Serena Williams calls rape victim 'lucky'
We watch the news for a while, and the infamous Steubenville rape case flashes on the TV – two high school football players raped a drunk 16-year-old, while other students watched and texted details of the crime. Serena just shakes her head. "Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don't know. I'm not blaming the girl, but if you're a 16-year-old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don't take drinks from other people. She's 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn't remember? It could have been much worse. She's lucky. Obviously, I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin, but she shouldn't have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that's different."
Full interview http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/serena-williams-the-great-one-20130618#ixzz2WcTE2gzE
Full interview http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/serena-williams-the-great-one-20130618#ixzz2WcTE2gzE
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2344226/Outrage-Serena-Williams-says-Steubenville-rape-victim-lucky-shouldnt-position.html#ixzz2WcYtPDIZ
Doubt she would have the same views if they were 'gang members'
One of the tweets published in that piece was very true ..
I certainly don't disagree with the notion of advising young women to be sensible and safe in situations like parties e.t.c., but there are certainly better ways of doing it.
What a nasty person.
The coverage of that case was horrendous, the amount of sympathy being directed at the 'poor rapists', plus the attempts by their coach and others to cover it up. Williams' attitude is sadly very much in the same vein. The worse bit of that is her "I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin..." and "..unless they slipped her something..", as if either of those factors has some possible significance. What an ignorant and offensive mindset she has.
As for Serena Williams, words fail me. How a young woman can be that willfully ignorant towards rape in 2013 is shocking and horrendous.
There is a pic of her in the Daily Mail. She looks like that Chick with a D Ick RuPaul
She's sort of right. The lass should never have accepted drinks from people she didn't know. No excuse to be raped, but maybe she'll know better not to accept drinks from people she doesn't trust next time. You can't just go putting yourself in complete risky situations and expect to be completely safe. A lot of men are not gentlemen at all and quite a few will take advantage of a situation like that.
Exactly. I really do not think Serena has been thoughtless here. She simply just meant that something worse could have happened to her. It's like you have to say the absolute perfect thing in order not to be slated by anyone. De hell with that.
Thing is, saying "I'm not blaming the girl but .." is, like it or not, placing blame with the victim. I agree that she is clearly trying to offer some common sense advice, but, in my opinion, the default response in this type of case, when referring to the victim, should be that she is completely blameless - no matter what.
She could have said "Let's get one thing straight, the girl is not to blame here. Young women do need to be careful in these situations though". Something like that.
Why did she have to mention if the girl was a virgin or not..what does that have to do with anything
Sometimes people forget to say things that should be said first though. If she is saying that the lass can't expect anything else, fair enough. If I was a lass, I'd try and avoid risky situations altogether. Accepting drinks from strangers that hasn't come from a bar is very risky indeed.
Yeah, that bit puzzled me.
What puzzles me mostly..is why is she commenting about this case at all? The poor girl is being made to look at fault.. If those lads were decent they wouldn't of taken advantage of a very obviously drunken girl and made sure she was taken home or got help for her
The worst bit is the 'virgin' query, the implication being that were she not a virgin, then it wouldn't have been so bad and/or were she not a virgin at 16, then she must have a 'loose' character... as in, well, these things happen to women with 'loose' characters. Judgement written all over it.
Seriously, this woman should be ashamed of herself for even thinking like this, let alone think it's a reasonable opinion to make public.
Her comments are very old fashioned .. Like she can't believe nice boys do something wrong and this "jezzabelle" must of done something to cause it
The truth is the girl put herself in a vulnerable position by being so drunk that these criminals took advantage of her. Of course, they may have done the same had she not been drunk but Serena's comments should be viewed in context. Having said all that, I'm not quite sure why being a virgin had anything to do with anything.