UPDATE on Up to 14 High School Boys Rape, Torture Developmentally Disabled Girl, Then Make and Sell DVD of the Rapes; Boys Will Do No Jail Time
November 7, 2007 by womensspace
UPDATE: The boys who raped and assaulted this young woman will serve no jail time.
EIGHT teenagers have escaped a jail term for their role in the notorious “Werribee DVD” after a judge ruled they should complete a rehabilitation program to prevent them repeating their “callous” crimes.
A Children’s Court judge convicted seven of the eight youths yesterday after they pleaded guilty to making a film in Werribee last year, which showed them forcing a 17-year-old girl to perform sex acts with two of the boys while the others spat on her, poked her with sticks and repeatedly set her hair alight.
The film, which sparked a police investigation after excerpts were broadcast on national television, also showed the boys urinating on the girl and writing the film’s title, “C— The Movie” on her breasts.
One boy says, ” F—, she’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen,” during the film, which was sold to students at Melbourne schools for $5 apiece.
After describing the offences as callous and cruel, the judge yesterday sentenced six of the teens who played the most active roles in the attack to 12 and 18-month-long youth supervision orders.
The order requires the teens to report for up to six hours a week to a youth justice worker, who will counsel them and, in some cases, order them to perform community work for the period dictated by their sentence.
Two of the teens who played lesser roles in the attack were sentenced to a probation order for 12 months, which requires them to report weekly to a youth justice worker.
The worker will develop a plan with the teens to work through problems that might have contributed to their offending, which usually involves organising hobbies for them or talking to teachers about getting them help at school
Link provided by delphyne and freakindork
****
Well, my second cry of the day.
~~WARNING MAY TRIGGER~~
Last June a developmentally disabled 17-year-old girl, Julia, met two boys she had chatted with online at a local shopping mall. They led her to a nearby riverbank, where the two boys became up to 14 boys.
The boys raped her (forced her to perform oral sex), beat her, lit her hair on fire several times, poured urine onto her body from a cup, then urinated on her directly. They then threw her coat and some of her clothes into the river.
They filmed the entire attack and made a DVD out of it, which they sold for $5 each. They later made a worse video which was sold for $10 each. They listed their real names as credits in the video. One boy thanked his mother for the use of her videocamera. These were all white high school boys. One was a star football player of interest to scouts.
Clip from the video
The video was uploaded to YouTube and was viewed 9,000 times. Recently, five of the boys were expelled or suspended from school. Now most are being investigated for rape. The video has been removed. When police began looking for the boys and as public outrage over the story mounted, some of the boys laughed and said they thought it was really funny. Those who saw excerpts of the DVD, broadcast on Australian TV in an attempt to identify suspects, were horrified and expressed disbelief.
Clip from the video
The girl has been in therapy for months and is, obviously, traumatized.
I could be wrong but based on the photo [now deleted; I think Y. Carrington is right, she's been violated enough. Heart] – the only clear one I could find — the girl does not appear to be white, although the boys are.
I am thinking that this may be the rapes the Imam was referring to in which he said the victim was so much “uncovered meat” and would be fine if she’d been in her house, in her room, with her hijab on.
This is as much commentary as I can muster right now.
Props to Shannon at Egotistical Whining – I found the story at her blog. Black Folks also blogged about it.
Someone tell me with a straight face that the ubquitousness of, and contents of, pornography have nothing to do with what these boys did.
It is said that while she was being tortured, Julia was feebly, fearfully, smiling.
Police are trying to confiscate all of the videos sold. They are child pornography and owning them is a felony.
Heart
I can’t get over it. I look at her there with her hair all pulled back, in her little plaid jacket with the furry hood. In one of the articles, it describes a portion of the video in which the boys are joking and laughing about turning her into a “slut”, saying they need to do a “Brazilian wax” “deforestation.” I keep thinking of her, what she must have been thinking preparing to meet up with these boys, thinking about the way I’ve watched my own teenage girls getting ready to go out. They spend all the time brushing and fixing their hair, trying on outfits, putting on makeup. “How do I look, mom?” “Do I look okay?”
You’re beautiful, my darling girls. You were beautiful, Julia. You are all so incredibly, incredibly, innocently, trustingly, beautiful.
I hate this world so much sometimes. I can’t do the subject justice.
Heart
I mean, if just one — just one — of those boys would have spoken up. If just one had said, “Dudes, this is wrong.” “Let’s not do this.” It might have gone differently. Not only did none of them do that, the video has been hanging around on You Tube since June. Just now the rape investigations are beginning. I am trying to get my mind around the idea that not one of these boys had pangs of conscience sufficient to speak up at the time, or to go to police later, or even parents.
Heart
“I can’t get over it. I look at her there with her hair all pulled back, in her little plaid jacket with the furry hood. In one of the articles, it describes a portion of the video in which the boys are joking and laughing about turning her into a “slut”, saying they need to do a “Brazilian wax” “deforestation.” I keep thinking of her, what she must have been thinking preparing to meet up with these boys, thinking about the way I’ve watched my own teenage girls getting ready to go out. They spend all the time brushing and fixing their hair, trying on outfits, putting on makeup. “How do I look, mom?” “Do I look okay?””
That’s so IT, isn’t it? And so telling when rape is really understood as so much more than “just” a violation of our bodies, but as such a gross violattion of trust, of spirit.
I don’t think it is possible to do this subject justice — I don’t even have words for things like this: it especially makes me cringe, remembering my own gang assult, realizing how even more compounded it could have been had it happened present-day — but you get it out there, you say what you do so well, you…well, you do what you do in the perfect, dead-on way you always do, Cheryl.
Wow. I’m considering showing this blog (not the video) to my 11 year old daughter. What do you think? I can’t decide if that’s terrorism on her to show her, or if it would be good for her to know. Because they really don’t know. They spend so much time dressing up, primping up, knowing that it’s what they’re supposed to do, as girls. But really having no clue WHY it is that they’re supposed to be dressing up, and not knowing what it is they’re Quote-Unquote “Asking for” by doing so. What’s the sane line between protecting them, and terrorizing them with the truth? “Here, THIS is what they want you to dress up for.”
Where to start.
Hey, Heather, thank you, and you’re so so right, the violation is so thorough and so complete and so goddamn irreversible. :”"(
Pramiti, I have the same questions. I was thinking of showing both my younger kids that photo of the boys, the one in the center particularly. To me that photo captures a spirit, a moment, that nobody ever wants to experience or even see if she or he can help it. I want to teach them about why and how these moments come to pass and how to stay away, stay away, but if they find themselves in a situation like that anyway, I want to teach them to speak up, say “No,” say “Stop,” because the chances are — I hope anyway, dear god — that someone else is scared and thinks it’s wrong but can’t speak up for some reason.
I don’t know about letting kids read these posts. It’s horrifically hard for me to write them and gather the info for them and I’ve been around in the world for over 50 years, none of this is any surprise to me. I worry about making them too fearful. I keep thinking I really want to get that book, The Gift of Fear and read it and then digest it and teach the truths in it to my children. Mostly I want my kids to learn to trust their guts, those wispy feelings they have that this is not a safe person, this is not a safe place. But I don’t want to teach them to fear everybody they don’t know, either.
I just don’t know. My sense is, I would not show these posts to my younger kids, but I might very carefully tell them about these things. Honestly, I don’t really know.
Heart
This is so disgustingly and obviously influenced by porn. I fear for girls and the pain they will go through when a whole generation of boys their age has grown up with porn and been desensitized to the most extreme sexual torture of women. I’m truly glad that I grew up before porn-viewing the Internet became a wide-spread thing and could influence the men I was involved with when I was younger. I would have been totally unprepared for its influence on them. Of course there was other porn around even if it wasn’t on the Internet, but it just made it less accessible and I can’t imagine that 12 year old boys were viewing rape porn or such disgusting things that are so easily viewed online.
This is horrific beyond words. What kind of males are being bred by our culture?
because the chances are — I hope anyway, dear god — that someone else is scared and thinks it’s wrong but can’t speak up for some reason.
They’re being taught that it isn’t wrong, though. They’re being taught that it’s ok - that they can do this to a girl, film it and make money out of it because that’s what their peers want to see.
If she was over eighteen this would be defended as ‘free speech’, wouldn’t it?
Christ. I despair.
“If she was over eighteen this would be defended as ‘free speech’, wouldn’t it?”
Absolutely.
Things are so bad today, that if it were a woman over 18, then they would have said she willingly participated. Seems to have been the case that Julie Bindel outlined, where it was three against one.
Women/girls aren’t believed in gang rapes, there is absolutely no hope of being believed in one-on-one rapes.
[...] I’ve just read this post on Women’s Space/The Margins **warning - may trigger** [...]
If it’s any consolation to anyone, I do have to say that in the work I have done at Scarleteen, I have found that I’m surprised at the diversity of views a lot of the teens — girls and boys alike — have when it comes to porn and violent porn. less of them just accept it — and far more of them are really troubled by it — than I’d have guessed if I didn’t hear from them on these topics.
Obviously, that doesn’t help us much with those who do NOT question it, who acquiesce, who absorb and accept and even celebrate it, but from what I can gather, an awful lot of them are not just readily taking this stuff in and being okay with it. And for those that are, it doesn’t even need to be at the point where there is legal defense for the material: lookit these boys. Their immediate families are telling them it’s all just a spot of good fun: those immediate influences carry a LOT more weight.
Heart…may I respectfully suggest removing the image with the survivor Julia in it. Her image has been plastered all over the place already. She’s been violated enough.
Yolanda
this is so, so sad. my heart breaks for that sweet, trusting girl. we were all like that once, weren’t we? and then we learned better. that people really do mean to hurt us. and we’re never the same. it just kills me.
and what kind of people created those boys? where did they learn to be so cruel and horrible and uncaring? so boldy brutal?
i guess just look around. it’s everywhere and it’s heartbreaking. i too despair.
xoxo, jared
…I hope that if she was over 18, raping someone and setting their hair on fire would be considered inappropiate subjects to watch…
Yeah, Shannon. Unfortunately, raping someone and setting their hair on fire is just same old same old pornography you can get anywhere, so long as the “actresses” are adults, or close enough.
Stormcloud, there was a huge comments thread on the site of one of the Australian newspapers in which a considerable number of people — including a high school girl — said Julia agreed to this and just didn’t want to admit it.
Heart
Pinko Feminist Hellcat also blogged about this. (Link found at Shannon’s place.)
I need to add Pinko Feminist Hellcat to my blogroll.
Witchy-woo– so true. Boys learn, coming up, that the thing to do is record sexual exploits and publish them– wherever. All the real he-men do it.
Heather– I agree with what you are saying. I do know more than a few teenagers and young adults who hate pornography, both boys and girls. This keeps me semi-hopeful.
Heart
Oh, and Y. Carrington, I think you’re right. I deleted Julia’s photo. No need to participate in any sort of violation of this young woman, for any reason.
Heart
This is really, really horrific. And this is almost worse:
http://www.news.com.au/sundayheraldsun/story/0,21985,20663477-661,00.html
Doesn’t religion start and end with the male ownership of women? John Howard really hates women.
I don’t know if anyone’s said this in the comments but the imam was actually referring to a series of gang rapes perpetrated by Arab men on white women that took place a few years ago. All the men were given really long jail terms and hence the mufti was saying that it was the women’s fault for being ‘uncovered meat’. But I think he was talking more generally too.
Oh for crying out loud! That’s the answer, religion in the schools (re Allecto’s links, and thanks, Allecto)!
ARGH.
Anna, thanks for that clarification. I did get it that the Imam was talking about the Muslim gang rapes of a few years ago but then got to wondering if he was referring to this incident.
Heart
[...] You can read it in its entirety here, and you should. [...]
[...] - From Women’s Space (Read more…
[...]
After talking to my partner, and reading the comments, I was reminded of where I stand on the subject of instilling fear into my daughter. Which is that that is NOT how I want to raise my daughter. It’s amazing how quickly my own fear crowds it out of my head. I was raised in fear, using tactics such as these (but with a completely different slant - more along the lines of “You have to be careful what you wear and where you walk, becaus THIS could happen to you!”
And even though I’d long ago determined that my daughter was going to have NO fear if I could help it, but instead was going to have so strong a sense of her own self and her own rights that she would never dream of letting some ass-hole do something she didn’t want, I periodically lose it when I see something that triggers the fear in me, and start fretting that I might not be ‘preparing’ her to face the real world. While she is very, very protected right now, there will be a time when she will chose not to have that protection. So am I sending her own unprepared?
But that line of self-questioning is only applicable if we were NOT preparing her in other ways. Protecting and encouraging her self-esteem. Her understanding that there are freaks out there, and what they absolutely have no right to do. These talks are with both son and daughter, so she won’t feel singled out.
I’m thinking I’ll probably have these ‘attacks’ of uncertainty periodically, until I see either how it worked, or until I manage to really see the world in an entirely new light, rather than just knowing it in my head. Here’s hoping the latter will come before the former.
No worries, I think Hilaly made the comments about the same time as the above assault but both didn’t hit the news until recently [a couple of months later], so he wouldn’t have known about the attack at the time of his preaching.
That is so sickening. How can children not have a conscious about something as serious as raping someone else and abusing them?
I’m a 17 year old girl and to hear that makes my skin crawl..how sickening. I agree with Le Chat,I’ve been to school and I’ve heard boys talk about “submissive sluts”,how desensitized can one generation be?
Also the look of those boys laughing into the camera, is just so inhumane..
Elyse
“Stormcloud, there was a huge comments thread on the site of one of the Australian newspapers in which a considerable number of people — including a high school girl — said Julia agreed to this and just didn’t want to admit it.”
Heart, I think you misinterpreted. I was talking about Julie Bindel a UK reporter and recent story http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1930631,00.html
(it’s UK, so understandable if you weren’t aware of it, but it had been on a couple of blogs). My fault for not linking in the earlier comment, I was in a rush.
The point is, that more and more, gang rape victims just aren’t believed, because porn says all women want it, want group ’sex’/rape, etc. This can only mean that the already dismal conviction rates for rape will plummet further.
I cannot believe that ‘little Johnny Howard’ (as they call him in Oz) seriously thinks religious nutterism will solve violence against women/girls. I would liken it to throwing water on an oil fire. Sheesh!
As someone from Australia i find it rediculous that jonny howard would suggest that religion could assist in preventing such an atrocity from reoccuring, considering that these young males were from private “catholic” schools and the DVD’s were sold within these same Private schools… These are not the uneducated, sigle parented low socioeconomic misfits that Mr Howard would like us to believe they are. They are from obviously well to do families who have failed dramaticlly in instilling ethics in their children… rather instilling that responibility into someone elses hands whilst they make money to pay for their “private schools”.. How sadley we have failed as a society..
I appreciate the fact that this is a very emotive subject. The boys involved in this incident should be punished. I also appreciate the pain and anguish of the victim and I do not wish to take away from that reality.
However, these boys are minors. They will obviously going to face charges of some description. If the reports are anything to go by it could be a rape charge, which I think is justified. That said I am not sure how this works but here in Australia it is illegal to identify a minor who has been charged of a crime.
Just another problem of the Internet crossing laws and countries and the law not catching up. Anyone know how that works? Good move removing the picture of the victim.
The Rooster, thanks for that reminder. I have removed the photos.
Mel, the boys went to Catholic school? Well, I guess there’s no problem with having a chaplain there then!
GEEZ.
Heart
The rapes the Imam was undoubtedly referring to were not this case but several cases in Australia of young Islamic men pack raping white girls - they deliberately targeted white girls believing they deserved it. The perprator’s home environment clearly back this “they deserved it” mentality. While this case generated a lot of outrage I think it would have been worse if there were brown faces amongst the perpetrators.
What I found most interesting about this case was that the boys clearly saw no problem with their behaviour. To show their faces clearly and use their real names makes it clear they never considered the possibility of punishment. A rather sad indictment of society in general.
(Just curious: is that ID issue with them still the case when they have publicly identified themselves via the videos?)
Mr. Angry, while I do know about the Muslim gangs that raped white girls in Australia (and received long prison sentences for it– one of the perps is pictured in the post about the Imam’s recent remarks), I am concerned about your statement that the perps’ home environment backed the “they deserve it” mentality because there’s a suggestion there that this is unique to the perps’ home environments. As we have all witnessed here in the U.S. with many recent, widely publicized rapes, I think a “they deserve it” mentality exists throughout the world, across cultures and groups, and that within these groups there are always those who don’t believe anybody ever deserves to be raped. I think “they deserved it” is especially common among men influenced by fundamentalist religion, wherever they live.
Heather, good question. What do the rest of you think?
Heart
Their faces were blurred in the news reports so I think it still applies.
Sorry scratch that. This report shows some of their faces quite clearly.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/outcry-over-teenage-girls-assault-recorded-on-dvd/2006/10/24/1161455722271.html
From memory though the tv reports blurred their faces. Or maybe some of them are now 18…
I’m not a lawyer. I can’t seem to find any US based law against identifying minors accused of crimes.
All I do know is that most mainstream media publications don’t in the interest of “politeness,” just like they don’t disclose names of rape victims. Of course, politeness in patriarchy is absent of meaning: they just rely on less savory individuals to publish that information, after which they get to play the public domain card — oh well, it’s already out there and everyone knows, so why bother hiding it — it’s more about their image as objective journalists and keeper of the holy truths than protecting vulnerable people. I’m not interested in that kind of politeness and I doubt you are either.
OTOH, even if there were such laws or such politeness was required, the fact that those images are already public domain in that way negates those requirements.
Best link I found (where a writer says that even one of his editors thought, without any basis in reality, that it was wrong to identify minors):
http://www.newberggraphic.com/opinion/Gary_columns.htm
Another link:
http://www.cjc.umd.edu/jcommunity/articles/juvenileprimer.06.htm
I think that one confuses the issue a bit, by saying “law” when they really mean they’re only printing info law enforcement agencies *offered* them; that doesn’t mean that it would be against the law to say more.
Point taken, I was talking about that case in isolation. Trust me, if you’d seen interviews with some of their families you’d see that the attitude was actively encouraged, not in any general sense. And I grew up in a country town where I never saw a single muslim person but, as you point out, I saw many “religious” people preach the idea that only “bad” women are raped.
Self identification in the videos, interesting.
From an international point of view, the fact that the girl was under 18 means that the video and DVD should be illegal as child pornography.
The fact that the perpetrators were arrogant enough to video themselves, and publicly distribute it, would perhaps indicate their consent in having their own images publicly available/distributed.
It is a different case where a minor is accused of a crime and no proof exists, the media is forbidden to use the image.
These minors have made their own images commercially and publicly available. No third party took the images of them. Perhaps the images (of the perpetrators) is now public domain (because of the way it was brought into existence).
Anyway one hopes, that the images are acceptable as evidence in court.
Personally Heart, having the pictures of the perpetrators (only) up serves as a reminder that these were average, clean cut boys from fairly good, religious homes. And the fact that they were enjoying their spree of terror on this one unfortunate girl, is a reminder of how boys are growing up to view women.
I am sure that in the not too distant future we will hear that they were ‘troubled’ and ‘different’ from the average boy somehow (patriarchy distancing itself from its footsoldiers that get caught).
I vote for the images of the perps to be reposted.
I vote for reposting too. It’s not hearsay, and they themselves distributed the video. Part of the point is, indeed, that they look so ‘normal’.
I would have said this at Pinko Feminist, but would have needed another id and password to post there: In the summer, visiting Oregon, I was shocked at the sorts of things some of my nice, liberal, officially feminist friends-from-days-of-yore seem to be teaching their teenage boys about entitlement and the importance of ‘getting laid’.
I have not assimilated the amazement, and do not know what to say about it, do not know whether anything I could say would be heard. And one is not supposed to tell others how to raise their children (although I, personally, think there are exceptions to that).
However: the parents of these kids appear to need complete reeducation.
Even information about _the law_ would be useful.
I’d actually name the little creeps as well. They themselves put their own credits on the DVD. They are proud of what they did. Credit where credit is due!
In the UK, I think it requires a judge/magistrate to put a gag order on the names of minors - but they have no jurisdiction over international press. As you are (I’m assuming) a US citizen, with a blog hosted on a US site, anything that happens in another country doesn’t apply to you (unless the same laws are applicable in your country).
Thanks for reposting the pictures. These little shits deserve all the bad press we can give them.
I’m really glad you reposted, those, Cheryl.
Obviously, not because they’re nice to look at. I saw the trigger warning, knowing my own experiences with a high school gang, I knew full well I would get triggered and I did, but like stormcloud, I think there are really compelling reasons — especially given the boys identified themselves — for people to be able to see things like this in this context, because it has some incredible power when it comes to letting the reality of rape and a rapist be seen. That that picture painted of the scowling, unkempt man — usually of color — usually looking angry, menacing, NOT like the brother, uncle, father, neighbor, teacher, pastor of every conceivable hue and social strata other people love who rapists often are, could be shown up for the sham it is.
It occurred to me the other day that if pro-feminist men wanted to do something really powerful, they’d all make “This is what a rapist looks like” t-shirts and wear them. It’ll never happen, of course, even though a t-shirt like that certainly does not say one IS a rapist, but boy, the powerful truth that could shine, eh?
& the bummer about the videos legally being child pornography — and I do believe that’s so — is that I’m willing to bet that if any of these boys are charged at all?
THAT is the only charge that’ll stick. If.
And that is just even more vomit-inducing when I think about it, because to plenty of eyes, that’ll negate this girl’s being a victim of gang rape, and make her appear to merely be an unwitting porn star.
I didn’t know that my statement would draw as much counter comment. But my understanding regarding identifying minors is that they can not be identified. While I can’t say as far as minor (as in not serious) crimes go that this is the case, I can definitely say that with violent crimes esp. rape and sexual assault they most definitely can not be identified.
Perhaps because they were not charged at the time that the reports were made about the incident was why their pictures were in the story? Not sure.
This applies even if there exists photos or video of them that was made public. Journalists are not permitted to show/identify or in any way make public those images in their reporting.
You can appreciate that this has as much to do with protecting a victim as false identification of someone that may have been there but not charged with a crime. I am not saying that is right - but it potentially could happen. Or they could be charged with something minor rather than the greater charge that the actual person who committed the act was charged with. I am sure that the most serious criminal charge that is made will be associated with the group as a whole.
Even though they have willingly put their faces out there, they were stupid on all counts. The law steps in and protects them from their own stupidity and the privacy of the victim so that no associations can be made. It also ensures that all perpetrators regardless of their part are only judged for what they are charged with and not what people might assume they did by being there. You might say they don’t deserve these rights and you might be right. But we are not the law and they deserve to be judged fairly as we would. After that throw the book at them.
That is my understanding. I do not fully understand it though, so I may be wrong. But I can see it from both sides.
Then there is the fact that we as bloggers want to be taken seriously and as a source of reliable “reporting”. If we become “rogue” reporters that have no regard for law and regulation then we loose some of that that I think we are striving for. That is just the “I want to move new technologies and citizen media forward” person in me talking. If you don’t agree then that is fine. You may even take the line that we should be doing the opposite to what the mainstream media does, that is real “reporting” and I could see your point there as well. There is a time for that but it is hard to discern.
Good discussion thread
“However, these boys are minors. They will obviously going to face charges of some description. If the reports are anything to go by it could be a rape charge, which I think is justified. That said I am not sure how this works but here in Australia it is illegal to identify a minor who has been charged of a crime.”
Well, thank gawd these boys were selling the DVD first so we don’t have to do the heavy work of identifiying them.
However, when the policy is about protecting rapists –who SELF identified by face and full-name, no less, as well as making public confessions and posting a public record of their crimes, which was criminal in and of itself — and as feminist women, we’re already “rogue,” — and by design and intent to be — for me anyway, my concern is less with some sort of credibility as an internet commentator/reporter then with using the media to forge bigger changes.
Especially when policy/protocol is about protecting rapists.
(I’m going to ask my ACLU lawyer about this: curious to see what their take is.)
Rooster, I appreciate your zest for the fairness of patriarchal law, but after reading this:
“Even though they have willingly put their faces out there, they were stupid on all counts. The law steps in and protects them from their own stupidity and the privacy of the victim so that no associations can be made. It also ensures that all perpetrators regardless of their part are only judged for what they are charged with and not what people might assume they did by being there. You might say they don’t deserve these rights and you might be right. But we are not the law and they deserve to be judged fairly as we would. After that throw the book at them. ”
I ask, who benefits? You seem to be saying that boys will be boys, but we must be fair and remember that they’re just boys, stupid boys at that, and despite *any* criminal activity, they need to be treated with equanimity. You have effectively erased both the crime and the victim of the crime.
Q Grrl, I too *appreciate* Rooster’s zest for the fairness of patriarchical law (LOL)!
It is irrelevant, even if forbidden by Australian law to publish the names/faces of minors charged - as Australian law does NOT cover the USA, UK, Timbuktoo. That is the niftyness of the internet, to get around those national barriers.
There have been numerous occasions when a gag order (on the press) has been in place in the UK, yet the photos/names are available via European or American news sources.
Also bear in mind that it cannot be a case of mistaken identity. These are THE perps in the midst of their crimes. It is not a case of innocent until proven guilty, the evidence is there by their own perverted, arrogant, little hands. Stupidity is one thing, but criminal activity is quite another.
And anyway, some of the perps are over 18 now anyway.
Yes, that’s right, they were basically adults when they did this. Not 10 year olds, not 6 year olds - but just shy of voting age, driving age (in Aust). These aren’t little kids. They are certainly far closer to adulthood than childhood.
The law should come down on them, and come down hard. This is not some folly of youth, the crime was sadistic and cruel (as were there other crimes that they taped).
That poor girl. Her family says she has now become (understandably) withdrawn.
BTW Rooster, I don’t think any of us set ourselves up as any kind of ‘mainstream responsible newsource’ enforcing the patriarchical code of ethics - we’re here to expose this crap and the crimes against women - all too frequently hushed up by mainstream media. Quite frankly, I’m not interested in protecting the patriarchy, rapists, or sympathisers.
I found the following comments on a mirror site of one of the ringleader’s blogs. I’m not going to post the link or provide any info about it, because then people might be able to find a more current site which is really scary and I don’t want any part of it or to be responsible for anyone going there and participating in it. There are all sorts of horrifying people in there threatening these boys in the most hideous and violent of ways. That’s the thing about the photos. Violent men in prison can see these photos from prison. If the boys get sent to prison, they will be recognized. I think considerations like these are factored into these laws about identifying minors accused of crimes. These boys are, some of them, old enough that they might end up tried as adults, although based on what I have read so far, only one, possibly two of them is facing rape charges with the others likely facing accessory charges, so who knows if they will even do any time, if, in fact, they are convicted.
Anyway, the comments on this blog as word began to get out in the media about the DVD are pretty scary. The kid gets a ton of support. The pictures of these kids evidence that with one exception, they are all white. They appear to be middle class, most of the girls are absolutely traditionally beautiful, and most of them, right along with the boys, support the kid. I am omitting names and will use “DP” in place of the screen name of the perpetrator.
****
Girl
10/24/2006 6:08 PM
DP:
i love you very much,
and we are all here for you 100%
take care ♥
10/24/2006 5:16 PM
hey hun i heard about what happen just letting u no im here for u no matter what ok love u always xoxox
Girl
10/24/2006 7:56 AM
DP……… i heard some shit involving U, wbee, shit,a dvd, and channel 7? hahaha……. inform me ! haha. did chanel 7 find out about u havin sex with the dog ? lol
Boy
10/24/2006 7:17 AM
wtf man
sorry about your shit skool gettin rid of you! wats the media gonna do when WE STRIKE BACK WOOO lol
dont give up -CTM2 UNCUnT- xoxoxoxo
Boy
10/24/2006 6:29 AM
thought i might add to those millions of comment ur getting hahaha… fark im bord. mad night for a chill ride ….. take care man and keep the s tudying going tomoz
Girl
10/24/2006 5:50 AM
heyy ♥
dont know you or nothing but just thought i’d let you know i give you guys full suppport on the whole thing ..
goosluck best wishes etc.
hope everything works out for ya man
werribe has got cha back
xo
Girl
10/24/2006 5:16 AM
love u kido, no matter what!! :)xx
Girl
10/24/2006 4:52 AM
media are gay
there is always 2 sides of the story!
well im susporting you boys 100%
back you’s up any day!
good luck man
xoxo me on [e-mail address]
Girl
10/24/2006 4:45 AM
DP BABBYY!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
LOVE UU!!
XOX
Boy
10/24/2006 4:31 AM
hey mr gay jus chill a trade now xoxoxo
Girl
10/24/2006 4:27 AM
hey i dont no you..
but i no some of your friends that made the video thingy
hope your not in to much trouble..
i guess at the time you;s though it was fun
didnt expect it to become this popular?
well it all die down soon..
just hope your ok..
Girl
10/24/2006 3:38 AM
everyone loves you DP
forever
xx
Girl
10/24/2006 3:35 AM
and i mean that in a nice way just incase it came out wrong xx all the best mate
Girl
10/24/2006 3:34 AM
DP mate i think no less of you=)
Girl
10/24/2006 3:04 AM
DP!
heard about ur shit day man
just letting u noe we r all behind u
love u mucchly
luv Girl, n all my gurls xoxo
10/24/2006 2:54 AM
DP
me, Girl and Girl showed our LIFE LONG LOVE for you by posting bullitens about how much we love you and always will.
we alsoooo have the fingers crossed sign in msn names too shut every hater up.
LOVEEEE YOU
Girl
ps. good luck with everything.
Girl
10/24/2006 2:38 AM
hey DP dogg i jst saw the shit on the news man wats goin on??? i could hear u laughin in the background n shit im like yeh thats DP lol heard u got expelled too?? cya soon man
Girl
10/24/2006 1:14 AM
THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT,
they r making u out as the fuking biggest criminal ever,
wen ur the nicest guy i have ever met,
y do u think i love you for?
me and Girl are beind u through everyhting,
and i will stick by u through thick and thin im serious
even if i dont get to c u ever again due to FUKING CAMERAS OUT THE FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE, im gunna fucking smash every lense possible,
i miss you soo much
and i cant wait for all this fucking bullshit to finish, and for this [name] chick, im gunna fucking shit in her mouth lol hahahaha
love you
Boy
10/24/2006 12:20 AM
What’s going on DP? I am going to jump on the bandwagon and say I am behind you and the boys. You are good kids and it is this tabloid style sensationalist television reporting that has put you in this position. But what piss’s me off for you is that girl involved. It is obvious she consented to it. She is smiling, laughing and pardon the pun, loving it. Now she is too ashamed to admit to her parents, friends and the public about her actions, they are now turning around and saying she was forced and laying blame on you boys, destroying your images and identity in turn, just to save their own identity. Its pathetic this girl and her family are going to get away with blatantly lying to the police and more importantly the general concerned public and especially you.
I know you got some good kids up in Weribee and around to offer you support, but I am here if you need it mate. Keep strong and you know people in turn will help you too.
Girl
10/23/2006 11:07 PM
Hey DP
we will all stick by you and help ya pull through this. People seem to talk alota crap and cant get their facts right.
u dont know me but i talk to a few of your mates. Just hope your goin allright with whats happening
Take care hun
Girl
10/23/2006 10:53 PM
eyy man hows it goin? hope everythings aiight, we all thinkin of u!! much love dude
ciao
Boy
Girl, Girl, Girl, and Girl says:
exactly b coz use boys are to fuked in the head to realise anything ..u’s r sick and yea hope u’s all get whats comin to u’s
DUDE THIS CHICK DESERVES AN EGGIN
Boy
10/23/2006 10:39 PM
hey dude hope ur feeling ok. u always think positive. if sumthing like that happend to me i would be so down. but u think positive and think about things ahead and move on which is good
hey dude anything u need im here ok dnt forget that. take care. tomoz if ur not busy will do sumthing
Girl
10/23/2006 9:57 PM
DP ON THE NEWS
DP ON THE NEWSS
DDDDDPPPPPP ON THE NEWS!!
we got a copy of [the movie]
it was good as
but that shit was fukkin sickning bou tthat girl
ur mean!!!
JOKESS
umm i liek the shit bout u as a kidd!!
and my all time fave thing u hav eva made is [another movie]
i swear i laugh soo much at that shit!!
anyway DP
just stopedd in to sayy good jobb loserr
ps best editing job eva!!
Boy
10/23/2006 6:16 AM
they have just helped u the fuck outtttt nowyou c an sell so more fucking copies because you got free advertising hahaaaaaaa wooooooo and if they try any funny shit you can use the money to fight them hey man ill hook my cousins in romania up as well we will get this shi world wide hahahah we are thugs in the making picking o ppl that cant efend themselves onto us hahahha what a gay fuckig bitch soooooooooo anyway when is [sequel to the movie] comming out soooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnn
Boy
10/23/2006 6:08 AM
10/23/2006 6:00 AM
ive thoguth very hard abotu this
and im sorry
but im leaving u for Boy
goodbye
Girl
10/23/2006 5:27 AM
the best part
on
[the movie]
is you when you were little with a mushroom cut. AND UR VOICE IS THE BEST!
Boy
10/23/2006 5:04 AM
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR FUCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR u have fuckin heaps of comments cunnnnnnnt, fuck good luck bro see u tomz night sexy
Girl
10/23/2006 4:57 AM
DP
please promise me you wont sell anymore copies, ur in enough trouble as it is, u dont need to make it worst please DP
i dont want to be one of those chicks who has to visit their lovah in jail, with a 1 hour caravan visit a fornight, with soppy love letters lol, ahahah that would give me shivers up my spine, just lyk u do.
xxxxx
Girl
10/23/2006 4:52 AM
DP I need 5 copies off [the movie].
bloody cunts want it like mad after seeing it on tv.
get back to me as soon as possible their given me the cash tuesday and want dvds wednesday.
Girl
10/23/2006 4:48 AM
DP get me a copy of [the movie] please
cant stop the rain
10/23/2006 2:29 AM
saw the tv show
fuckin bullshit
lol can u realli find it on google?
Boy
10/23/2006 2:19 AM
i luv u DP
hope shit dont hit no fan man n if it does FUK THEM CUNTS
|…boy…|
10/23/2006 2:18 AM
[MOVIE TITLE] WOOOOOOT WE ARE FAMOUS BOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Girl
10/23/2006 2:12 AM
DP, you like a movie star.
hope you dont get fucked over hardcore.
take care.
much love
Girl
10/23/2006 2:11 AM
shii man they made everyone out to be like fucks, hope ur not gettin fucked over by it. i guess your famous now, but shit not like that
Girl
10/23/2006 2:06 AM
DP u gangster, that was great
Girl
10/23/2006 2:05 AM
“insecure animals” sucks to be you hahaha did you hear that phsychiotrist. want a mad bitch. shes even planned your entire personality out for you on tv.
Boy
10/23/2006 2:04 AM
wat a load of shit… pll r saying u need to go to court and shit…..??? i tried calling u but u didnt answer…. call me when u can please
Boy
10/23/2006 2:03 AM
MR TRICK MAN. fuk they make it as if were the worst fukin kids on earth and that we shud all go to HELL lol. dude i hope u dont get introuble man.
Girl
10/23/2006 1:56 AM
zomg
DP
is
like
fully
off
the
hook famous.
bouncing
off
the
walls.
Boy
10/23/2006 1:55 AM
elllo mr gay yeh i finally gave in n became a [blog] fag anywayz were all fukd
Boy
10/23/2006 1:49 AM
whats going to happen to you, because of [the movie] man? hahaha
Girl
10/23/2006 1:49 AM
DP ur not apart of the ‘youth gangs’ are u?? hahaha xxxx
Girl
10/23/2006 1:48 AM
DPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
[THE MOVIE] is fukin out there!!!
now everyone knows about
[THE MOVIE ]
END
Heart
Not to mention Rooster has something backwards: the more severe the crime, the more likely it is that the mainstream media will break it’s own code (no one has provided any proof of law yet) and identify minors; in fact, that goes hand in hand with being “tried as an adult,” meaning that protection is no longer given. Again, this is not by law (at least in the US afaik, and she could be completely wrong about Australian law, too), but by convention. Rooster, on the other hand, suggests that identifying minors is more permitted for minor infractions, which goes opposite of that.
I still haven’t seen any actual evidence of these laws existing or applying to this website, and the onus is on Rooster to supply that, especially when making such sweeping directives (that are purely based on mythology as far as I can tell) on what Heart should or shouldn’t publish.
I read one article in which attorneys involved were asking whether this attack would have played out the way it did no matter what, or whether it played out this way because the boys had a camera and were filming it, making a movie. I think that’s a good question. If they are filming it, then maybe in their minds it isn’t real, it’s not the same as a real attack, in the same way that what happens in pornography isn’t real, because what happened was filmed for other people to watch.
Heart
The problem I have with that is that we could apply that logic to pretty much all rape and all the myriad kinds of rationalizing why a rape isn’t a rape.
It’s not a “real” attack because she wanted it/was dressed that way/was drunk/was walking down that street alone/is my wife/likes it rough/slept with me once before/flirted with me earlier/isn’t screaming or crying…blah blah blah. So we add “because it looks like porn where it looks like women like to be mistreated” or “because we’re just making a fun movie” to that list. If we can find room. It’s a really long list.
Do you know what I mean?
Heather, exactly– sorry to be not clear enough. What I meant in my comment was, this is the effect pornography has on people, on boys like this, I think. If a rape, torture, assault of a girl or woman are filmed, then it’s not a rape anymore, now it’s a movie. Like the way all of those people said the Muslim women weren’t being raped by soldiers (in a blog post of a while ago) because of this, that or the other reason, that this was “just pornography,” when in fact, regardless, those were rapes. It seems like what these boys’/men’s friends also saw was not their friends raping on, urinating on, a woman, setting her hair on fire three times (and they also wrote something on her body). They saw a “movie.”
Heart
I’ve had a look at some of the Australian TV reports on it and it certainly has been packaged like a professional product would be, with proper editing and artwork. They’ve even included a fake R rating on the DVD box. There is also a disclaimer before the video of the girl being raped is shown stating that she “consented” to what they did to her. In the video they talk to the camera calling her “the victim” and pointing to her. The guy from Jackass TV has been in the Australian media defending himself against charges that Jackass has had any influence on these boys but it looks very much like a Jackass video apart from the fact that they are committing crimes.
I’m sure these boys know what they are doing is real Heart, otherwise they wouldn’t have tricked the girl, they wouldn’t have picked on a girl who was developmentally delayed who would be more vulnerable and they would have been upfront about what they were planning on doing to her. She was tricked. No need to trick if you see nothing wrong with your actions. I think porn makers know that they are sexual abusers too. The fact is they know it but they lie about it, so they can keep doing it.
Rooster, this isn’t a newspaper or a court of law - this is more like the activities of the Mothers/Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, keeping things from being swept under the rug, demanding truth and action.
I think the camera gives people a license they might not otherwise take however. Maybe that little extra bit of power and authority and distance between themselves and the subject that helps them to be even more abusive.
Yes, I think the boys knew what they were doing, just as pornographers know what they are doing, in the sense of, they are going to do things to women that the women would not agree to. They know, in other words, that they are going to rape, violate, perpetrate, assault. What I think, though, is that they really don’t see anything wrong with what they are doing. They view the resistance of girls and women’s as challenges, obstacles in their path. Kind of like when hunters lure prey into traps; they know they have to trick their prey, overcome their resistance. But they don’t think there’s anything wrong with what they are doing. That’s what’s scary. They know the girl will object, won’t like it. They know some people will think what they have done is wrong. But that doesn’t mean they believe what they are doing is wrong. Which is why they listed their names.
I think this is what pornography does. It makes rapes, sexual assaults and attacks, not real. So long as a rape is being filmed, it becomes, not a rape, but a movie in the minds of the rapists. Even if they know it’s a rape, they can say it was just a movie and count on being believed and defended.
Heart
There is all of this hatred and venom now being poured out on these boys. But where it is men pouring it on, well, they should look in the mirror if they use pornography, advocate for it, make it, buy it. defend the making of it, and women, too. They’ve participated in the creation of this milieu in which so long as you capture the degradation of a woman on film, and then market it, it’s a-okay. That’s “freedom of speech.”
Which is what we’ve been saying for the longest, haven’t we? About pornography. That’s just what we’ve been saying.
Heart
This makes me feel sick to my stomach. The thought that teenagers could do this, that porn is conditioning young people, making them view women and other teenage girls as something to use in their perverted warped view of sexuality and life. But we mustn’t give up hope that there are teenagers and young people who do not agree with pornography and degradation of women. This is why feminism is still so important - to make young people finding their sexuality aware of what is and isn’t real sexuality. Porn certainly isn’t. I’m feeling absolutely outraged and sick for Julia.
My feeling is that they knew what they were doing was wrong but they also knew (or thought they knew, because being teenagers they haven’t got a complete grasp on how things work) that they would get away with it. They certainly got away with it in their own particular subculture given the amount of support they’ve had from their friends and acquaintances.
It was a real punch in the guts to see their crappy disclaimer that the girl in question “consented”. I’m sure that’s what they thought was their get-out clause. After all it works for all the other rapist-pornographers, right?
[...] http://womensspace.wordpress.com/2006/10/28/up-to-14-high-school-boys-rape-torture-developmentally-disabled-girl-then-make-and-sell-dvd-of-the-rapes/trackback/ [...]
I think it would have happened, camera or no camera. I just think they thought they were ‘clever’.
It was a deliberate choice of victim. She would have been probably too innocent and trusting.
I actually don’t care if they are identified, nor do I care what happens to rapists in prison. I don’t care.
I think what bothers me most about this, other than the fact that it happened at all, is that it apparently sat on YouTube for so long, that none of the kids ‘fessed up for so long, that nothing was done for so long.
I have no idea what effect pornography, or Jackass, might have had on these young sociopaths. I don’t especially mind if they’re identified. They have it coming.
Peace,
TH
This is what a percentage of boys find to be a “party” a “good time,”
These boys grow up, and raise more “bad boys”.
There was a time when this stuff happend and the photo’s, stories and video’s were traded among close knit groups. Now with you tube and the likes, these dolts are placing them were they can be exposed for the whacked out disgusting losers they are. Even if later than sooner, eventually they’re going to get caught.
The terms lady killer had a real meaning back in the day the term was popular. It used to be said as a compliment. The meaning is just as valid today, only I hope people are finding it less funny (less boys will be boys), and recognise that this is budding psycopathy.
wow thats so bad .. its a bit similar to a rape story that happned in sydney 20 yrs ago, yet with older men …. i hope thoes boys get life in jail and althought they are only 14 i would hit each one with a bat in the head if i had the chance to .. any way in jail they have their own rules and these guys will get what is comming to them
OK that is the path that I thought the thread would take and I thought also that you would automatically assume that I was in support of their behaviour/crimes/etc and that I was ignoring the victim… I am not surprised.
None of which is true
But I am entitled to my opinion, even if I think we should abide by the law, regardless of origin. Otherwise we will be written off as being anything creditable and viewed as fringe by the community as a whole.
I really do hope that you find satisfaction in your revolution and you get the results that you are looking for. That is not a sarcastic comment either, but a genuine admiration for what you wish to achieve and the tenacity to go after it.
Who is this “we” you speak of Rooster? How very manipulative of you to try and include yourself in radical feminism in order that you can attempt to control our discourse. You’re entitled to your opinion, whether anybody thinks it has much value in this context is another matter.
Australian TV networks, which are in the jurisdiction where this crime has taken place, have already shown pictures of the boys’ faces. The reason why it is legal for them to do so is that none of the boys have been charged with any crime. Yet.
[...] Men’s continual quest for power and domination leaves no woman safe. In peacetime, or wartime, women must always fear men - allies or enemies - we never know who will rape, torture, or murder us next. [...]
[...] Men’s continual quest for power and domination leaves no woman safe. In peacetime, or wartime, women must always fear men - allies or enemies - we never know who will rape, torture, or murder us next. [...]
“But I am entitled to my opinion, even if I think we should abide by the law, regardless of origin.”
As far as anyone knows, this “law” originates and ends at you; you still haven’t bothered to support your statement with evidence, which is ironic considering how you’re positioning yourself as the objective party here.
And secondly, I’m not sure that you even believe in your “regardless” there. What you seem to mean is Western White People Law that you respect, not all laws, everywhere.
With all due respect Rooster, if you knew that your words would provoke our exact reaction, why did you post them then? We are all highly intelligent, learned women. We know the law and the social ramifications of trials by public opinion. We get that. And even if we don’t mention it, espcially, I suppose, if we don’t mention it, someone, somewhere will bring it up - an underhanded reminder that our thoughts, actions, and outrage are dangerously close to being antisocial, dangerous to the social fabric that holds us all togther.
Which, of course, ignores the fact that this social fabric is the patriarchy.
In my book, if little boys and young men wish to act like beasts, they have already violated any prior social contracts - they are as much pissing on society as they are pissing on this girl. Their act isn’t just literal - it is symbolic, a dare, a taunt to see how much they, as males, can bend, rend, or mutilate the common social fabric. This rape was/is their rite of passage into their own self-made future.
In light of this, I find any suggestions that women/feminists should be cautious and respectful of these boys’ right to privacy to be a veiled threat; a rather cowardly hushing of the righteous outrage of women. The suggestion is that *we* will be the one’s to fuck up, tear apart, our delicate social fabric. To that I say: those boys beat me to it.
You are indeed entitled to your opinion, Rooster. You are not so much entitled to wield it and then pat us on the head with your “genuine admiration” when we call your opinion to the mat. Either defend your opinion, or bow out gracefully. Don’t insinuate that we are titlting at windmills while you can so cavalierly waltz in here and say “but I am entitled to my opinion”. How clever of you to make yourself the rational one, while implying that our words, or thoughts, are just emotional overreactions (by using the word “satisfaction”).
We’re not looking for satisfaction; and our revolution is not something out there, disembodied.
We are our revolution.
I can’t even look at those pictures. Those kids resemble my younger cousins, the kids I used to babysit, the paperboy in my neighborhood. It is deeply disturbing to have that correlation put right in my face.
I feel too sick to even process this. In a perfect world, these sick little bastards would never be outside a prison cell again.
“Their act isn’t just literal - it is symbolic, a dare, a taunt to see how much they, as males, can bend, rend, or mutilate the common social fabric. This rape was/is their rite of passage into their own self-made future.”
This is very true, and very well put.
You know, I don’t quite understand the focus some posters have on the perpetrators images or their privacy issues. In stripping away the rights of this girl, and recording it with full knowledge and expectation that the footage would be viewed AND be profitable, these boys have given up any and all rights to privacy, in my opinion. Isn’t there some legal term about this? Expectation of privacy? These boys had none, they should receive none.
What strikes me so deeply is the image especially the one in the middle, reminds me of my own vicimizers at that age. Mabey all teen boys look like that I don’t kbnow, but that IS the face I see when I fall asleep during the “bad nights”
This is not new folks, the technology to produce copy and distribute may be, but the underlying behaviour is not.
Things are not getting worse, they are becoming more and more obvious to more and more of us.
100th monkey, critical mass, and all that.
What delphyne said, and also to:
“I find any suggestions that women/feminists should be cautious and respectful of these boys’ right to privacy to be a veiled threat; a rather cowardly hushing of the righteous outrage of women. The suggestion is that *we* will be the one’s to fuck up, tear apart, our delicate social fabric. To that I say: those boys beat me to it.”
BTW, in hunting around different sources, many of the perps now appear to be 18.
We had a horrendous case similar to this one in New Jersey several years back. A group of high school jocks raped a 17 year old retarded girl with a broomstick and a baseball bat in the basement of the home of two of them. It is a notorious case, known as the Glen Ridge rape. I just did some research and found that two of them, both 18 years old, were identified in the press and two under 18 were not, but the identities of all of them were revealed by the time they went to trial. I have no idea if it is a law or just a custom not to identify minor perps in the media.
(Can only be quick, as I’m in Philly now, but in asking around, the word is that showing these photos isn’t an issue of law when it comes to anyone but a prosecutor, basically. So, 18 or not 18, internet or no a) a blog isn’t a legal case and b) there isn’t actually *legal* policy about not identifying like this, only matters of general practice, but not policy or law about a “right to privacy” in this regard.
And I need to quote what stromcloud did again from Q grrl, because it’s just so awesome: “I find any suggestions that women/feminists should be cautious and respectful of these boys’ right to privacy to be a veiled threat; a rather cowardly hushing of the righteous outrage of women. The suggestion is that *we* will be the one’s to fuck up, tear apart, our delicate social fabric. To that I say: those boys beat me to it.”
“I find any suggestions that women/feminists should be cautious and respectful of these boys’ right to privacy to be a veiled threat; a rather cowardly hushing of the righteous outrage of women. The suggestion is that *we* will be the one’s to fuck up, tear apart, our delicate social fabric. To that I say: those boys beat me to it.”
Speaking of “righteous outrage,” one of my classmates in IMPACT last weekend said, when we brought up Bob Herbert’s article, that women weren’t “rioting in Pennsylvania.”
Maaaaaaan. Is it the times or is it that we’re too suckered into silly “helpless” beliefs about ourselves to riot? I mean, there aren’t as many reactionary riots going on in the 2000’s as there were in the 1960’s. Are there still riots over KKK activities and such? Let’s see…if I remember correctly, there was some rioting or something over that drunk black man who got tazed & assaulted by police in New Orleans about a week or so after Katrina. But people were kind of used to feeling empowered & capable of rioting. Rodney King riots came a little more out of nowhere. But yeah…is it we women alone among the social categories who don’t get around to rioting out of nowhere when we hear appalling news, or is it just that rioting isn’t a strategy used much by social groups at all anymore?
Anyway, yeah, I forgot to say why I put that with that quoted comment! I wanted to pose a second question after that first one I just wrote:
If it’s just us who’re refraining from rioting among social groups watching their own members arbitrarily & disproportionately go down in the worst ways, then should we start? If “righteous outrage” as a general term won’t tear apart the social fabric (because it’s the violence we’re reacting to that already did much more than we ever could), is a real, uncontrolled RIOT among the actions we could take as “righteous outrage” that would still do less damage to society than actions like the ones we’re reacting to did?
If the answer to that is “Yes,” then it seems like we oughtta get off our butts and riot.
If the answer to that is “No,” then it seems like we oughtta get off our butts and march.
The “No” option reminds me of what Sage wrote over at Persephone’s Box:
“If we want to end all sexual abuses and assaults, all domestic violence, all men harming women, we need to affect our legal and economic systems. Specifically, we need … We need … We need … We need … We need … We need … [a list of specific things relevant to her topic for the day]
“We know what we need to do to get this, but it isn’t exciting or radical, it’s laborious and tedious. We need to write letters and make phone calls, every one of us, every single day. If we could each send a letter to a different political figure, business, or media outlet each day, eventually they’d have to listen. We need to campaign and vote for the people who will support this struggle.
“Stop reading blogs and go write a letter. Right now. Then schedule that into your day just like brushing your teeth. We can do it.”
So…who’s with Sage?
We need… to invest ourselves in the next few generations. Rioting will not appease my rage. And if these boys are as affected by what they see on the internet as they claim to be, then blogging is indeed a revolutionary act.
Just to clarify the point I think Rooster was making, here in Australia it is illegal for media to publish images of minors charged with criminal offences.
These repulsive little toerags haven’t yet been charged. But they will be.
Obviously this blog is outside that jurisdiction.
“Just to clarify the point I think Rooster was making, here in Australia it is illegal for media to publish images of minors charged with criminal offences.”
Is there a website listing the exact legal code? I ask because a lot of people seem to believe it’s illegal in the US, without basis, as it IS completely legal. It would be a shame if Australians are repeating the same misinformation about their own laws — not to mention Rooster has repeatedly omitted proof from her claim.
“Under the common law in Australia, court proceedings are usually open to the press and public. All information before a court is made available to those present [27], and the press is entitled to publish reports of court proceedings and public documents so long as “fair and accurate”. Exceptions to the open court rule exist in some cases involving family law matters and all matters where children are defendants.”
From here.
There is an exception. In the Northern Territory, if you know where that is, the media is allowed to identify juvenile defendants.
I think, though I could be wrong, that you are making that mean more than it actually means: talking about those kids, posting pictures of them, interviewing people who know them, talking about the videos, has *nothing* at all to do with COURT PROCEEDINGS. That form of privacy is very specific. Hell, the police already allowed the images of those boys to be broadcast on national TV in order to identify the suspects.
I also think it’s offbase to assume that the world begins and ends with the courts: i.e. if it’s under the court’s jurisdiction, to even the slightest extent, every other institution has to cede interest in it. Especially since, as far as I can tell, your laws don’t even require that.
I don’t know about Australian law, although their system is based on British law, but in the UK when an issue becomes sub judice, i.e. when it comes under the sanction of the courts because there is going to be a trial, then there are strict restrictions on media reporting in order that the trial is not interefered with. For example coverage like the US media’s treatment of the Duke rape case would not be allowed here in the UK. Media outlets who broadcast rapists proclaiming their innocence, or witnesses describing events would be in contempt of court and a mistrial might be declared.
I’m sure the reason why these boys could be identified was because they hadn’t been charged with anything and thus there was no court to be in contempt of. Once they are charged I would guess there will be reporting restrictions. As the jurisdiction of Australian courts doesn’t stretch as far as the US, the issue is moot anyway.
There’s a short explanation here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_judice
This is what porn is breeding - it’s now stark staring reality in our faces - It’s happening NOW! Porn not only is NOT about love, it actively promotes hatred against women, it promotes women as unhuman, it promotes the evil selfish sense of entitlement in very young boys, and with the technological ease of sharing anything you like these days, it is spreading like cancer - porn is cancer in these fuckers heads. After reading the circumstances not only of the rape, but of the delay in even addressing that this poor girl was traumatised and the lack of any sense of wrongdoing with these fuckers, plus the fact that the video was viewed 9000 times, I am unable to talk to a man now, let alone look at one, without feeling sickened. Enough is enough - I thought I had felt as sick as it was possible to feel, but nope, I was wrong.
I remember the glen ridge rape case-horrific, I could not believe it then and cannot believe it now. I recently heard about a gang rape in 1994. Three british soldiers grabbed a girl from the back of her boyfriends bike and drove her to a remote location where they stripped her, raped her, beat her and hacked her to death with a spade (they even cleaved her face) and buried her body! They served ten years for manslaughter after the british government fought for their release despite the fact that they showed no remorse (merely smirked during the trial). The attitude of these men and the glen ridge men seems to be the same as these australian boys-how can it be a crime if i was having fun! This seems to be the overiding defense to these actions-its fun for the attackers so why should they be punished! What hope is there?
I know this news has been around months ago but I just have to spread it so girls around the world - not just in the West, but also in the East - will know the evil the male species can do. No matter what age they start, men can be downright beastly.
Evil knows no age, no sex, no religion or race. Evil exists even in the most innocent of faces.
I wish that there was a way that we could just protect 1 innocent child from something like this! Maldita is absolutely right evil knows no age, no sex, religion or race. But for someone to imply that maybe this would not have happen if she was covered up? WTF! We see little girls 2/3 years old running around in the summer in bathing suits, does this mean that they deserve something like this to happen? I think that is just ignorant stupidity. I think that as women and parents that we must each try to do our best to educate our daughters and sons so that maybe just maybe we might be able to save 1 child just 1. If we start with 1 maybe we can save more. It seems that as time goes on that we are going to have to teach our children to distrust everyone. What kind of a world are we going to have to create to keep our children safe.
This is complete wrong and those boys need to pay big time but we are also forgetting the fact of “Where did they get the idea…parent, older brother or watching shows not intended for them?” Who knows making an example of them would be great, it may not solve the problem but it may prevent others from thinking about doing it!
I just found this now. I am so very heart sick. How do we let this happen? How??? My fingers and brain and heart are numb, too numb to write anything intelligent, how could ther be anything intelligent to write? It is so sickening and has occurred before and God forgive us, may be occurring more times than we know now or in the future.