A problem of patriarchs and profit
The Stuebenville Rape Case has gripped headlines across the world. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last three weeks, the case involved a 16-year-old girl in Stubenville, Ohio, who was raped by two high school football players; Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16.
Both boys were convicted and sentenced to a juvenile correctional facility; Mays for a minimum of two years, and Richmond for a minimum of one year, however both boys will be required to register as sex offenders and undergo treatment while in detention.
Following the release of the verdict, media coverage sparked an outrage that resounded through feminist blogs and social networks. An image shared by UniteWomen.org highlighted selected commentary from CNN anchors Candy Crowly, Poppy Harlow, and Paul Callan.
“I cannot imagine how emotional the sentencing must have been… a 16-year-old —sobbing in court— regardless of what big football players they are, they still sound like 16-year-olds. What is the lasting effect of two young being guilty in juvenile court of rape essentially?,” Crowley said.
“Incredibly difficult to watch as these two young men who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students literally watched as they believed their life fell apart,” Harlow said.
“There’s always that moment of just — lives are destroyed. But in terms of what happens now, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law. That will haunt them for the rest of their lives,” Callan said.
Amidst the major things that are fundamentally wrong with these statements, I’ll point out the obvious: Why the hell is there no mention about the victim!? There was a 16-year-old girl who was raped, and she has to live with that forever.
This is a clear display of how rape-culture works in America, we lament the fate of the rapists and completely ignore the victim. The tragedy in this story is not about the “promising football career” that is destroyed by the “slight detail” that they are rapists.
But it’s a catch-22. In order to respect and protect the victim’s right-to-privacy; her identity, and any other details have to be redacted.
News stories have to be about people, money, or both. The kind of story that draws ratings, revenue and profit, are about the people whose faces can be seen. This is the sad symptom of patriarchy coupled with profit.
For the profit and advertising driven 24-hour news channels, it’s impossible for the lazy and unimaginative reporters to write a compelling story when the victim is anonymous.
Not only does coverage of this case paint the picture that owners, editors, and anchors are rape-apologists, it seems to illustrate that they are greedy rape-apologists.
Until our mentality as a society changes, the system will maintain the status quo.