While introducing his program Thursday, which will be rolled out this month at 11 high schools, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld's (sic) said that the combination of alcohol, smartphones and social media was "extremely volatile."
Project Future Two-a-days is aimed at high school athletes - football players in some schools, and all fall athletes in a few others. It consists of presentations on drugs and alcohol and on responsible use of social media. It focuses on athletes at high school, college, and professional levels who have faces serious repercussions from texts and pictures sent through social media, and on athletes and others who have dealt with drug and alcohol abuse.
About Steubenville, which is just 26 miles from Wheeling:
The rape case "definitely played a role in causing us to think, 'Who do we need to focus upon?' " Ihlenfeld told The Associated Press. "We thought, 'Let's start calling athletic directors and coaches to see if they're interested.' That investment of time hopefully will pay dividends down the road, not only because you hope the kids are going to stay out of trouble. ..."
In some ways, this is a good program. Substance abuse is serious among teens, and all high school students ought to be taught about responsible use of social media. And it does for once focus on the right people, the potential perpetrators rather than potential victims.
But this is not aimed at all students; it is aimed at student athletes, especially football players. As such, it leaves out the most important ingredient in the Steubenville mix. It leaves out the whole issue of rape, of violating and degrading girls, of assuming that if she can't say no, it's okay.
If alcohol were not involved, the Steubenville rape would not have happened. The girl would not have passed out from heavy drinking, and I'm sure alcohol fueled the gang rape at least in part. And it was cruel to circulate pictures and videos. But in between the alcohol and the social media came the rape. Came carrying an unconscious girl from one party to another for more people to rape her. Came observers finding it funny.
And came authorities who helped cover up the crime for months. In fact, social media became a catalyst for at least partial justice for the victim, since it was spreading the record of the rape farther afield that forced a criminal investigation and the trial of the two boys found guilty. One of the comments on the Jezebel article linked to says that if boys are going to commit rape, we should be teaching them to Instagram the hell out of it, rather than aiming at keeping them out of trouble. This is where rape culture and football culture overlap.
You know, do the crime, do the time.
By all means let's stop substance abuse among high school athletes.
But lets also teach them the true definition of rape, and to treat girls as human beings, raging hormones or not. Let's teach them how to behave if they see a girl being harassed, and how to stop a rape. Let's teach them the consequences of rape, legal and psychological, on victims and on rapists.
And let's not forget, when rape happens, that the victim should have our sympathy. We should teach that to the adults involved as well.
3:14 PM PT: Here's a link to the UltraViolet petition:
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/...
6:24 PM PT: In the comments, GussieFN linked to a New Yorker article about Steubenville that I think people should read. You can find it here:
http://www.newyorker.com/...
I have been less than accurate in my facts about Steubenville, and I apologize for it. The main point of the diary, the West Virginia program, is not changed.
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