Serena Williams on the Steubenville Rape case: "I'm not blaming the girl, but..."

[omnifax]

I think overall she shouldn't have said anything and white folks are gonna go to town on this. This is exactly the type of statement that the media likes to take out of context and hang a celebrity on. Now as far as the girl that was raped it's terrible and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. That being said I agree with what posters are saying that she put herself in a really bad position to prevent something like this from happening. Do kids get drunk at parties? All the time I'm sure. Does that mean they deserve to be raped? Absolutely not. Kids are taught at a young age on how to avoid danger from not talking to strangers, to not doing drugs, etc. This is no different its just the situation is much more delicate in nature. If you can expect elementary school kids to understand the reasons why you don't talk to strangers to take rides with people you don't know then you can most certainly expect a teenager to know why you shouldn't get sloppy drunk or take drinks from people of questionable character. Not blaming the victim but she should have been taught/known better.

 

[BillBanneker]

Serena Williams on Steubenville rape victim: ‘She shouldn’t have put herself in that position’ | For The Win




I'm not saying I disagree with her, but............

She should of said "underage drinking is wrong and rape is wrong" and kept it moving.

 

[Lakers Offseason]

I'm sorry breh, but if your daughter gets black-out drunk around a group of of high school football players...YOU TOOK AN L AS A FATHER. It's not a one way street. If i have a son, I'm tellin him to respect women and not abuse them when they're drunk, etc. If i have a daughter, I'm tellin her to be cautious around these horny bruhs and stay out of dark alley-ways etc.

if a dude gets on facebook like "bruhs...i left my keys in my benz when i ran to the corner store...when i came back...IT WAS GONE " no one's gonna come back like "omg we have to do something about the burglary culture in this country" they're gonna think you shouldn't have put yourself in that situation.

you dudes want it to be one way...but it's the other way.

No matter how well you raise your kid, there comes a time when they make bad choices, cause that's what kids do, and you hope they learn from their mistakes. But making a bad choice, which this girl did, shouldn't lead to getting raped and violated. You can't justify this shyt the way it played out. Like someone said, going to party and getting drunk is a normal social function for HS kids. Getting raped and violated isn't.

Serena should have known better. What if she gets intoxicated, passes out, and dudes run train on her? Would she feel the same?

 

[Born2BKing]

You can't expect any one who is new to drinking (at ANY age) to know their limits. You're literally telling someone they should know their way around a pitch black room they've never been in before. Sure you might be cool for those first couple of steps or sips, but after a while you will become disoriented and you will get perpetually more disoriented.

The point is they are kids, which is exactly right. Kids LEARN around each other. Not exploit opportunistic points as adults would.

Do you agree that Emmitt Till should foot some of the blame for his murder for knowing the rules of the South but not abiding? If he didn't know, do that people around him deserve some of the blame for not informing him? Is that even a conversation worth having to you?

The point is we should be telling them at 16 to not drink at all bruh. It's not about how much it takes them to get drunk, that's another discussion. There should be several conclusions from this situation and one is to bring the rapists to justice which has been done and they have rightfully been scrutinized to no ends. Also, there should be more awareness of underage drinking and how young women can protect themselves from sexual deviants. I do not know why that is such a hard concept to grasp.

It has nothing to do with excusing the rapists behavior, which I have seen no one do but for some reason everyone thinks talking crime prevention after a crime has been committed is absolving the perpetrators from blame. That is not the case at all. If you are 16, hanging in a bad area and your car gets stolen, what is your father going to say to you? First he is going to try to get the people who committed the act, then he is gonna slap you across the head for having the car in that area. And that Emmitt Till comparison is not a just one IMO. He spoke to a white woman, which is something that should not have been wrong in anyway at all. This young lady was black out drunk at a party full of boys, which is something that should be wrong, unless you find it acceptable for kids that age to drink.

 

[Prodyson]

No matter how well you raise your kid, there comes a time when they make bad choices, cause that's what kids do, and you hope they learn from their mistakes. But making a bad choice, which this girl did, shouldn't lead to getting raped and violated. You can't justify this shyt the way it played out. Like someone said, going to party and getting drunk is a normal social function for HS kids. Getting raped and violated isn't.

Serena should have known better. What if she gets intoxicated, passes out, and dudes run train on her? Would she feel the same?

That's a big part of the problem right there.... Fix this issue, maybe we have less rapes, assaults and even murders in our youths' environments. I've seen some of the most ignorant stuff happen at HS parties.

 

[No_bammer_weed]

The rapists were localy known as "the rape crew" and had a history of engaging in sexual assault. The victim admitted going out of her way to "hang out” with the members (Tent Mayers, Malik .e.t.c.) knowing full well what their reputation was. What the hell was she doing drinking heavy with a group of men with a name/reputation like that? Are you suggesting that exercising proper judgement by not drinking with men like that is “paranoid neurosis” as oppose to being sensible? Because that’s exactly what you’re implying.

This is not the argument that Serena Williams made. She did not question why the young lady was drinking with men with an established reputation as a "rape crew", that the victim was fully aware of, yet chose to disregard. Serena spoke in generalities like "why was she drinking, and why did she take drinks from other people"... She turned the idea of drinking at all into a pathology of the victim.

Serena didnt make the argument that she dismissed common sense, and partied with people with a dangerous reputation. That specific detail is the first Im hearing about, so Im not sure to the validity of it. What you and Serena are dismissing is the idea of betrayal. When people victim blame, they tend to position the victim's decision making as being egregious and reckless, rather than reasonable. Well if you didnt do "this" you wouldnt have been raped. Well rapists generally come across as very charming, likable, and they no doubt made this girl feel comfortable heading into the evening and during the course of the night in question. The point is that she was betrayed by people she reasonably felt she could trust. She was not drinking with random strangers in the back of an alley. I wish you and others would stop trying to pathologize her decisions.

Its no different than if you were with people you felt you could trust, and then they turned around and betrayed that trust.

 

[Lakers Offseason]

That's a big part of the problem right there.... Fix this issue, maybe we have less rapes, assaults and even murders in our youths' environments. I've seen some of the most ignorant stuff happen at HS parties.

The social function is not the issue IMO. It's some kids behavior or lack of moral compass is the problem. I've been to plenty of HS parties back when I was a teenager and majority of the kids that I hung out with knew right from wrong. We all had jokes and shyt, but there's a line you don't cross. The kids that always tip-toed and went over the line were always the same kids party after party. The lack of parenting these kids received is the problem.

 

[Born2BKing]

This is not the argument that Serena Williams made. She did not question why the young lady was drinking with men with an established reputation as a "rape crew", that the victim was fully aware of, yet chose to disregard. Serena spoke in generalities like "why was she drinking, and why did she take drinks from other people"... She turned the idea of drinking at all into a pathology of the victim.

Serena didnt make the argument that she dismissed common sense, and partied with people with a dangerous reputation. That specific detail is the first Im hearing about, so Im not sure to the validity of it. What you and Serena are dismissing is the idea of betrayal. When people victim blame, they tend to position the victim's decision making as being egregious and reckless, rather than reasonable. Well if you didnt do "this" you wouldnt have been raped. Well rapists generally come across as very charming, likable, and they no doubt made this girl feel comfortable heading into the evening and during the course of the night in question. The point is that she was betrayed by people she reasonably felt she could trust. She was not drinking with random strangers in the back of an alley. I wish you and others would stop trying to pathologize her decisions.

Its no different than if you were with people you felt you could trust, and then they turned around and betrayed that trust.

Why was she drinking at all? Shew was fukking 16?? Society, ignores all these high school kids dying in car accidents and of alcohol poisoning because it's just cac kids having fun. Man fukk that, it needs to be addressed as well. You are talking about this young lady like she is 26 and not freaking 16 bruh.

 

[DaChampIsHere]

The point is we should be telling them at 16 to not drink at all bruh. It's not about how much it takes them to get drunk, that's another discussion. There should be several conclusions from this situation and one is to bring the rapists to justice which has been done and they have rightfully been scrutinized to no ends. Also, there should be more awareness of underage drinking and how young women can protect themselves from sexual deviants. I do not know why that is such a hard concept to grasp.

It has nothing to do with excusing the rapists behavior, which I have seen no one do but for some reason everyone thinks talking crime prevention after a crime has been committed is absolving the perpetrators from blame. That is not the case at all. If you are 16, hanging in a bad area and your car gets stolen, what is your father going to say to you? First he is going to try to get the people who committed the act, then he is gonna slap you across the head for having the car in that area. And that Emmitt Till comparison is not a just one IMO. He spoke to a white woman, which is something that should not have been wrong in anyway at all. This young lady was black out drunk at a party full of boys, which is something that should be wrong, unless you find it acceptable for kids that age to drink.

The 16 year olds should drink rhetoric is the same as the "practice abstinence" bs. Sounds good but it will never happen. As stated, we know what she should have done, but it's still pointless rhetoric

How is the Till situation different? He knew the consequences and acted anyway. I'm not gonna blame him but if he wouldn't have whistled, he'd be alive.

A car is not human violation. Stop comparing humans to inanimate objects that can be replaced.

Guess what, in many countries around the world, 16 year olds getting drunk is not something that's wrong or that should be wrong. And personally I am fine with 16 year olds drinking. I'd rather my child learn their limits in high school around friends than strangers in college. My parents knew I drank at 16 and so did the parents of many of my friends. shyt down south, most of the time your first drink will be with a parental figure.

 

[No_bammer_weed]

I honestly don't understand how people can't see there's a difference between "prevention" and "blaming the victim". There's a reason we tell our kids not to talk to strangers. This is for the GENERAL discussion about rape/crime, and there's a difference between trying to minimize risks (which is what everyone does all the time, everywhere) and absolving scumbags/criminal in general. I understand it's an extremely touchy subject but it doensn't help anyone telling people/girls "Don't worry about a thing, everybody's nice out there".

Let me put it this way: My ex-gf LOVES travelling and wanted to go to India. But with the recent rapes happening out there, she's postponed those plans. Is that, in some way, saying that those girls "had it coming"? No, that's just her using that info to better protect herself. She might still go, but she said "Not alone". Is that her blaming the victims? No, that's her being realistic about herself and the risks. There are enough situations in which one can't do anything, so you might as well minimize risks where/if you can (that goes for ALL situations obviously, not only rape). That doesn't mean absolving the perpetrators in any way.

but she wasnt with strangers, and she wasnt in a foreign country by herself. She was with her peers, people whom she felt she knew and could trust. That trust was betrayed. What part of that is so confusing to you? You guys are so obsessed with focusing on her behavior, to the point where she is seemingly on trial for drinking with peers.

 

[spliz]

Why was she drinking at all? Shew was fukking 16?? Society, ignores all these high school kids dying in car accidents and of alcohol poisoning because it's just cac kids having fun. Man fukk that, it needs to be addressed as well. You are talking about this young lady like she is 26 and not freaking 16 bruh.

Son..these people clearly DON'T HAVE CHILDREN..and are prolly young...and it shows thru the posts...

 

[Born2BKing]

Son..these people clearly DON'T HAVE CHILDREN..and are prolly young...and it shows thru the posts...

Yeah this shyt has me confused as hell. nikkas justifying these lil kids drinking and then driving and having these wild parties is crazy. Oh it's just kids being kids my ass.

 

[spliz]

but she wasnt with strangers, and she wasnt in a foreign country by herself. She was with her peers, people whom she felt she knew and could trust. That trust was betrayed. What part of that is so confusing to you? You guys are so obsessed with focusing on her behavior, to the point where she is seemingly on trial for drinking with peers.

Son is somethin literally wrong with u?...really..it was said the dudes was known as the town rapists..they had a REP nikka...and either way...getting pissy drunk is irresponsible for an ADULT to do...let alone a TEENAGER who's not legal drinking age...do u know what would happen if she got caught with alcohol by a cop?...she would get ARRESTED...u can't be this dense fam...all these fukkin teenage irresponsible drunk driving deaths and u over here acting like that part of the situation ain't a big deal is a fukkin joke and proves ur immaturity...

 

[No_bammer_weed]

Son is somethin literally wrong with u?...really..it was said the dudes was known as the town rapists..they had a REP nikka...and either way...getting pissy drunk is irresponsible for an ADULT to do...let alone a TEENAGER who's not legal drinking age...do u know what would happen if she got caught with alcohol by a cop?...she would get ARRESTED...u can't be this dense fam...all these fukkin teenage irresponsible drunk driving deaths and u over here acting like that part of the situation ain't a big deal is a fukkin joke and proves ur immaturity...

Again, this is not the argument that Serena made. She did not question why the girl was drinking with "known rapists". You are inserting this purely speculative "fact", in order to further shame victim. It isnt known whether she was fully aware of their reputation, so cut it out.

 

[BreezyH]

and we wonder why these athletes all give the same boring answers. she should express sympathy if she feels like it, but i hope she doesn't do a full moonwalk