If a violent action is reported by a male they normally are not taken as seriously as women reporting the same crime. Men are supposed to be stronger more powerful people than women so it should be harder to "take advantage" of them than it is women. Since women are viewed as weaker easier people to be able to control, then in the public eye it makes more sense for women to report sexual gender based violence than men.
A great comparison of male to female reports of violence would be Mr. Smith's case to the case of the Duke Lacrosse players being accused of sexually violating a dancer after a party they had held . Immediately the media blamed the players and took the side of the female who had reported the encounter with the three players from the Duke Lacrosse team. People couldn't believe that these men, especially with the standards they held being an athlete at a college, would do something as violent as this. Even when people tried to back the three individuals and say there is no way they could have done something of this nature, reporters in the media such as Nancy Grace would cut them off and accuse them of being wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtWNVxnmG_4
What I found interesting about the whole situation is the charges were dropped and the men were falsely accused of doing something they didn't do but yet everyone, especially the media, wanted to automatically say the men did it. However, in the case of Mr. Smith nobody would believe what he had to say and he was actually telling a legitimate story.
Color me guilty. When this story first broke, my only thought was "typical jock pigs." Fortunately I do not have a national platform, unlike Nancy Grace, didn't spread my views to anyone. After the conclusion of this incident, a time to think presented itself? Why did I want these guys to be guilty? Why did I immediately assume their guilt, and not give them the benefit of the doubt?
ReplyDeleteI think the first reason is cowardice. Many people were afraid to throw their support behind rich, male, white athletes at Duke University. Their class status made for the perfect Law and Order SVU villain. So for that reason, we were afraid to back them.
The second reason would be a type of self-righteousness. People have an innate desire to be seen as better than other people, and there is little better way to portray than to be disgusted at the alleged conduct of those athletes.
The last reason would be something touched upon by the MAC group from Duke University. Males have been painted as the villain by the actions of other males, and we feel an indignation from this. Thus, when an incident such as this occurs, we are quick to throw our support behind the women so as to appear virtuous and, as one of the interviewees referred to it as, enlightened.
Cases like this should make us reflect and not jump to conclusions when an individual is accused of a crime. The court of public opinion is not where justice is done.