saying the victim was partially responsible is excusing part of the rapist actions.  That is just not right.

Edited June 19, 2013 by KahrMan

[gnmwilliams]

I don't agree with laying blame with the victim ever. I think some are confusing fault with consequences. There are always consequences to our actions. Any actions. Yes, a girl shouldn't have to worry about getting raped at a party, but I also shouldn't have to worry about getting robbed just for walking through some shady neighborhoods around the city. But I do have to worry about that so I choose not to walk through those neighborhoods becuase I know it's a risk Im not willing to take. Rape is never the fault of the victim but your odds can be reduced by not doing certain things or going certain places. In a perfect world a girl would never have to worry about it but we all know this world is far from perfect. We live in a world that has consequences, sometimes very bad ones, One reason I don't drink is that I don't want to ingest anything that lowers my reactions or ihibitions. I don't have anything against anyone who drinks. It's not even the drinking I have a problem with. It's the getting so drunk that you can't control yourself or defend yourself if the need arises that I have a problem with. I know that I certainly wouldn't want my daughter drinking around a bunch of people she didn't know where something like this could happen. Unfortunately we don't live in a world where a girl can go out and party and pass out and not have to worry about anything happening to her. Should she have to worry about this? No! Does she have to worry about this? Unfortunately. We live in a world with evil people who are nothing but animals at heart and will take advantage of people who have their guard down. I will say again. The rape was not her fault. But let's say this wasn't a case of rape, and perhaps a robbery, (see example of me in bad neighborhood) Let's say I chose to fall alseep in said neighborhood and woke up having been robbed of all my possessions. Do I have no personal responsibility at all for choosing to be in the situation im in? Could I have lessened my chances of being robbed by making better descisions? You bet. The girl shoudln't be blamed for what happened to her. But she lives in a world where one of the possible consequences of drinking so much you pass out is running the risk of being raped while others stand by and do nothing to help you.

Edited June 19, 2013 by gnmwilliams

[Smith]

You act like a thug, you will be treated like a thug. You act like a hillbilly you will be treated like a hillbilly. You act like a prostitute you will be treated like a prostitute. We live in a society that has told girls their primary identity is in their sexuality and then surprised when they are identified as purely sexual objects. We tell boys that sex is no big deal and then are surprised when they identify sexual objects as no big deal.

 

Excusing behavior because of unintended consequences is morally corrupt from both sides.

 

Rape should carry the death penalty. Rape is like murder where the victim gets to live with the crime and the continued threat of their murderer.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I wasn't laying blame on anyone, other than the one who does the raping, but there is a reason for someone

taking control of their own destiny. If you consider that first statement ignorant, you may put yourself in a similar

destiny.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Your first sentence is kind of ignorant.  Seriously?  What about the women that get raped in their own house?

 

Serena is not right imho.  A women should be able to get drunk at a party without getting raped.  I just don't understand blaming the victim.  

Saying the victim was partially responsible is excusing part of the rapist actions.  That is just not right.

Throw in qualifiers, left and right, and a problem will never get solved. Seriously? In this situation, yes! Like gmwilliams

said, some choices made to stay away from situations and places will determine the outcome.

Edited June 19, 2013 by 6.8 AR

[Guest 6.8 AR]

The girl shouldn't be blamed for the rape. No doubt about that, but it is a sad experience to learn, one which could

quite possibly have been avoided.

 

I certainly do not understand how someone being raped in their own house is anything in comparison. Kids do a lot

of stupid things without understanding the consequences of their actions. Parenting might have done something to

prevent this, along with the general lack of morality girls and boys sometimes grow up misunderstanding. Kids are

growing up too fast, nowadays, without the proper guidance.

[EastHipster]

It's not 'PC' to say that a 16 year old girl shouldn't get blind drunk at a party.
But what happened is a possible outcome.

But if I got drunk, taped $100 bills all over my body and walked home through my neighborhood, I would probably get Mugged.
And no one would feel sorry for me

[Jonnin]

its not blaming the victim to state that it is incredibly stupid for a young female to get drunk around young men or to go walking thru the ghetto wearing nothing but see thru sexy underwear.   She should, perhaps, in an ideal world be able to do these things without getting raped, yes, absolutely.  But its not an ideal world.  Its a world where common sense pays and foolishness gets you into trouble.  

 

Odds are they slipped her an overpowered drink or something, but there again: its incredibly stupid for a young woman to....   that is just the world we live in.

[wipfel]

I think I agree with 6.8's general point. I see it like if I had a 5 yo child who was offering my 90 lb dog some food and then taking it away over and over.  If the dog bit my child, he'd be in for a memorable beat down to show him that's utterly unacceptable and won't be tolerated, but it would be my responsibility to try to show the child the wisdom of avoiding situations or actions that will elicit those kinds of responses from something bigger, stronger and meaner than they are.  It's the child's responsibility to learn those lessons and make good decisions. Being at the mercy of others is never a good idea if it can be avoided.

 

Any boy or man that would do such a thing to a helpless girl or woman needs to be seriously punished.  We are supposed to use our strength to defend girls in situations like this.

[bubbiesdad]

Your first sentence is kind of ignorant.  Seriously?  What about the women that get raped in their own house?

 

Serena is not right imho.  A women should be able to get drunk at a party without getting raped.  I just don't understand blaming the victim.  

Saying the victim was partially responsible is excusing part of the rapist actions.  That is just not right.

So, you are in favor of drunken 16 year olds?

[Guest nra37922]

But isn't the rape whistle supposed to scare a rapist off?

[willis68]

So, you are in favor of drunken 16 year olds?

I don't think he is saying that at all, like myself I think he means there is no circumstances at all where a girl or woman should be violated whether she is intoxicated or not Edited June 19, 2013 by willis68

[mav]

If I had my way, the two boys would become eunuchs.  They keep their lives, but the give up their right to father children.  I would also knock the crap out of the girl's parents. 

 

Is the girl to be blamed for being raped?  Of course not, and I don't think anyone has suggested such, even Serena.  That said, the world is a dangerous place that is full of evil and sick bastards.  Occurrences such this, unfortunately, have happened in the past. This girl acted foolishly and two evil little bastards took advantage of her compromised position.  It is incredibly sad that she had to pay such a high price.

 

It is my hope that parents and young girls learn from this situation.

[battleop]

Your first sentence is kind of ignorant.  Seriously?  What about the women that get raped in their own house?
 
Serena is not right imho.  A women should be able to get drunk at a party without getting raped.  I just don't understand blaming the victim.  
Saying the victim was partially responsible is excusing part of the rapist actions.  That is just not right.

She also should be of drinking age...

[KahrMan]

So, you are in favor of drunken 16 year olds?

 

 

I don't think he is saying that at all, like myself I think he means there is no circumstances at all where a girl or woman should be violated whether she is intoxicated or not

 

Exactly.  

[bubbiesdad]

I don't think he is saying that at all, like myself I think he means there is no circumstances at all where a girl or woman should be violated whether she is intoxicated or not

 

 

 

Exactly.  

 

Exactly what you said

 

"A women should be able to get drunk at a party without getting raped".

 

In this case the "women" was a 16 year old girl. Who had no business drinking in the first place.

Edited June 20, 2013 by bubbiesdad

[Guest zort]

yall a bunch of sick twisted bastards to think its even remotely the girls fault. if its a boy getting raped by his coach or priest, is it the boys fault or even the parents. come on people get a grip. if anyone touched my kids for any reason, there would be nothing to stop me from putting my machete thought their throat.

[Chucktshoes]

Nobody is blaming the victim, but the hard facts are that some behaviors are more likely to lead to negative outcomes. A young girl putting herself in a condition of diminished capacity in a fluid and uncontrolled environment with people that are unknown and also possibly of diminished capacity is one such situation. Rape is not an unforeseeable outcome. I would even go so far as to posit that it is an outcome that is about even odds of occurring.

[Monkeyman2500]

Unfortunately at 16 we were all indestructible. There are evil people in this world and no matter how careful you are sometimes we fail to recognize a bad situation.

[TMF]

yall a bunch of sick twisted bastards to think its even remotely the girls fault. if its a boy getting raped by his coach or priest, is it the boys fault or even the parents. come on people get a grip. if anyone touched my kids for any reason, there would be nothing to stop me from putting my machete thought their throat.

I feel the same if it were my kid, but I don't think pointing out how irresponsible it was of the girl to put herself in a situation where a very likely outcome was rape takes ANY of the blame off of the criminal(s) who committed the crime. They need to pay.

I see folks get emotional on this because they confuse a lack of sympathy for the victim as either condoning or forgiving the actions of the SOBs that committed the crime. That couldn't be further from the truth. A person's irresponsible actions never excuses a criminal from their responsibility for committing a crime. It's just that folks need to understand that when you put yourself in these high risk situations people might not have any sympathy for you because you should know better.

Kinda like when base jumpers die from smacking into a cliff and lawn darting themselves. No, they don't deserve to die because they enjoy base jumping, but I won't expend an ounce of sympathy for someone who dies doing something they know may very well result in their deaths.

These girls who get dressed up in slut action gear and get blackout drunk around a bunch of horny young dudes don't deserve my sympathy either when they get three hole qualified. Sure, the perpetrators deserve to go to jail for committing a crime, but it doesn't mean I'm expending any sympathy for the victim.

[Jonnin]

yall a bunch of sick twisted bastards to think its even remotely the girls fault. if its a boy getting raped by his coach or priest, is it the boys fault or even the parents. come on people get a grip. if anyone touched my kids for any reason, there would be nothing to stop me from putting my machete thought their throat.

 

In 1960, when this stuff was hushed up, covered up, and so on,  no fault.  In 2013, after 100000000000 cases of priests that abuse kids, there is an element of blame to apply to the parents here, absolutely.   There is no way on this earth I would leave a kid alone with any sort of clergy at this sorry point in our history.   And there is no real reason to do so: anything the priest needs to do with a child can be done with the parents in the room.   And a coach should never be alone with only one kid for an extended amount of time, period.   If nothing else said coach should be worried enough about his career to always have a witness around to vouch for his good name!   Even doctors do this: if examining a woman "in depth" a male DR ALWAYS has a nurse present.

 

Here again, its not how things should be.  But it is how things ARE.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Jonnin