When People Say "Rape Culture"...

[Shiranu]

...this is one of the type of bullshit they mean.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/18-year-old-athlete-charged-with-rape-gets-probation-so-he-c?bffbmain&ref=bffbmain&utm_term=.mwgZDXjNv#.skJp2zqLm


This is not some isolated case. This is the legal system saying that a man playing sports is more important than being punished for raping two women. That that even happens once is disturbing. That this is something we hear over and over means that it something that is ingrained within our culture, be it our social culture or our legal one.

[GSOgymrat]

What would you consider an appropriate consequence in this particular case?

[Shiranu]

What would you consider an appropriate consequence in this particular case?

-Being a registered sex offender, like every other rapist...
-Not being given the privilege of playing on a college sports team because being an athlete trumps being a rapist...
-Not being allowed to have the "college experience" as his lawyer put it...
-Having to face his two year mandatory sentence, instead of telling rapists, "Meh, it's okay to rape women. You will just get a slap on the wrist and it might not even go on you permanent record if you act nice later."...

Basically I want him to be considered a rapist since he, well, raped two girls.

[Nonsensei]

What would you consider an appropriate consequence in this particular case?

The prosecutor seemed convinced that 2 years in jail would have been appropriate. Hard for me to disagree. I also can get behind him having to register as a sex offender.

[sasuke]

From what I have seen living in US for the past 20 years, parents talk more about their sons being good at football than math. If the athlete in question committed some other violent crime instead, would he still get away with it or not, that's the question.  I don't believe we live in rape culture. It's more likely to be sports culture, but I could be wrong.

[Shiranu]

From what I have seen living in US for the past 20 years, parents talk more about their sons being good at football than math. If the athlete in question committed some other violent crime instead, would he still get away with it or not, that's the question.  I don't believe we live in rape culture. It's more likely to be sports culture, but I could be wrong.

If this was the only thing, I would be right there with you. And I would say that more than anything this guy did get away with it because we have a sports culture moreso than a rape culture... but the two are not mutually exclusive.

It's when you add in other things; the acceptance, promotion and glorification of sexual violence towards women through culturally accepted means, that men are "trained" by each other and society to view the sexual harasser as being "more masculine" (which thankfully is something that's dying out as older generations die off) and the social acceptance of "she was asking for it" and all other excuses for women being raped besides her actually being raped, you have to admit that there is a large part of our culture that says that rape is, at the very least, not a big deal (and at worse, something acceptable because men are "too weak to control themselves" or some-such, which is super fucking sexist against men as well as women).

[Hakurei Reimu]

I want to know is if the guy wasn't a football hopeful, would he get away with it?

[Nonsensei]

I want to know is if the guy wasn't a football hopeful, would he get away with it?

Probably. I get this feeling. Its not substantiated in the story, but I feel its possible that his sentence was lenient because "all" he did was finger them. I bet the judge doesn't consider that rape, or as bad as genital penetration. I cant prove it, but thats what my gut is telling me.

[Shiranu]

Probably. I get this feeling. Its not substantiated in the story, but I feel its possible that his sentence was lenient because "all" he did was finger them. I bet the judge doesn't consider that rape, or as bad as genital penetration. I cant prove it, but thats what my gut is telling me.

I'm really torn on that one. I want to be "optimistic" and hope that it was just that he was a sports player, and that sexual assault being trivialized wasn't the true issue. But that wouldn't surprise me either.

[pr126]

Here in Western Europe we have a very vibrant rape culture, Sweden, Germany, U.K.
Just to mention a few.

But you don't really want to hear about that.

[Mermaid]

What would you consider an appropriate consequence in this particular case?

We can start with leaving his athletic prowess out of any legal proceedings.

[SGOS]

I might recommend the book, Missoula.  I enjoyed it for two reasons.  First, but not that important, it was about my University.  Second, it was written by John Krakauer, who also wrote Under the Banner of Heaven and Into Thin Air.  He's a journalist first, not a dedicated reformer, so he mostly reports facts and what people said happened, although I think he does so fairly.  While it might be called a "page turner", it's chilling and not what I would call a fun read.  He personally claims that the book applies to college campuses in general, which I would agree with.  Rape culture or not, we live in a culture that favors athletes in rape cases, and it's not just the male population that gives them that advantage.  I don't know if athletes rape more than ordinary students, but from the book, it would seem that they get more support from courts, investigators, and the general public than ordinary citizens.

[widdershins]

I cannot believe how well this fits into a rant I was going to post anyway.  It's not directly on-topic for this thread, but so closely related I'll post it here as it actually deals with one of the root problems that creates a rape culture.

I got home from work yesterday and immediately my 15 year old daughter has to tell me about here dumbass art teacher.  The teacher apparently was into a rant about what dress (specifically and ONLY for girls) was appropriate in her class.  She didn't want to see any cleavage, butt crack, belly, back, shoulders, blah, blah, blah.  And then she said something so utterly stupid I was actually compelled to complain to the superintendent about it.  She said that if a boy is "distracted" by what a girl is wearing, "...it's your fault, not his."  Can you believe that shit?  This bitch essentially told a high school class that boys simply can't control themselves and if a boy eye bangs or otherwise sexually harasses a girl it's her own damned fault that she was sexually harassed.  Because apparently penises just jump the fuck out of pants on their own fucking accord now whenever a girl shows her belly button and there's nothing the boys can do to stop it.

My first thought was EXACTLY "rape culture".  That's how they think in India, where rape is an epidemic.  That's how they think in the Middle East, where women are imprisoned for being raped.  But in the US, "victim blaming" is NOT okay.

The good news is that my daughter was so pissed off by this she actually wrote down what the teacher had said so that she could accurately describe the exact extent of the teachers dumbassery.  I was definitely proud that it didn't just slip by her.  She knew immediately that what the teacher was telling her was bullshit.  Unfortunately she's too shy to have made a scene.  I would have liked her to have put this stupid bitch in her place, regardless the consequence.

So this rape culture, it isn't just in the court rooms and on the college campuses.  It starts in our schools when fuckhead teachers are allowed to preach their ancient and ignorant morality to the students because apparently training to become a teacher does not include basic knowledge like "victim blaming is not okay".

[pr126]

Google "uncovered meat - Australia".

[FaithIsFilth]

James Leydon, spokesman for Hampden DA Anthony Gulluni, said it likely would have been a difficult case due to several "mitigating factors." Among them were the lack of physical evidence, the presence of alcohol and the ages of those involved and familiarity between the victims, any witnesses and the defendant.

In a case such as this, where the victims reported digital penetration, there would be no recoverable DNA, such as the presence of semen, that could be used as evidence to identify the suspect.

Also, one of the victims in the case submitted a witness statement to the court in which she said she opposed Becker being given any jail time.

The other victim was reportedly out of state and reluctant to take part in court proceedings.


These are some pretty relevant facts that were left out of the article in the OP. If he had not pleaded to the lesser charges, he very likely wouldn't have even got probation. Also, just because he admitted to doing something wrong, that doesn't actually mean that he did something wrong. Innocent people plea to lesser charges all the time. Personally, I think that the Judge should have put him on the sex offender registry, but according to the clinician...

the clinician's report ultimately did not recommend incarceration or adding Becker to the sex offender registry list, which it said "does not serve the public interest" and would increase Becker's "isolation" and "shame" â€" and as a result the chances he would act out again in the future.

Please, nobody take this as me defending rape. I'm just pointing out the facts that were left out in the OP. Like I said, I personally think what he admitted to is enough to put him on the sex offender registry.

As far as the victim blaming stuff goes, I think it should at least be pointed out that it's probably not a great idea to fall asleep in the same bed as someone who you know is nicknamed "The Rapist". Since we get threads here saying "karmic justice" when a person gets shot taking a gun safety course, then I think it's only fair to point out that these girls knowingly fell asleep next to "Dave the Rapist". Probably not the smartest thing they've ever done.