I just don't even know what to say about stuff like this anymore...

[Jaden]

All names are changed to protect the innocent. Ok, first some background: A female friend of mine has been going through some drama for the past several months involving her boyfriend, who's an enormous dickhead who I dearly wish she'd break up with - and she knows what I think about him - and another girl that he hooked up with and lived with for several months, while he was still dating my friend. The logistics are a bit confusing because she was kind of-sort of living with him at the same time this other girl was, and quite frankly I don't remember all the details myself, but that's not the important part. The important thing is - my friend hates this other girl for coming between her and her boyfriend.

Ok, now on to the main topic. I'd like to stress immensely that my friend was not thinking clearly, and she is typically a very good, thoughtful person, but if you piss her off, she'll do things that she may come to regret later. So I was hanging out with my friend, having a few drinks, and she decided to show me something "funny." This "funny" thing was a Facebook page of this other girl with an extremely shameful name that some dude who fucked her while she was trashed at a party put up. It is, for all intents and purposes, a picture of this girl getting raped. I was, naturally, immediately horrified and calmly explained to my friend that this was neither funny nor at all something that should be celebrated.

After she was able to rationally think about it for a few seconds, she realized I was right and immediately felt terrible about taking any enjoyment in this other girl's suffering. That's all well and good for her, so I'm not losing respect for a good friend of mine, but...well, I don't like to go on and on about "rape culture". I am extremely unforgiving towards rape - a dear, dear friend of mine was raped at 14, and another friend of mine who recently committed suicide a few months ago was raped even younger than that.

And this trend I've been noticing more and more since Steubenville is just...it's absolutely sickening. I mean, I know it's not new, but for some reason it just became a lot more...I dunno, noticeable with Steubenville. That is, that a guy can make a Facebook page about how much of a slut a girl he raped was, and suffer no consequences for it, as far as I know. What in the actual fuck is going on? Ask anybody on the street what they think about rape, and they'll probably tell you exactly what they should - that it's disgusting, horrifying, and should be punished. And yet...this kind of thing happens. I mean, come ON. It's not about politics or social mores. It's not even about being a good person, for Christ's sake. It's about basic human decency. It's about not being a sociopath or an animal.

It's just so very wearying to my mind to think about all of these things -_-

[HYHYBT]

I'm a bit afraid to ask, but do the police know about this rape?

[Jaden]

Oh, thanks for bringing that up. I meant to say this in my initial post, but if I knew who the guys were I'd report it. My friend doesn't know who they are either, and we couldn't find anything else on them.

[BlaqueKatt]

Ask anybody on the street what they think about rape, and they'll probably tell you exactly what they should - that it's disgusting, horrifying, and should be punished. And yet...this kind of thing happens. I mean, come ON. It's not about politics or social mores. It's not even about being a good person, for Christ's sake. It's about basic human decency. It's about not being a sociopath or an animal.

yup and even "good" people perpetuate rape culture, when they turn a blind eye to things like prison rape, because they "deserve it", but will scream like banshees at anyone victim blaming.

This article explains it pretty well.

[Panacea]

Oh, thanks for bringing that up. I meant to say this in my initial post, but if I knew who the guys were I'd report it. My friend doesn't know who they are either, and we couldn't find anything else on them.

You can still report it. Since the people involved all know each other, it is likely in the town you live in. The police can get a warrant for the Facebook info of the poster and investigate from there.

You witnessed a crime. You should report it.

[SkullKing]

Report it, even if you didn´t find anything else, maybe the police will. Or maybe in the future if they do it again and are caught than this occurrence can be investigated too.

[Pixilated]

I think part of the problem is that in many people's minds, rape is done BY "other people" TO "other people" and then it's horrible and disgusting. But when it's Little Johnny, whom they've known all their lives (or worse, is a family member), that's when all the excuses come out. This frantic flailing around for a defence is understandable but legally it is (or should be) beside the point. In a situation like this one (and the Steubenville case) if the evidence is caught on tape, then I'd think that would be the shortest trial on record.

[Rageaholic]

I think some people just have a sick sense of humor. I remember last year when some of my classmates were cracking jokes about the holocaust. I didn't say anything, but I had a similar Dude, Not Funny!, reaction. And this is coming from someone who usually laughs at controservial humor (as long as it's not mean spirited).

[Andara Bledin]

You can still report it. Since the people involved all know each other, it is likely in the town you live in. The police can get a warrant for the Facebook info of the poster and investigate from there.

You witnessed a crime. You should report it.

Report it, even if you didn´t find anything else, maybe the police will. Or maybe in the future if they do it again and are caught than this occurrence can be investigated too.

This. A million times this.

You don't have to know anything about anything to make a report.

Leave the investigation and discovery to the cops and the lawyers. Just make sure that somebody with the power to do something is made aware that something has to be done.

[Jaden]

Alright, it's been reported. Thanks everybody

[HYHYBT]

No. Thank YOU.

[Canarr]

All names are changed to protect the innocent. Ok, first some background: A female friend of mine has been going through some drama for the past several months involving her boyfriend, who's an enormous dickhead who I dearly wish she'd break up with - and she knows what I think about him - and another girl that he hooked up with and lived with for several months, while he was still dating my friend. The logistics are a bit confusing because she was kind of-sort of living with him at the same time this other girl was, and quite frankly I don't remember all the details myself, but that's not the important part. The important thing is - my friend hates this other girl for coming between her and her boyfriend.

It never made sense to me how people whose partner cheats on them often seem to be more angry at the third party than at their partner. I mean, that other guy or girl owes them *nothing* - no loyalty, no help, no whatever - but their *partner* does. He or she is the one who committed the betrayal, not the person they did it with. What's up with that?

And this trend I've been noticing more and more since Steubenville is just...it's absolutely sickening. I mean, I know it's not new, but for some reason it just became a lot more...I dunno, noticeable with Steubenville. That is, that a guy can make a Facebook page about how much of a slut a girl he raped was, and suffer no consequences for it, as far as I know. What in the actual fuck is going on?

If you still want that question answered, then you need to look no further than to the fact that you came here, full of righteous moral outrage about this injustice, but still needed the encouragement of others here before you actually reported the page to law enforcement. So, yeah: the reason why people get away with crap like that is because other people see it, are shocked and outraged, but don't do shit about it. "Oh my god! A girl was raped! I must report this to an internet discussion forum!"

Nice job, hero.

[SkullKing]

"Oh my god! A girl was raped! I must report this to an internet discussion forum!"

Nice job, hero.

It was a shocking situation and jaden did not know how to react. The OP also said they felt powerless, and since they had no information that it was useless.

They talked with people as we often do when we are having trouble with a situation and listened to other people thought about it, and did the right thing.

[Canarr]

Then you read the OP differently than I did. What I read was someone commenting about the sad state of the world, when something like that can happen without anyone doing anything about it. He didn't ask, "What should I do?", he just complained that nobody else had done anything about it.

Then, after someone asked, "Hey, did YOU do anything about it, like, report it to the police?", came the, "Well, I would have, but I don't know who did it..."

Please. Now, I don't know about the police in your respective areas, but where I live, they don't actually expect citizens to be able to completely identify a criminal when reporting a crime. They are quite accepting of the fact that they might have to put some effort into actually locating and arresting the perpetrator. That's just a lame excuse.

[siead_lietrathua]

how about we not rip jaden a new one. after all, out of all the people that probably saw the page, he DID make a report. so what if it took him some time to decide if he should or not, in the end he made the right choice.
reaming people out for not getting involved sooner is more likely to make them not want to get involved period should they end up in similar circumstances.