Apparently a topic the Tribune editorialized about a few weeks ago—a Manitoba Justice who used a woman’s clothing and behaviour to justify a lenient rape sentence—is part of a trend when it comes to sex crimes. In Cleveland, Texas, a storm has been brewing around an alleged attack on an 11-year old girl last fall, for which 18 men have been arrested to date.
That’s right: 18 men.
Attorney James Evan, who is representing four of the 18 men charged with sexual assault of the sixth grader, had this to say: “This is not a case of a child who was enslaved or taken advantage of.” He bases this comment on the fact that she supposedly wore revealing clothing, heavy makeup, reportedly made sexually explicit statements on her Facebook page, and hung out with older men.
He isn’t alone in thinking this way. A report by the Associated Press on a community gathering to discuss the arrests gives a sense of the hostility and resentment that has emerged toward the young girl. Community members claimed the girl lied about her age and consented to sex. A well-known activist in the black community implied, with his comments about her clothing, makeup, and behaviour, that she invited the attacks, as he defended several men who he claims are innocent and were only arrested because of their race. Donations were taken to pay for the defendants’ lawyers.
Many of the accused are still high school students, and the community is reeling from the assault by searching for a scapegoat, but shifting the blame towards the victim is unacceptable. The girl acted inappropriately for her age but that is not and never will be an excuse for sexual assault. Whether or not she consented to sex is irrelevant, as she is underage, and whether she lied about her age is also irrelevant, as ignorance of a minor’s age does not excuse a statutory rape charge. In that group of 18 men, some of whom may have attended the same school as the girl, one of them must have known or suspected that she was under the age of consent.
While recording the rape on their cell phones, not one of the alleged assailants paused to wonder if this was an acceptable thing to do. The community itself is at least partially responsible, too. The parents of the girl, their neighbours, the school, even the parents and friends of the assailants themselves are responsible for the values they instilled (or failed to instill) in the assailants, and for failing to look out for the young girl. The community should be examining its own shortcomings in response to this event.
The girl herself certainly did not invite the attacks in any way, and even the community can’t really be responsible for the attacks. No amount of shifting blame should change the responsibility that the individuals bear for the events. The fact that this community will agree with statements like the one made by Evan, that they are actually standing up for the attackers, shows they haven’t learned at all from the girl’s assault.
