Unfortunately you may have seen this story today: Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town, in which an 11 year-old girl wears makeup and grown-up clothes, practically forces as many as 18 boys and men to sexually assault her in an abandoned trailer, and then inflicts this terrible tragedy on the entire town by somehow causing video and images of these events to be circulated throughout her nice, innocent Texas town, ruining the lives of said boys and men, the poor dears.
At this point you'll probably need a margarita or two, and you'll probably want to sign this:
Tell the New York Times to Apologize for Blaming a Child for Her Gang Rape
Heaven help us.
ETA - read the NYT's response to widespread complaints about this article here: Gang Rape Story Lacked Balance
Thank you for posting this - I already wrote a letter to the editor immediately upon reading this story, and I'm glad to see larger press about it. I've posted to all my social media networks; I hope other signers have done the same.
ReplyDeleteThis is so terrible. Way to compound a child's trauma, NYT.
ReplyDeleteHeaven help us indeed.
ReplyDeletePetition signed, margaritas pined for. Argh!
ReplyDeleteThis is why you don't tell anyone if it happens to you. She understand that.
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking
ReplyDeleteSince the petition circulated there's this: http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/gang-rape-story-lacked-balance/?src=twrhp
ReplyDeleteIt is gratifying that the Times responded to the outcry and acknowledged the problem instead of trying to defend it. But the fact that a journalist and at least one editor didn't catch this huge problem with the article to begin with is a depressing reflection of cultural attitudes toward rape.
ReplyDeleteBut will it change the way they report this stuff in the future?
ReplyDelete