10/11

Today we discussed a couple more cases, including the Vanderbilt case and the Ohio State Case.
The Vanderbilt case involves a girl who was raped by a man she met at a bar, who put date-rape drugs into her drink in order to mess with her functions to be able to rape her. This man also encouraged his teammates to rape her as they documented the entire assault. These photos were shared with players on the team; however, only two of the four rapists were convicted.
Comparing this to things we have studied in class, this case fits right in, especially with Missoula. The case is on a college campus and involves college athletes, and two of the athletes get off simply because they are athletes. The attackers attempted to blame the alcohol that was involved, claiming the girl wanted it and she was so drunk and sloppy and all of the classic excuses. People even blamed the girl claiming she was a "party girl" and had "no morals" if she was out drinking, it should have been something she "expected". The rhetoric surrounding this case is so disturbing because the victim is being blamed even though she was drugged and assaulted. The athletes spreading the pictures like it was some sort of joke is even more disturbing, because they are treating this woman like some piece of meat, violating her over and over again.

The Ohio State case was also extremely disturbing, as the drum instructor of the band raped a woman who was interested in joining the band. The drum instructor took an underaged girl to a bar, got her in, got her drunk, and talked with her until she was drunk enough to take advantage of. After she was belligerent, the man took her back to his home and raped her.

This case was interesting because it was different from the classic rape case we saw on university campuses in Missoula. The man was not an athlete, he was not even a student, he was a leader and mentor who took advantage of an underaged girl who wanted to be accepted into the band. The discourse surrounding this still had issues, as they blame the girl for going to the bar with him in the first place when she knew she wasn't old enough to drink. Alcohol continuously is an issue and causes victim blaming among the public. The man was seen as some great drum leader and the media made him out to be a great person, focusing on what he did before the attack, not the attack itself. This is a huge issue in rape cases and something that needs to combatted.