Trial a case of blatant sexism

The fact that the case of the three teenagers accused of raping and

sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl was declared a mistrial Monday

was disappointing, infuriating, terrifying, yet not surprising.

We live in a rape culture, a culture where men are supposed to

initiate sex, and women must protect their sexuality in order to be

considered “virtuous.” These gender scripts confine both men and

women to unfair roles and eliminate the possibility of open

communication and mutual respect.

Sex is not talked about, and so it becomes an ambiguous and

potentially dangerous act. But in this case, it gets a little more

hateful. Here, we are dealing with blatant sexism. We have to ask

ourselves: Why are the defense attorneys so hatefully attacking Jane

Doe’s character in regards to her sexual history?

Whether we agree or not with the choices she has made, they are

just that -- her choices. Why is the victim’s life so tediously

examined, her name smeared, her character attacked? Did we ever think

that maybe the perpetrators of rape deserve such careful examination?

When a woman is sexually promiscuous, our society believes that

she deserves to be raped. Of course, nobody would actually come out

and say that, but when a rape trial focuses more on a victim’s sexual

history than on the issue of the alleged perpetrators’ blatant

disrespect and sickening acts toward another human being, then we

have a problem.

This is not just a rape trial. This trial represents our society’s

disregard for women’s rights. This trial says: “This girl is trash;

she was asking for it.”

No matter what we think about a girl’s character, if she is

unconscious or has said “no,” and a boy has sex with her anyway (or

in this case allegedly assaults her in additional horrifying ways),

it’s rape. Nobody deserves to be raped, no matter what we judge his

or her character to be.

So now, we have to ask ourselves, are we going to treat rape like

the crime it is, or are we going to wait until it happens to our

sister, mother, daughter, ourselves ... and we experience, first

hand, our society’s sickening lack of justice for women.

SHANNON CURRY

Newport Beach