HENRY ROLLINS COMMENTS ON STEUBENVILLE RAPE VERDICT

HENRY ROLLINS COMMENTS ON STEUBENVILLE RAPE VERDICT

One story that has captivated our staff and nation in recent months is the tale of a sixteen-year-old girl from Steubenville, Ohio who was raped by two high school football players last summer. Yesterday morning, an Ohio court found the two teens charged in the case, Trent Mays (17) and Ma’lik Richmond (16), guilty and sentenced them to at least one year in juvenile jail. They could be held until they are 21 years old. Mays was sentenced to an additional year for a charge related to distributing nude images of a minor. More details on that can be found here.

As you can probably imagine, the reaction to this conviction has been loud and divided, with many turning to their internet to vent. One of those people, punk legend Henry Rollins, posted a lengthy blog yesterday afternoon focusing on the verdict and what the case means on a much larger scale. You can read his words below.

03-17-13

For the last couple of hours, I have been thinking of the verdict that was reached in what is now known as the Steubenville rape case.

Since all involved are minors, I won’t use anyone’s name. Two juvenile males were found delinquent of the charges and will be, as far as I understand, incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility until they are twenty-one years of age.

There is, I guess, cell phone generated video content of parts of the crime. It went “viral” on the internet and brought attention to the events.

I got through a few minutes of it but was too disgusted to watch the rest.

The case, the verdict and the surrounding circumstances open up a huge conversation.

These are a few of the things that I have been thinking about.

After reading several posts online, I was not surprised at the vast range of sentiments expressed. Many of the postings were of outrage that the two found delinquent were not tried as adults so they would face much longer sentences. You might not know, but in some states, this sentence would be decades long. Many of the posts spoke of the damage done to the victim and the life she will have now. One person suggested caning the two young men. Many others were angered at the deification of high school football players and how they often receive special treatment. You can read this stuff all day if you want.

After reading posts for quite awhile, I thought first about the two young men. I wondered if the years in the facility will “help” them. What, exactly does one “learn” in one of these places? That is to say, after five years locked away, does the idea of assaulting a woman seem like the wrong thing to do, more than if you were incarcerated for one year? Would you be “more sorry” about what you did? Is that possible? Or, would you just be more sorry for yourself about where your actions landed you? At what point do you get “better”, how many years in one of these places does that take?

What made these young people think that that what they did was ok? What was in their upbringing, the information and morals instilled in them that allowed them to do what they did, minute after minute, laughing, joking, documenting it and then calling it a night and going home? Out of all the people who were witness to what happened, why wasn’t there someone putting a stop to it?

What I am attempting to get at, and I apologize if I am not being clear enough is that this is a failure on many levels. Parents, teachers, coaches, peers all come into play here. I am not trying to diffuse blame or lessen the awfulness of what happened but I want to address the complexity of the cause in an effort to assess the effect so it can be prevented.

Some might say that the two going to the youth facility are as much victims as the young women who was assaulted. I do not agree. The two are offenders. What they did was obviously wrong. That being said, we cannot end the discussion at that point and expect things to change.

I have yet to say anything about the damage done to the young woman involved. It is ironic and sad that the person who is going to do a life sentence is her.

As a testament to the horrific power of sexual assault, I encourage you to see, yet cannot recommend the documentary The Invisible War about sexual assault in the military. http://invisiblewarmovie.com/. The reason I say that I cannot recommend it is that it is so well done, so clear and devastating that it will put you through quite a wringer. I do hope you see it but damn, it’s hard. In the interviews with women who have been assaulted by fellow members, the damage that has been done to these good people is monumental.

Many people are angry that more time was not given to the offenders. This seems to be the prevailing sentiment. I understand the anger but don’t know if adding a decade onto their sentences would be of any benefit. To me, the problem that needs to be addressed is where in the information chain were the two offenders made to understand that what they did was not wrong on every possible level? You can execute them both tomorrow but still, there is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

It’s a situation where you would like to be able to point a finger and say, that’s the reason and be done. You have to be careful when you do this because it’s easy to miss.

I think to a great degree, we humans still divide ourselves into two species, even though we are monotypic. There are males and females. We see them as different and not equal. Things get better when women get more equality. That is a bit obvious but I think it leads to better results up the road. If it’s a man’s world as they say, then men, your world is a poorly run carnage fest.

It is obvious that the two offenders saw the victim as some one that could be treated as a thing. This is not about sex, it is about power and control. I guess that is what I am getting at. Sex was probably not the hardest thing for the two to get, so that wasn’t the objective. When you hear the jokes being made during the crime, it is the purest contempt.

So, how do you fix that? I’m just shooting rubber bands at the night sky but here are a few ideas: Put women’s studies in high school the curriculum from war heroes to politicians, writers, speakers, activists, revolutionaries and let young people understand that women have been kicking ass in high threat conditions for ages and they are worthy of respect.

Total sex ed in school. Learn how it all works. Learn what the definition of statutory rape is and that it is rape, that date rape is rape, that rape is rape.

In the spirit of equal time, sites like Huffington Post should have sections for male anatomy hanging out instead of just the idiotic celebrity “side boob” and “nip slip” camera ops. I have no idea what that would be like to have a camera in my face at every turn, looking for “the” shot. I know what some of you are saying. “Then why do they wear clothes like that unless they want those photos taken?” I don’t know what to tell ya. Perhaps just don’t take the fuckin picture? Evolve? I don’t know.

Education, truth, respect, equality—these are the things that can get you from a to b very efficiently.

It must be an awful time for the parents of all three of these people and their relatives and I hope they all get to a better place soon.

What else? That’s all I’ve got. Thanks for reading this. Henry

I must admit, this case got zero airplay over here at all, what happened in it?

Bunch of drunk teens at a party, girl was too drunk to consent, two football players raped her and someone posted a video of it online. Basically, this sort of thing happens all the time, consentually or not, particularly when alcohol is involved, and i dunno that its all that new really. Just now everyone has a video phone, and if it hadnt gone viral online (another inditement against our society) the case probably wouldnt have gotten any media coverage, just like the thousands that never do.

I used to like Rollins. He really went off the deep end a few years ago. Thankfully this wasn't one of his typical rants.

It seems he is like many others who think we can just educate these things away. His answer is to add women's studies into the curriculum.....really??? I have always been of the mind that we are all equal. I don't want curriculum based on races, gender, or sexual orientation. Just tell me who did what and how important was it. It doesn't matter if they are black, red, brown, gay, straight, confused, man or woman.

Sex ed.??? You gotta be kidding me there too. I know I am in my mid-40's, but at that age, I(and everyone I knew) knew just as much about sex as I do now. Kids these days know even more. Sex ed. solving this.....that is as intellectually lazy as the women's studies suggestion.

Education always seems to be the answer from the progressives, but bringing back some perceived morality taught by devout religion is always the answer from the other side. Let's get this straight; while I have nothing personal against religion, events like this happen at the same rate in highly devout areas as well as those areas devoid of faith. As far as that is concerned, I ain't buying into that either (inject the intellectually lazy thing here as well).

Let's be honest with ourselves, as far as this stuff goes, unless you can take testosterone out of teen males, they are always going to be brutish, selfish and violent. That is cold, hard science.....deal with it.

I know that may sound like I don't care, but that is far from the truth. I just live with my eyes open and know that bad things always happen. Legislation, education, punishment.......none of these will stop it.

How about we really get honest and address the real points; why the hell were high school kids out drinking anyway??? Where were the parents??? Why is intoxicated behavior acceptable??? Did people actually think that teenagers would stay civil even under the influence???

Marconius wrote:
Let's be honest with ourselves, as far as this stuff goes, unless you can take testosterone out of teen males, they are always going to be brutish, selfish and violent. That is cold, hard science.....deal with it.

I know that may sound like I don't care, but that is far from the truth. I just live with my eyes open and know that bad things always happen. Legislation, education, punishment.......none of these will stop it.

Your argument seems to hinge on the idea that these students, or rapists in general, commit these acts because of a sexual urge; that sex drive is the primary motive. Much work done on the topic seems to suggest, in agreement with the author, that domination is often an important motivation in these crimes. Increased rates of rape have been correlated with periods of rapid power shifts from male dominated societies to more equal societies (interpreted as an act of dominance by those having problems with coping with the loss of power). It doesn't sound like these boys did it to get their jollys off, but rather to assert themselves as dominant to the woman.

The education idea, as indorsed by the author, is based on the belief that their is a societal belief in female inferiority. The idea is that one can teach away bigotry. Weather or not this is possible, I'm not entirely convinced.

Bryant wrote:

Marconius wrote:
Let's be honest with ourselves, as far as this stuff goes, unless you can take testosterone out of teen males, they are always going to be brutish, selfish and violent. That is cold, hard science.....deal with it.

I know that may sound like I don't care, but that is far from the truth. I just live with my eyes open and know that bad things always happen. Legislation, education, punishment.......none of these will stop it.

Your argument seems to hinge on the idea that these students, or rapists in general, commit these acts because of a sexual urge; that sex drive is the primary motive. Much work done on the topic seems to suggest, in agreement with the author, that domination is often an important motivation in these crimes. Increased rates of rape have been correlated with periods of rapid power shifts from male dominated societies to more equal societies (interpreted as an act of dominance by those having problems with coping with the loss of power). It doesn't sound like these boys did it to get their jollys off, but rather to assert themselves as dominant to the woman.

The education idea, as indorsed by the author, is based on the belief that their is a societal belief in female inferiority. The idea is that one can teach away bigotry. Weather or not this is possible, I'm not entirely convinced.

Never said it was sexual urge. What causes men of a certain age to act brutish and attempt to dominate others???

Main cause Is one word and it starts with a "t".

You must also remember human nature is animal nature. To dominate the physically weaker can be seen everywhere outside of our species. What people are asking for is an impossibility. Impossibility at this state in evolution that is.


........unless you think that education would be the outside catalyst to trigger evolution.......

But see marc, your talking about primal urges vs. control and higher functioning, and this is at the crux of all man's struggles, because we are not just instinctual beasts at the whims of our hardwiring as most other animals are, lest we'd all be rapists, murderers, thugs, you name it. But when alcohol is involved, especially with youth who already have an invincibility complex, then controlling those primal urges gets more difficult. To me, this all goes back to the objectification of society. Not only is sexual deviance looked at as a new norm, its at our very fingertips, any fantasy you want. And we'll lets not say pur teenage girls are little angels wearing hoop skirts anymore. Thanks to society as a whole, most girls now dress and behave in order to attract sexual attention, even if theyre not sexually active.

And bryant, may e you ddnt hear abt ot cuz you werent watching fox's lies ;-p

Well, one thing strikes me here. The testosterone thing would be a big part of it, but it's also cultural, the whole glorification of the jock culture you guys got going on in schools, where if you're good at football, basketball, whatever, you get a complete pass at everything and the school will bend over backwards to make sure you can keep playing for them. One thing that I read on this was that the school tried to hush this up because the kids involved were some of the school's star players.

Saw this as well on FB:



So if they're good at sports, then they're pretty much told it's ok to do whatever you want, just keep on playing. So, it's no wonder that they thought they could get away with this, there's no sense of boundaries or respect for the authorities or anyone else. They can behave whatever way they want, and no-one is going to say anything to them until they go over a line they probably didn't even know was there, and stuff like this happens. The phrase "invincibility complex" was used, you can add to that an "entitlement complex".

Pun wrote:But see marc, your talking about primal urges vs. control and higher functioning, and this is at the crux of all man's struggles, because we are not just instinctual beasts at the whims of our hardwiring as most other animals are, lest we'd all be rapists, murderers, thugs, you name it. But when alcohol is involved, especially with youth who already have an invincibility complex, then controlling those primal urges gets more difficult. To me, this all goes back to the objectification of society. Not only is sexual deviance looked at as a new norm, its at our very fingertips, any fantasy you want. And we'll lets not say pur teenage girls are little angels wearing hoop skirts anymore. Thanks to society as a whole, most girls now dress and behave in order to attract sexual attention, even if theyre not sexually active.

Exactly. This goes back to my first post. Rollins is missing the point entirely. In his mind the alcohol is secondary, if under consideration at all, and education is primary. Young men already struggle every day to control urges brought on by chemicals. That is why they are more violent than older males who have learned to control it. Mix in the lowering of control that alcohol brings and you get this. Of course this won't be talked about because alcohol is the acceptable drug and parents are too busy trying to be "the cool" parents.

I won't put blame on the female. She can be as sexually active as she wants, even though I do not condone it at that age, but she still has the rights over her body.

Im not condemning the female or any rape victim just speaking in larger terms. Pop culture has women as nothing more than sex objects (they dress and act that way) and thus girls immitate that and it leads to a perception of promiscuity.

And in many cases girls think they do have to be promiscuous to be popular or keep their boyfriends.