California high school student gang-raped outside dance

[Shinola]

^^ Heartbreaking in every way.

[Kittylady]

My heart really breaks for this girl And as for her not screaming - well, everyone reacts differently when faced with such a horrendously traumatic situation. Some people scream and yell, others freeze up and basically "shut down" in an attempt to block out what is actually happening to them. But do we really think that screaming would have made a difference? Up to TWENTY PEOPLE saw what was happening and didn't intervene. Does a teenager girl have to be running about screaming and bloody before someone engages their brain and thinks "Hey... this isn't right... I'm going to call the police!" ? If I saw that happening, whether I thought the girl was consenting or not, I'd be straight on the phone to the emergency services because I wouldn't want to take the chance that this was someone in real danger, even if it was from their own recklessness. I would rather err on the side of caution because I was a teenager once, and one day I may have a teenage daughter of my own and we ALL need to remember that there but for the grace of god (or whoever) goes me and mine.

[january]

The article I read today said she was pretty incapacitated - they think its possible the brandy she drank was drugged. They found her totally naked from the waist down and virtually unable to move, she had to be airlifted. It turns out (from the article I read) that some males were passing by and told some other guys "hey, if you want to get fucked, there's a girl back there." One of the guys - or his girlfriend, its unclear - called police instead. This case has me in tears, I just cannot fathom how this can happen. Richmond is an absolute shithole and a disgrace to the Bay Area. Its amazing that I can live in this area and feel so safe where I live and then other places like Richmond exist which make SF Bay look like a shithole. Fuck them all.

[Honey]

Nobody did a thing to help, that makes me so pissed

[Kittylady]

Originally Posted by january

The article I read today said she was pretty incapacitated - they think its possible the brandy she drank was drugged.

I have actually heard someone say that if a girl can't say no then they consider that to be as good as a yes. With that kind on mentalilty its just a short trip to bringing about that "yes" themselves with the aid of booze or drugs.

I'd like to see the guys who violated this child - and those who have the same mentality and the ones who did nothing to help - slowly flayed alive and then lowered into a vat of industrial strength drain cleaner. And I don't think even that comes close to what they deserve.

[january]

I just think its amazing that there were guys milling about telling other guys "oh hey, if you want to get fucked, there's a girl back there." It absolutely blows my mind. How anyone could even get aroused in such a situation is unbelievable. I was telling my husband about this and mid-sentence he just cut me off and told me "please stop, seriously, this is making my blood pressure rise." He was pissed. Its unfathomable that one guy could take advantage, much less a group. Unbelievable.

[Kittylady]

Originally Posted by january

I just think its amazing that there were guys milling about telling other guys "oh hey, if you want to get fucked, there's a girl back there." It absolutely blows my mind. How anyone could even get aroused in such a situation is unbelievable. I was telling my husband about this and mid-sentence he just cut me off and told me "please stop, seriously, this is making my blood pressure rise." He was pissed. Its unfathomable that one guy could take advantage, much less a group. Unbelievable.

"Hey, man! Don't worry! It's cool! She's a slut anyway. Why else would she be out there?" pretty much sums up the kind of group mentallity behind it.

We've come so far, and yet whenever anything awful happens to us it is still always seen as being our fault for being sluts, because bad shit like this doesn't happen to nice girls, ya know... (and in case anyone didn't guess I was being sarcastic there).

[sharky]

Richmond is a crime-ridden city.

I understand that she was gang raped, robbed and beaten into critical condition.

That meets the critieria for rape.

[WhoAmI]

Guys do this kind of thing in war situations all the time, throughout history. It's horrifying, but not unfathomable.

[buttmunch]

Originally Posted by crumpet

Lawd, somebody call Ripley's.....Butt and I finally see eye to eye on a social issue, yipeee!!!

-Just kidding, you know

Good lord, you're right! I think I just heard hell freezing over!

[Chilly Willy]

Men will never change. Fucking animals.

[crumpet]

Originally Posted by Kittylady;1930549[U

]"Hey, man! Don't worry! It's cool! She's a slut anyway. Why else would she be out there?" pretty much sums up the kind of group mentallity behind it.[/u]

We've come so far, and yet whenever anything awful happens to us it is still always seen as being our fault for being sluts, because bad shit like this doesn't happen to nice girls, ya know... (and in case anyone didn't guess I was being sarcastic there).

The only consolation I have is knowing someone will be in prison getting their ass pounded open and no one will care because, after all, they're a criminal so it's their own fault they are in that situation.

[crumpet]

Originally Posted by Chilly Willy

Men will never change. Fucking animals.

God, I hate to agree, but at this point a man simply not being 'one of those kind of guys' is no longer sufficient: men need to actively speak the fuck up and condemn that shit whenever they hear rape remarks or victim blaming remarks and change the fucking culture of masculinity that promotes the kind of rape culture that makes this shit possible. They need to not be worried about being called 'gay' or teased for not going along with sexist bullshit when they witness it and they need to not cover for friends who do fucked up shit. Merely saying 'it's wrong' isn't enough. They have got to all take some accountability for this because this stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum. It doesn't matter that most men aren't rapists, their complacency about this shit helps support rape culture. I feel the same way about whites and racism and straights/homophobia. The dominant groups have a role to play in eliminating injustice. I realize that women have a ton of work to do as well because we have internalized a lot of misogyny that is so ingrained we don't even realize how complicit we are in our own oppression.

[RevellingInSane]

If she had alcohol in her system, her judgment was impaired. I can't speak for any other area, but here, guys know if you sleep with a drunk person, and know she is inebriated, consent is a non issue, because that person was not in a mindset to give informed consent. Her age, here, would have earned an automatic statutory rape charge. The presence of alcohol would have created a host of new charges and those fuckers would be facing extremely long sentences. The laws were strengthened because of the rise in rapes perpetrated by predators of younger girls who would ply them with alcohol and have their way with them.

She was drinking underage and attacked by more than one male. To those who doubt her because she didn't scream, when you are put in a situation such as that and probably threatened if you try to summon help, but you scream anyway, if you make it out alive, then your assertions regarding her lack of vocalizing her situation might hold more weight. Fear can paralyze the body. Vocal chords don't escape that possibility.

[Shinola]

Originally Posted by RevellingInSane

If she had alcohol in her system, her judgment was impaired. I can't speak for any other area, but here, guys know if you sleep with a drunk person, and know she is inebriated, consent is a non issue, because that person was not in a mindset to give informed consent. Her age, here, would have earned an automatic statutory rape charge. The presence of alcohol would have created a host of new charges and those fuckers would be facing extremely long sentences. The laws were strengthened because of the rise in rapes perpetrated by predators of younger girls who would ply them with alcohol and have their way with them.

She was drinking underage and attacked by more than one male. To those who doubt her because she didn't scream, when you are put in a situation such as that and probably threatened if you try to summon help, but you scream anyway, if you make it out alive, then your assertions regarding her lack of vocalizing her situation might hold more weight. Fear can paralyze the body. Vocal chords don't escape that possibility.

Yes, and if she was conscious enough to understand what was happening to her, another possibility is that on some level she felt like it was "her fault" for being drunk that this was happening to her. I'll admit ... I was acquaintance-raped in college right after I turned 21. I had no tolerance for alcohol (still don't, but I know that now). I was at a party with friends, including a male date, and I wrongly believed I'd be safer in a group. But it didn't turn out that way. I said no repeatedly, but I was in a drunken haze (I had just vomited) and also felt like since I couldn't easily fight the guy off, and had "gotten myself" into that mess, I didn't have the right to scream out, etc. Of course, I see it all very differently now, but at the time ...

I kept it secret, and the guy who raped me got my address and started sending me creepy letters, and finally the guy I was dating asked what was going on. But when I told him, he blamed me.

Anyway, enough about me. I just think this sort of thing is unfortunately still commonplace. The rape in the Richmond girl's case is so much worse than standard acquaintance rape, though--I can hardly imagine what she is going through. And I agree with all Crumpet has said.