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New York Times Blames 11-Year-Old Victim for Her Assault
Ask the New York Times to issue an apology.
An 11-year-old girl in Cleveland, Texas was gang raped by a group of 18 boys and men, up to the age of 27. This is an irrefutable fact, as the act was taped with one of the perpetrators cell phones and shared among students, presumably at both Cleveland Middle and High schools. The New York Times reported this week on the incident (which took place back in November), noting that “a rape had taken place” and that the victim “was ordered to disrobe and was sexually assaulted by several boys,” adding, “She was told she would be beaten if she did not comply.”
But the Times article isn’t a piece of unbiased reporting. Author James C. McKinley Jr. shows his true colors when he asks how the criminals could “have been drawn into such an act.” He then answers his own preposterous question by accusing the 11-year-old victim of dressing “older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s.”
In other words, she asked for it. An 11-year-old. Shockingly, though, not only do McKinley and contributing reports by Mauricio Guerrero blame the victim for her horrific assault, they also blame her mother.
McKinley quotes a neighbor of the victim as saying, “‘Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?…. How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?,’” the run-down neighborhood where the gang rape and its recording took place. It’s unclear where the victim’s mother was and if she knew where her daughter was during the attack, and it seems the victim and her mother are essentially in hiding, as they have since moved to an undisclosed location.
McKinley all but directly asks for sympathy for the poor men and teenage boys who were “drawn in” by the Bonne Bell makeup on this clearly amoral 11-year-old, saying, “Churches have held prayer services for the victim. The students who were arrested have not returned to school, and it is unclear if they ever will.” Don’t you understand? These men and boys have suffered enough! Why continue to punish them for a little harmless fun? This gang rape is tearing the community apart, all because the authorities are actually paying attention to the crime.
The Times published a Letter to the Editor criticizing McKinley’s coverage of the story, but has yet to issue an official apology. In fact, they say they stand by the piece. NYT spokesperson Danielle Rhodes Ha told Yahoo!:
Neighbors’ comments about the girl, which we reported in the story, seemed to reflect concern about what they saw as a lack of supervision that may have left her at risk…. As for residents’ references to the accused having to ‘live with this for the rest of their lives,’ those are views we found in our reporting. They are not our reporter’s reactions, but the reactions of disbelief by townspeople over the news of a mass assault on a defenseless 11-year-old.
If you care about this story and the abysmal way it was handled by the New York Times, sign Change.org’s petition demanding an apology from The Gray Lady.
Source: BUST
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23 Comments
[...] causing an outrage because of the terrible thing that happened to the victim. Instead, the New York post ran an article suggesting the girl asked for it: Author James C. McKinley Jr. shows his true colors when he asks how the criminals could “have [...]
No Means No…Period commented on Mar 21 11 at 1:21 amCarlo Fortunato commented on Mar 10 11 at 5:59 pmI read the article before I saw this petition, and couldn’t believe what I was reading. She DRESSED like an older girl? REALLY, New York Times? I mean, REALLY?
Carol commented on Mar 10 11 at 6:08 pmI agree with the NY Times response and I’m a leftist, an old woman and a feminist. Long before Carolyn Castiglia was born, I was marching in the streets for women’s rights. Carolyn obviously can’t read nor does she have critical thinking skills. Then I read some of the other writer’s blogs and said to myself, “Write that book Carol.”
I read some of the other blogs and I’m putting all of your sponsors on my boycott list. It reaches thousands of people!
denise commented on Mar 10 11 at 6:40 pmHow dare you blamed a child for getting rape by 18 boys, you should be a shamed i hope your child or someone close to you get rape so you know excalty how it feel…I will never buy a single newspaper again from you…suckers
Denise commented on Mar 10 11 at 7:28 pmA female, no matter what the age does not deserve this action by a man. This girl will be traumatized for the rest of her life. I also believe that the news papers should be able to print the names of these boys and men.
Kikiriki commented on Mar 10 11 at 7:36 pmI was equally affronted by the way the Times handled that particular story. It smacked of outright bias. Nobody asks to be raped, least of all a little girl. Hopefully somebody will issue an apology to the poor girl and her mother. And I hope that she gets the help she needs to recover from what was undoubtedly a vicious attack.
Craig Dillon commented on Mar 10 11 at 8:55 pmI think the mother and child should sue The Times for malicious slander. Maybe a hefty judgment will make them understand that what they did was beyond acceptance. The reporter and editor that wrote and allowed the article to be published as it was written should be fired. Normally I am against PC firings, but this goes far beyond PC. A little girls ability to get justice and to even live in her community have been seriously harmed. An article like that coming after the horrific rape, is like kicking a person when they are down. The article implies that the girl’s life is worth nothing. I am so disappointed in The NY Times.
Allie commented on Mar 10 11 at 9:58 pmI just read the article, and it’s pretty clear to me that the parts of the story that are so disturbing aren’t the opinion of the Times, but of members of the girl’s community. Members of the community ARE asking how the boys were drawn into it, and saying that the girl dressed inappropriately. That’s extremely disturbing behavior, and without the Times reporting it, I would have assumed the community was trying to support the girl. It would have been pretty shoddy journalism to not include the undercurrent of victim blaming that’s surrounding this case.
Angela commented on Mar 10 11 at 10:41 pmI agree that the article comes across as placing at least part of the responsibility on the victim and/or her mother which is clearly wrong. The very definition of rape was that it was unwanted so the victim is never asking for it. As a mother I would certainly have concerns about an 11 year old dressing provocatively, but not that she was asking to be raped. If the mom was aware her daughter was hanging around dangerous neighborhoods and doing nothing to stop it then I do feel that was neglectful, but still a far cry from asking for her daughter to be raped.
Ri-chan commented on Mar 10 11 at 10:46 pm@Denise_ you’re worse than the reporters.
carolyncastiglia commented on Mar 11 11 at 1:10 am@Angela – the reporter doesn’t distinguish his own voice from that of the townspeople, or interview anyone in the town who isn’t blaming the victim. This is the NYT, they know better than to offer a one-sided story.
lam commented on Mar 11 11 at 10:08 amThe author was quoting locals’ description of the girl and the comment about the mother was a direct quote. The author certainly does distinguish his own voice from the townspeople’s by using the words “they said” and “residents…said’. I don’t see the offense in this coverage. And you know what? I’d like to know about where her mother was. I’d like to know where were the mothers and fathers of the assailants? What happened in their world that they could do such a thing? I’d like to understand all the facts surrounding this assault. It’s not enough to simply identify the assailants and prosecute them, though we need to do that pronto. We also need to know why there were no adults involved in this poor girl’s life that such a thing could happen without anyone suspecting. We need to know why so many people saw that video and did nothing. We need to understand how so many people could cooperate in assaulting a young girl so brutally. We need to know why she didn’t report it herself. We need to know about her clothes. We need to know all of these things. It’s not productive to shut down inquiries about the context of this assault, the victim, or the assailants. We need all the data we can get. Dialogue about rape, especially among the young, cannot be shut down so easily, or we will never meaningfully understand how this happened. Without that, our prevention and response of sexual assault will not improve.
Tammy commented on Mar 11 11 at 10:16 am“Harmless fun”! In no way were their horrific acts harmless in anyway. Rape is not a harmless act, and shame on them, their families and the irresponsible reporter.
Jeff commented on Mar 11 11 at 11:18 amWhat strikes me about this incident is the young men did not appear to think it was wrong to do such a thing. How can you have so many young men participating in such an act? If blame is being assigned, the community is obviously on the list. The reporter pointed out some of the towns people’s bias. He painted the town as amoral by not providing a balanced view between the moral and amoral or legal and illegal. Not only did these men and boys rape this young girl, they posted the rape for everyone to see. This indicates they were proud of what they did or expected no repercussion for it. The article has the appearance of justifying the rape more than condemning it as an appalling act of violence.
carolyncastiglia commented on Mar 11 11 at 11:43 am@Lam – CNN reports that the victim told her principal about the incident. You can’t assume there were no adults involved in this girl’s life. Are you suggesting that “good parenting” prevents rape? The only people who can prevent rape are potential rapists. You just don’t rape people – it’s pretty easy.
marj commented on Mar 11 11 at 11:48 amShe could walk down the street completely starkers and they’d still be the villians. The only reason to wonder about her mother is that parents have the difficult job of teaching kids that there are monsters out there. That is no excuse for people to be monsters, and make no mistake. 18 men abusing a child and filming it, is monstrous. They don’t deserve to live.
Rene commented on Mar 11 11 at 8:48 pmAnd people wonder why rape is one of the most under-reported crimes in the country.
lam commented on Mar 12 11 at 3:52 pm@Carolyn – Seriously? That’s a real question? What I’m suggesting is that we understand everything we possibly can about the circumstances surrounding the assault, including the family situation of the assailants, the victim, and the spectators. If not raping people were “pretty easy”, to borrow your flippancy, it would never happen. It seems apparent that raping someone is pretty easy, too. Don’t you think we need to know more about why that is? The people who commit rape know it is wrong and they do it anyway. What I am, in fact, suggesting, Carolyn, is that deeper understanding of all of the available data yields better ideas about how to prevent assault, at least some of the time.
I do not assume there are no adults in her life. I assume that the adults in her life, and the lives of the assailants and spectators, were not aware of a serious problem. Why is that? I haven’t read CNN’s coverage. I hope her principal did every conceivable thing to aid her.
Margaret Howard commented on Mar 14 11 at 11:52 amThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch did a very similar thing, and in this case the “mentally deficient” girl was taken at 16 and found at 20, after years of outright sexual torture (electrocution, killing animals in front of her, etc.) that he FILMED and CHARGED for. One man has already pled guilting in this case, but you should SEE the horrific story the paper wrote. We’ve started a petition for this case, too. Here’s the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-the-st-louis-post-dispatch-to-apologize-for-fanning-flames-against-tortured-trafficked-woman#comments
Nannette Peck commented on Mar 15 11 at 12:20 amI am absolutely flabbergasted that in this day and age there will be people saying that an 11 year old girl was asking for 18 people to rape her. This makes me shudder to think what will happen when my grandaughter is older.
John commented on Mar 15 11 at 11:33 am“Carol” looks like a poe to me. Agreeing with blaming a child for pedophilia makes “Carol” as sick as these rapists. And the youngest “boy” was a legal adult in this case.
AmyLynne commented on Mar 30 11 at 4:26 pmI am shocked by the event and by this NYT article. I share the writter’s opinion. As for Lam, it is not the job of society to coddle rapists. I understand that the rapists may have had a difficult life too but when he made a decision to rape a child, the job of society becomes one of punishment. And what in the world is with Carol and her great critical thinking skills? Hmm. Go ahead and boycott this writer. I’m pretty sure she can use her critical thinking skills to decide she doesn’t care.
nike shoes on sale commented on Sep 21 11 at 11:20 amHe was shunned by his feathered family when he was just days old. Now, this ugly duckling has found an unlikely father figure to replace them, Barrie Hayman.
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