One more for rape…
I shouldn't be blogging about this post. I've got sore wrists from a few weeks of angry typing, and I really should cool off for a bit. But I want you to appreciate this. In a school in America, a girl was raped, forced to recant on her story, forced to write an apology to her rapist, and then raped again. By the same rapist.
And let me quote the author:
If I had written this storyline in a novel, my editor would have dismissed it as ridiculous. She'd say something like, "That would never happen in America today. School officials know that they are mandated reporters. They would have called the police the first time the girl spoke up."
They would, if Americans acted like they did in movies. But the truth is, the image you present about being champions of the unjust is all bullshit and couldn't be any further from the truth of your apathetic lifestyles. You're all too happy letting all kinds of people suffer. Just look away, and voila, you don't have to see or acknowledge the problems.
People will bitch at me for writing a story that's offensive, because I'm an easy small target for their outrage. But when a real girl is raped, somehow people can't seem to generate any give a fuck because "the school system is too complex. We just can't wrap our heads around the problem."
The problem is, children get raped IN SCHOOL. The one fucking place you claim that they will be safe, isn't. And instead of hunting down the little violent bastards making life hell for others, people let it happen. The teachers, the principals, the parents. The denial about the problem is shared equally by every party.
The author of Speak is right. If I wrote a book with a character like this girl, folks would drub me for writing something awful and unrealistic. Or they'd day I was promoting rape, rather than rape awareness. Because there is no way to bring up these topics without "good people" working damned hard to maintain constant silence. You could work to stop rape, but most of you are too fucking lazy to care.
Read that story. Think about being raped twice, and being forced to apologize to your rapist. Now, explain to me why we as a society can't punish privileged males and stop school bullying and rape in public schools.
