(Trigger Warning) There was nationwide outrage and heartbreak yesterday as more details emerged and several arrests were made in the case of the 15 year old girl who was raped and beaten outside a high school dance. Due to the fact that many (10, 12, 20?) onlookers watched and cheered while the girl was attacked, the incident has grabbed our attention.
Sadly, this was not the only case of gang rape in the news. Several others were written about, mostly in local newspapers, but will probably never make the national spotlight or will fade away as soon as a different story takes their place.
-A 16 year old girl testified she was kidnapped and raped in Santa Rosa by three men.
-Earlier this month, three men were sentenced to life in prison for a gang rape in Florida.
-And then there was the woman who was raped by her Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Iraq. Apparently, she was not the only defense worker attacked. But this story made headlines when Senator Al Franken proposed an amendment that would withhold defense contracts from companies that restrict employees from bringing charges of assault to court. Read more here about Franken’s amendment and the 30 Republican senators who opposed it.
The presence of bystanders in the Richmond rape scares us and makes us question humanity. But every violent attack, including this one, calls for outrage –regardless of the headlines. One in six women and one in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
As parents, we wonder how we can protect our children and how we can raise our sons and daughters to have compassion and respect for human life. For more facts on rape and information on prevention and victim support, visit RAINN, The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. For information on violence against women, visit the U.S. Department of Justice Office of on Violence Against Women.
