Image from UniteWomen.org

Candy Crowley why, as a woman was your question not “What is the lasting effect of a rape like this on a young woman?”

The media reporting on the Steubenville case is nothing short of despicable. Your voices lend support to the theory that the lives of these rapists are worth more than that of the woman they raped.

The fact is, the life and body of Jane Does is not worth the same amount to the world as the lives and bodies of her rapists. They “had futures” – well, so did Jane Doe. Perhaps not a future as a football player, perhaps not a celebrated town heroine – but she did have a future. And now she may not.

Now, instead of going to college, she may have to stay home and go through therapy. Now, instead of safely being able to walk through her hometown, she may have to watch her back because of angry apologists on her trail. I say this beacuse already the internet is turning on her, already the internet has begun to fling death threats and promises of violence in her direction. Click here to see what I mean.

Now, she knows that her body is not worth the same amount as a man’s.

In the sentencing on Sunday, the boys were told:

 to avoid contact with the victim at least until they are 21 and both were required to register as juvenile sex offenders.

Excuse me. “at least until they were 21”? how about NEVER? How about they should NEVER make contact with her again?

While in Steubenville they were being told to stay away from her until they turn 21, a young woman at UNC is being told that by asking for her rapist to be removed from her school, and give her protection – she’s disrupting the school. She is being tried in honor court at her school because she stood up for herself.

We cannot continue to make excuses for the men (and women) who perpetrate these crimes.  We cannot continue to give quarter to those who do not deserve it.

Women who ask for protection orders against men who threaten them often end up dead, or on the wrong side of a gun. People who are victimized once are frequently victimized again.

Yes. I am angry, and today I am not willing to wait until the anger subsides to write about it. I am not willing to wait until I can no longer see red. We’re watching rape culture in action right now. We are watching it ruin a young woman’s life, while the mainstream media mourns the end of “promising” careers for rapists.

Are they sorry? Have they ever actually regretted their actions? Have they ever said that they shouldn’t have done it? Their apologies at their sentencing rang hollow. They weren’t sorry for raping her. They were sorry for taking pictures. They were sorry for getting caught.

We need to stand up, and say no. We need to say that this is unacceptable, and that the world does not for one second revolve around the lives of those two boys. Perhaps if we paid more attention to Jane Doe, we wouldn’t be so worried about them, but would be concerned for her and all other Jane and John Does who go through this process of victim blaming, rape apology, and hate.

Stop. Just Stop.