UVA Rape Culture

[Horseofadifferentcolor]

I read this the other night before I went to bed. I could not sleep at all. It has been on my mind every since. It is not just this campus that has little support for these crimes. When reporting rape, and going to court, all of your family and friends are called in for character witnesses. Everyone has there life completely torn apart and a lot of the time the crime cannot be proven in court. After all that trauma for everyone the rapist goes free. It is a very painful system to fight. This girl is very brave for speaking out. I hope it gives her a little bit more peace to have done so.

 

[Horseofadifferentcolor]

I do not have children, so this advice might not be correct GeOm , but I would personally let your daughter read this. It may produce a bit of trauma, but no where near the trauma it will produce being a victim of such horribleness on her. Life is never the same after such a violation of your self. If I had seen this before my early twenties I would not have put myself in the situations I did. It is easy to do. Knowledge is harder to come by than liquor.

 

[Gwenllian]

The lack of support and sense of righteous anger by her friends, by the rest of the school community is really telling of how incredibly ponerized the culture is. As others have mentioned, a difficult article to read. Infuriating to be exact that this happens and that it is essentially, swept under the rug.

I agree. I think I was even more upset with the administrators, because they didn't call the police or warn other vulnerable freshmen women students against fret parties and gang rape. Instead, they organise sexual misconduct board hearings for cases like these.

Or, if Jackie preferred to keep the matter within the university, she had two choices. She could file a complaint with the school's Sexual Misconduct Board, to be decided in a "formal resolution" with a jury of students and faculty, and a dean as judge. Or Jackie could choose an "informal resolution," in which Jackie could simply face her attackers in Eramo's presence and tell them how she felt; Eramo could then issue a directive to the men, such as suggesting counseling. Eramo presented each option to Jackie neutrally, giving each equal weight. She assured Jackie there was no pressure – whatever happened next was entirely her choice.

...

In 2002 and 2004, two female students, including Susan Russell's daughter, were unhappy with their sexual-misconduct hearings, which each felt didn't hold their alleged perpetrators accountable – and each was admonished by UVA administrators to never speak publicly about the proceedings or else they could face expulsion for violating the honor code.

Jackie was sent to a support group which also prevented her from taking legal action: "One Less, a student-run sexual-assault education organization that doubles as a support group."
This is outrageous. These rapists should be behind bars and be picking litter in the streets for the rest of their lives. They even raped her with a bottle. She was covered in blood. It is so incredibly sick.
Another thing that struck me was that Jackie clearly has Post Traumatic Stress Injury. Did no-one suggest therapy? This gang-rape will leave her shattered for the rest of her life, if she doesn't get decent help.

Furthermore, these college rapists are serial offenders and extremely violent.

Lisak's 2002 groundbreaking study of more than 1,800 college men found that roughly nine out of 10 rapes are committed by serial offenders, who are responsible for an astonishing average of six rapes each. None of the offenders in Lisak's study had ever been reported. Lisak's findings upended general presumptions about campus sexual assault: It implied that most incidents are not bumbling, he-said-she-said miscommunications, but rather deliberate crimes by serial sex offenders.

In his study, Lisak's subjects described the ways in which they used the camouflage of college as fruitful rape-hunting grounds. They told Lisak they target freshmen for being the most naïve and the least-experienced drinkers. One offender described how his party-hearty friends would help incapacitate his victims: "We always had some kind of punch. . . . We'd make it with a real sweet juice. It was really powerful stuff. The girls wouldn't know what hit them." Presumably, the friends mixing the drinks did so without realizing the offender's plot, just as when they probably high-fived him the next morning, they didn't realize the behavior they'd just endorsed. That's because the serial rapist's behavior can look ordinary at college. "They're not acting in a vacuum," observes Lisak of predators. "They're echoing that message and that culture that's around them: the objectification and degradation of women."

As an aside-I've been reflecting on my own lack of righteous anger at times in situations that may call for it, how fear/ignorance/the overall influence of ponerization? has a way of neutralizing it.

Trauma also has a way of neutralising righteous anger, we become numb or remain in shock, OSIT.

 

[Gonzo]

I had to wait a couple of days before I could even react to this in a rational way. It could be because I have two daughters in university and easily imagined them in such a situation. I have such a mix of anger, disgust, and frustration when I think of the people that do such things, protected, if not encouraged, by the self-serving response from the institution and its members. At the same time, I felt deep sorrow and empathy for the victims. But there was a deeper, darker feeling I couldn't identify until now.

It is the growing suspicion that such deprivation exists more within the halls of the elite institutions. Since many who rise to power come from privileged background and who tend to attend these more prestigious universities, I have to wonder if this is the training ground that prepares them to support and maintain ponerization once they fall into their lofty positions they will eventually hold. Could it be that elite schools are usurped by psychopathic elite to create a culture that normalizes pathological behaviour, so that those who aren't psychopaths become their tools?

As others have mentioned, this isn't surprising, but I am mortified nonetheless.

Gonzo

 

[truth seeker]

It is the growing suspicion that such deprivation exists more within the halls of the elite institutions. Since many who rise to power come from privileged background and who tend to attend these more prestigious universities, I have to wonder if this is the training ground that prepares them to support and maintain ponerization once they fall into their lofty positions they will eventually hold. Could it be that elite schools are usurped by psychopathic elite to create a culture that normalizes pathological behaviour, so that those who aren't psychopaths become their tools?

That's one possibility, in my opinion. Perhaps it's that some of it is by design and some a "natural" consequence of pathology.

 

[Niall]

Wow, the evil that Rolling Stone article describes is

And it's not just the evil act, this too is unbelievable:

When Jackie came to, she was alone. It was after 3 a.m. She painfully rose from the floor and ran shoeless from the room. She emerged to discover the Phi Psi party still surreally under way, but if anyone noticed the barefoot, disheveled girl hurrying down a side staircase, face beaten, dress spattered with blood, they said nothing. Disoriented, Jackie burst out a side door, realized she was lost, and dialed a friend, screaming, "Something bad happened. I need you to come and find me!" Minutes later, her three best friends on campus – two boys and a girl (whose names are changed) – arrived to find Jackie on a nearby street corner, shaking. "What did they do to you? What did they make you do?" Jackie recalls her friend Randall demanding. Jackie shook her head and began to cry. The group looked at one another in a panic. They all knew about Jackie's date; the Phi Kappa Psi house loomed behind them. "We have to get her to the hospital," Randall said.

Their other two friends, however, weren't convinced. "Is that such a good idea?" she recalls Cindy asking. "Her reputation will be shot for the next four years." Andy seconded the opinion, adding that since he and Randall both planned to rush fraternities, they ought to think this through. The three friends launched into a heated discussion about the social price of reporting Jackie's rape, while Jackie stood beside them, mute in her bloody dress, wishing only to go back to her dorm room and fall into a deep, forgetful sleep. Detached, Jackie listened as Cindy prevailed over the group: "She's gonna be the girl who cried 'rape,' and we'll never be allowed into any frat party again."

The girl is right there next to them, having just been tortured and raped for hours... and they're having that conversation. They clearly think it's ok to have such a conversation, which means that it's the social norm in America.

Bring on the comets: this experiment has been a complete failure.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

The girl is right there next to them, having just been tortured and raped for hours... and they're having that conversation. They clearly think it's ok to have such a conversation, which means that it's the social norm in America.

Bring on the comets: this experiment has been a complete failure.

Totally. It makes me want to go Biblical and rant like Paul.

 

[trendsetter37]

Yea....I couldn't even finish this. Maybe that makes me a bad person or not being able to handle it but once I got to the part where the friends wanted to "think it through" I was done. How is that the first thing that comes to your mind? That's pretty much like wanting to appease someone that rapes and pillages members of your family because you want them to like you and be your friend.

Also did one of the assailants during their crude dialogue refer to her as an IT?!

grab its leg

 

[truth seeker]

Yea....I couldn't even finish this. Maybe that makes me a bad person or not being able to handle it but once I got to the part where the friends wanted to "think it through" I was done.

I don't think being unable to read or finish the article means that there is something lacking in the individual or that they should feel there's something wrong with them. So far, the most difficult article I've read was the one about the child sex rings. What helped me to do it was going into that one (as well as this one) with the thought that if this person had to live through that experience and then found the strength to tell their story, the least I could do was to bear witness to it. It doesn't make for easier reading, but did give me a reason to keep going when it got difficult. With that said, if some find it triggering, it may not be the best idea to read it.

How is that the first thing that comes to your mind? That's pretty much like wanting to appease someone that rapes and pillages members of your family because you want them to like you and be your friend.

This is a good example of how many kids (and adults) are not equipped on several levels to handle these kinds of situations. As I understand it, the frontal lobe (responsible for putting brakes on risky behavior like drinking, decision making, and empathy) may not be completely formed until a person is in their 20's. All three of those abilities were needed in that situation. What further complicates it is diet, the way they're raised to some extent and society in general. They're not in their right mind.

Also did one of the assailants during their crude dialogue refer to her as an IT?!

grab its leg

Yeah, I noticed that too and it really upset me! It seems they dehumanized her either in order to be able to carry through with the attack and/or convince others to do so as well.

 

[Zadius Sky]

I've read it on SotT when it was posted and there really are no words, but I wasn't surprised. The fact that it was kept quiet by the administration is no news to me because I've seen it in other university/high school where they are never out to protect the students unless it serves their agendas.

Also did one of the assailants during their crude dialogue refer to her as an IT?!

grab its leg

Yeah, I noticed that too and it really upset me! It seems they dehumanized her either in order to be able to carry through with the attack and/or convince others to do so as well.

That screamed out to me - she was nothing more than an object to be played with. It's sickening.

 

[trendsetter37]

I don't think being unable to read or finish the article means that there is something lacking in the individual or that they should feel there's something wrong with them. So far, the most difficult article I've read was the one about the child sex rings. What helped me to do it was going into that one (as well as this one) with the thought that if this person had to live through that experience and then found the strength to tell their story, the least I could do was to bear witness to it. It doesn't make for easier reading, but did give me a reason to keep going when it got difficult. With that said, if some find it triggering, it may not be the best idea to read it.

I agree truth seeker, there is definitely value in listening to another's account of a traumatic event even if it's only to validate their feelings and or emotions on the matter. Especially if there is nothing you can do after the fact other than shedding light on the fact that these things are happening and others should take note to help prevent future occurrences.

As far as triggering goes. Yes this story triggered emotions in myself from a past event I experienced in college. In my case I was trying to help a girl being strangled by her boyfriend. Long story short people, including the victim, testified against me (because they were friends with the attacker) even though they didn't like what was being done. Except they were not going to do anything about it.

This left a bad taste in my mouth about helping people, but I really feel for people like the girl in the article that just don't have real friends that care about them when something like this takes place.

 

[truth seeker]

As far as triggering goes. Yes this story triggered emotions in myself from a past event I experienced in college. In my case I was trying to help a girl being strangled by her boyfriend. Long story short people, including the victim, testified against me (because they were friends with the attacker) even though they didn't like what was being done. Except they were not going to do anything about it.

This left a bad taste in my mouth about helping people, but I really feel for people like the girl in the article that just don't have real friends that care about them when something like this takes place.

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear that and yeah, I think I can understand why you feel the way you do.

 

[Gwenllian]

How is that the first thing that comes to your mind? That's pretty much like wanting to appease someone that rapes and pillages members of your family because you want them to like you and be your friend.

This is a good example of how many kids (and adults) are not equipped on several levels to handle these kinds of situations. As I understand it, the frontal lobe (responsible for putting brakes on risky behavior like drinking, decision making, and empathy) may not be completely formed until a person is in their 20's. All three of those abilities were needed in that situation. What further complicates it is diet, the way they're raised to some extent and society in general. They're not in their right mind.

No, they are not in their right mind. That said, I have been thinking about their behaviour and TBH I don't know what I would have done had I been in that situation at that particular age. I don't know whether I would have had the strength to go out on a limb and to take care of Jackie. But that's just speculation. God knows what happened to these girls when they were younger. I'm not saying this is an excuse for their behaviour. But when I think of one of my family members who was sexually assaulted and how she was made to forget about it, because our caretaker dismissed it completely and forced her to remain civil and interested in this sex offender she could show little or no empathy for other victims afterwards and she still suffers from Stockholm Syndrome.
FWIW.

 

[Gwenllian]

By coming forward Jackie (the young lady in the Rolling Stones article) has been able to help others. I hope she can see how courageous and strong she really is.
This is a lesson to us all. If we act we can change things, maybe not immediately, but as Laura said maybe in thousand years or whenever. Butterfly wings and in this case it prompted students to walk out of class. Kudos to them, too!

Meanwhile, graphic allegations of rape on US college campuses at schools such as Columbia University have spurred a wave of protest and calls for action, including the possibility of reform of the fraternity systems.

Following accounts recently published by Rolling Stone of fraternity-led sexual assaults at the University of Virginia, the school suspended fraternity activities until the beginning of the spring semester while "groups of students, faculty, alumni, and other concerned parties ... discuss our next steps in preventing sexual assault and sexual violence," wrote President Teresa A. Sullivan in a letter to students and alumni.

"The wrongs described in Rolling Stone are appalling and have caused all of us to reexamine our responsibility to this community. Rape is an abhorrent crime that has no place in the world, let alone on the campuses and grounds of our nation's colleges and universities," Sullivan added.

Comment [SOTT]: Ironically, the students who are supposed to be the ones educated by the school administration are teaching the administration about its basic duty.

http://www.sott.net/article/289772-Student-arrested-in-rape-case-that-led-to-mass-protest-in-Oklahoma

 

[Jenn]

After reading this article it shocked me so much that I felt like I had to know more, it led on to discussions with my partner about child abuse, rape, psychopaths, widespread paedophilia etc. which previously hadn't really 'hit home' (maybe because of lack of knowledge).
I decided to watch the documentary Sott posted a while ago about ritual child abuse in Europe, I felt like I owed it to the victims to watch it (similar to what you were saying truth seeker) and to try to spread the knowledge of the atrocities that happen all over the world everyday, maybe even every minute.

I'd like to say thank you for posting the article. It reminds me of something the c's were saying (I can't remember the exact words) about how Israel's horrific attack on Gaza may make people wake up and see the atrocities that are going on. The emotions this article made me feel, in turn made me search for knowledge on the subject. Hopefully the more these things are outed, the more people will take precautions to protect themselves and others.