Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town (Article Review)

This is the actual article that was in the New York times that sparked outrage from writer Melissa Cambell of Sparksummit.com (pardon the pun).

A note was made about how the victim was dressed and how she behaved around boys, though it was quoted from the neighbours of the victim. It was like, “Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” Only a short mention was made of the attackers' backgrounds (some of which were from more priveleged back grounds, while others already had criminal records).

Understandably, such an incident would divide a community, but the comments about the boys was like, "how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?" and “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.” As if the welfare of the assailants mattered more to that community than that of the victim. And while I am an 'outsider looking in', reading this article (and know nothing first hand of this incident), my initial answer to the first question/comment is this: they were the ones who 'lured' the girl into this, not the other way around.

Also, we need to take into account not just what the girl was wearing or doing but also the other psychosocial factors regarding the rape: the upbringing of not only the girl, but also the boys; peer pressure; and especially the early 'sexualisation' of children (especially girls). And regardless of where and when sexual abuse occurrs, we need to understand it has always existed and will continue to exist as long as people harbour negative attitudes towards females, regardless of what they wear, how they behave or with whom they associate with.