The Rape of an 11-Year-Old Girl Highlights an Important Wider Issue [View all]

[redqueen]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/laura-bates/the-rape-of-an-11-year-ol_b_2218428.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

A man appeared in court last week charged with the rape of an 11-year-old girl on her way home from school. The news has caused widespread shock and consternation, but stories submitted to the Everyday Sexism Project website this year suggest that the sexual harassment of young girls in school uniform is far less rare a phenomenon than we might like to think.

The huge number of entries we have received detailing the sexual objectification and harassment of schoolgirls comes from parents, from bystanders and from victims themselves. One girl told us:

"I was 13 when I experienced sexual harassment for the first time... I was stopped by a group of men (at least 17 or more years old) in a black pick-up truck. They were telling me that they liked school girls and that I probably "have a tight pussy." I didn't understand what they were talking about. I was 13...

...

Too often the reports we receive suggest that girls are too scared to speak up or shamed into feeling that what has happened was their own fault. Because this frequently silences victims, many people are unaware of how severe the problem is. A man wrote to us, shocked, after witnessing a similar event:

...

I posted in bb's thread in meta about the resistance to discussing rape culture, the story of an 11-year-old girl who was raped and - of course - blamed for it by one of the rapist's defense attorneys.

People in other threads seem shocked at how young so many victims are.

All I can think is: Why has it taken so long for so many to pay attention?

Anyway... hopefully this is changing. It seems to be changing... faster in other countries than here... but still. Still, I want to have hope.


http://www.everydaysexism.com/

How old were you when it first happened to you?

I was in sixth grade. Once a man stopped and tried to get me into his car. Another man followed me as I left a convenience store near my grandmother's house. Those were the two scariest incidents... the catcalls and stuff was fairly routine.