soapbox rant:rape cases in the media and how the women and men are torn apart

I need to get on a soapbox for a second.

So, the Duke rape case. I'm not going to go into whether or not I think the men are guilty. That's not the point of this post. I honestly don't think that is the point of the media-brew-haha around this story either. What I do think and what is getting my panties chaffin' my ass is the fact that, once again, the women in the case are made out to be liars and are being accused of making false statements and once again their background, morals, values and what they have chosen to do for a living have been called into question. (Just to name a few other cases: Preppy Murder Case, Mike Tyson, Kobe Bryant, pick any Kennedy, and on and on and on...)

Once again the woman involved in the case is made to be the victim. Not the victim of rape, but a victim of the media. She is being torn apart. Her statements, her comments, her background, her person is being torn apart. I might add that is seems to be lovingly and joyfully torn apart by the media by all of those involved and not involved in the case.
Again, I don't know who is guilty of what. I wasn't there I'm not going to comment. The only people who really know what happened are the women and the men and I'm sure, as all people do and as all people are individulas; they all have a different take and a different spin on what actually happened and what took place.
However, every 2.5 seconds a women in America is a victim of sexual assult and one in every six women will be a victim of rape in her lifetime. Since the 1970's rape cases have (allegedly) gone down 85%.

I would like to take this time to say, I think these figures are crap. I don't believe rape cases have gone down and I don't believe it is only 1 in 6 women that are raped in their lifetime.
I do believe that rapes are, for the most part, unreported. I do believe the reason rapes have, allegedly, decreased is because women are not reporting them. I would like to say the reason cases are not reported is because women don't think they will be believed. I do think women feel they will be victimized even more by the police, the media, family and friends. I mean, aren't strippers simply asking to be raped? How much did she have to drink and well, she was showing a lot of cleavage, not to mention the short skirt she was wearing, so surely she was simply asking for it. She wanted it, forget about the brusies, black-eyes and screams of, 'no.' She wanted it. She enjoyed it. She asked for it.

So, why aren't women reporting? Why don't women come forth? Why don't women talk about what happened that night? Why don't they go to the hospital to have the exams, the photo shoot, the incredibly intrusive police report filled out?
Because she will be torn apart, she will be made to feel victimized again, she will not be believed, her character will be called into question, she will once again have to defend herself against the media, the men, the aligations, her family, and friends.

Oh, and if she should be willing to do all the above. You know, stand up for what's right, chances are the bag of rape evidence will simply sit on a shelf somewhere and nothing will be done with it. Yes, that's right. Sit on a shelf. Why you ask? Because there isn't enough staff time or money to investigate all of the rape cases that come into an average police station/hospital on an hourly basis. Most rape victims are not aware of this. They are told there wasn't enough evidence to go forward with the investigation. They are not told that the bag of evidence was never even opened.

So, the next time the media wants to jump on a bandwagon when it comes to a juicy news story that has all the jazz and pazzazz to catch headlines, think about it. Take 2.5 seconds to think about and remember that there is a person behind the story. The person has been through enough. That person has already been victimized enough. Stop and fucking think about it for 2.5 seconds before you jump to conclusions about what kind fo headline it will make.

...and off my soapbox.