Thursday, March 14, 2013

What happened to common decency and honor?

Deadspin posted this article today about the jury-less trial for two Ohio high school football players accused of raping a teenaged girl who was drunk.

The defense argues the girl was not too intoxicated to consent to sex, and there is a disturbing photo of this girl half-clothed being carried by two young men by her ankles and wrists which the defense argues isn't as bad as it looks.

I'm so appalled and disturbed by this on so many levels.
  1. Even if the photo isn't as bad as it looks, it looks horrifying. So, that's still a pretty deep level of awful.
  2. It is disgusting and pathetic to sleep with a woman who is even slightly incapacitated, regardless of whether or not a court decides this girl was "too incapacitated" to consent to sex. 
  3. Why do young people feel the need to drink this much? Since when did binge drinking to the point of endless vomiting and blacking out become the cool thing to do on Friday and Saturday nights?
  4. Why did no one else do anything? I would never stand by and watch someone being abused without stepping in. Call the cops. Call her parents. Call your own parents. But do something!
I was no angel as a teenager. I drank far before I was of legal drinking age. But nausea, vomiting, blacking out and the inevitable hangover were never my ultimate goal. At what point did this become a cool ritual amongst young people?

Further, at what point are we going to start demanding more of young men? I thought the point of dating and courtship was to get a girl to actually want to be with you, not force yourself on her because she's too drunk to say no. I guess young men these days have such low self esteem that they don't think any girl would want them if she's sober and thinking clearly.

And, spare me the argument that the girl asked for it because she was too drunk. She did make a poor choice, but at some point I would like to see a man actually be a man and act with integrity - just because a girl is incapacitated and would probably "let" you sleep with her doesn't mean you should or that you have to!

Have some integrity, some honor and some respect. At worst, you will avoid being accused of rape. At best, you will be a respectable, honorable and decent man.

As for those teenaged boys in Ohio, they disgust me. I would like to know where their parents were and how they feel about their sons' behavior. How does it feel? You made it with a girl you had to get too drunk to say no for fear she'd reject you. What cowards.

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