Most Americans were outraged when they read about the brutal gang-rape in India. The report of a 23-year-old woman raped so viciously that she died from her injuries made our collective stomachs turn. Like most of us, I was grateful that I live here. In America that sort of thing doesn’t happen. If it does happen, the perpetrators are brought to justice swiftly. This is America, we specialize in outrage. We have the greatest justice system in the world. We all know that rape is bad, that nobody asks for it, and that if someone is accused of rape that accusation will be taken seriously.
Unless you’re on a football team.
I can’t help but draw a comparison between the gang-rape in India and the rape scandals that seem to plague the American institution of football. Penn State, Notre Dame, and Steubenville High School have all been accused of covering up or ignoring rape allegations in order to protect their football programs. In Penn State’s case it was more than a mere allegation. Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of sexual assault of underage boys. The bigger scandal was that the hierarchy at Penn State, including the infamous head coach Joe Paterno, deliberately concealed this information in order to protect the team.
For 15 years Sandusky got away with raping young boys to protect a football program. After an investigation the NCAA vacated all of Penn State’s wins from 1988-2011, they were fined $60 million, and banned from bowl games for four years. I read many posts about how the NCAA was punishing the students of Penn State. I disagreed then and I disagree now. The students of Penn State have been punished, that’s true. But they were not punished by the NCAA, they were punished by Joe Paterno and his band of lackeys who let a child rapist run free in the name of football. If you ask me, the NCAA didn’t go far enough. Penn State should never be able to have a football program again. If that means fewer students attend and the school fails, good.
I say that because it didn’t stop with Penn State. In August a young girl woke up to a storm of social media pictures and posts about her sexual assault. She was too drunk to remember being assaulted, fondled, and dragged from house to house like a sexual plaything by members of the Steubenville, Ohio football team. Allegedly, the local police did not follow regular procedures when they investigated the incident. Why? Because the accused were football players. A young girl assaulted while others looked on, took pictures, tweeted, snap chatted, and facebooked about it, not one person tried to stop it, then the police allegedly dragged their feet so as not to implicate their star players.
Melinda Henneberger of The Washington Post investigated a similar incident at Notre Dame. In August of 2010 a young girl named Lizzy Seeberg reported a sexual assault by a Notre Dame football player. Lizzy would be dead before that football player was ever interviewed. No, she did not die from her injuries. She committed suicide 10 days after courageously reporting the sexual assault. Ten days she spent waiting for them to talk to the player. Ten days after receiving threatening texts from other players saying things like, “Don’t mess with Notre Dame football.” The case will never go to trial. The accused will never be identified. Ms. Henneberger interviewed a rape victim who refused to report her rape because of what happened to Lizzy. I know there is a chance the player is innocent. Maybe Lizzy is the aggressive, slutty college girl his lawyer and Notre Dame have made her out to be, despite all evidence to the contrary from people who knew her.
My problem is with the administration at Notre Dame who investigate all crimes. They chose not to interview this young man immediately. He has never missed a practice, game, or other football obligation due to being accused of sexual assault. One wonders if they ever would have had Lizzy not taken her own life. Just like one wonders what evidence the authorities in Steubenville could have gathered if they weren’t so busy protecting their team. Or how many young lives wouldn’t have been ruined if someone at Penn State had the guts to say, we have to stop Jerry Sandusky.
If Americans want to be outraged about something, perhaps it is time we turn that outrage to ourselves. I want to live in an America where everyone gets a fair trial, but in order for that to happen we can’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. We can do better than this. We can live in a place that no matter what the status of the person you are accusing, they can still be at least questioned by the authorities. And if that person is guilty, I want to live in a place where they have to pay for their actions. Even if it means losing a football game.
I will say this about BYU, they don’t do this. If you break the school’s honor code (or the law) you are gone, no if and or butts. We have lost a lot of good athletes that way. Perhaps you have heard of a Notre Dame football player called Manti Te’o. He was second in the Heishman Trophy this year and went to the championship game. While being recruited to play at BYU, Manti did a little drinking and BYU withdrew their offer even thought he was a top player. Now just check out what is going on with that dude in the news. Somethings, a lot of things, are more important than sports.
I didn’t know about Te’o and BYU, but I’m glad they stuck to their morals. I wish more schools did.
That Steubenville chick got peed on too. As if everything else wasn’t enough. Fucking assholes.
Seriously. Who does that to a person?
How did football ever get such a stranglehold on our educational institutions? The rapes and cover-ups are horrible, but there’s also grading scandals, booster club excesses, and so much more. It’s a GAME, folks, and they’re PLAYERS, not gods
Exactly. College is supposed to be about learning first.
[...] Football is our India Gang Rape [...]
I just read about the Notre Dame woman last night. Sometimes some men are just disgusting all over a sport. While I like watching college football, I think it’s focus is so skewed compared to academics and the welfare of students. More money is spent per football DIV I athlete than any other student. It’s quite sickening. Our country is going downhill, priorities are all wrong.
It is sickening. I understand that these boys are old enough to make their own choices, but the schools should never cover for them.
I could not agree more. I live in an area where the athletes are lifted on pedestals and everyone else is nothing. While I do not know of a rape as such I would not doubt anything. We have our morals mixed up that is for certain.
We do. It’s sad.
I havent heard of the case in india ormthe others other than sandusky I have been so away from the news…..awful. Hard hitting post, but good. thanks for writing it….
Thank you, Tricia.
I agree with your post. Not only football, all athletics, celebrities and politicians think they are above the law. Penn State was the first of many. When money becomes the prime reason for playing, everything else goes out the window. Unfortunately, there are people who accuse falsely…..for money!! Sports needs to go back to what it was….too much money, You know I LOVE football and all sports, but NO ONE is worth millions because he can throw a ball. When I was young we used to look up to ball players as hardworking men who got paid little and played for love of the sport. If we got back to those principle as well as stressing academics over sports. Maybe this wouldn’t be happening. No college is immune to this. Also, most colleges have their own police dept who “keep a lid” on what has gone on. This too must end. Cover ups, paying off people, ignoring what is going on will not solve this problem.
It’s just a game after all.
A-fucking-men
Sing it, sister.
I so agree with you. There should be so special passes for criminal behavior – period.
No special passes ever. Agreed.
Did you read where some of the Steubenville parents blamed the girl!?! They carried that unresponsive girl to three parties! And what the hell was wrong with all those kids at those parties that stood around and did nothing. Unbelievable! Notre Dame is super disappointing but not even shocking. Those programs care more about the money then criminals. It is truely scary!
I did read that. When are we going to learn that no one “asks for it?” It’s awful.
It’s not just football – it’s all high profile sports; in and post college. Look at the NBA “stars.”
Totally agree with you on that. But this football thing, it’s the first time I’ve heard about it in high school too.
Amen! It’s not only sports figures, unfortunately, getting away with crime after crime. Celebrities, politicians and sadly, the clergy, seem to feel they are above the law. Why do we require full background checks when purchasing a firearm, if we aren’t going to apply the same type of rules to anyone who works with children. Furthermore, the public should be able to hold the police accountable when they fail to investigate any serious accusations. How many rapes go unreported because society seems to blame the victim for” getting herself into the situation”, or “asking for it”, rather than blaming the person who takes advantage of an incapacitated person and commits assault or worse, like its a game? It sickens me.
That’s the problem. Women are scared to report crimes. It’s not ok.
This comment is coming from a fan of the sport, someone who played it from age 5 to 19.
Sports is organized crime.
The amount of money it generates on the high school level alone is absurd. as a result so many people’s livelihoods are at stake, football coaches make more than any other teacher at their respective schools, even on the teams that suck.
Steubenville’s culture, while gross and out of control, isn’t any different than the one that daughter cheers for. I’m glad I have daughters. although my 9 year old is a bad ass and can beat the crap out of any boy around her age, I wouldn’t allow her to play or participate in the football culture. It’s lost its soul.
wonderful post. I hope the right eyes find it.
“Sports is organized crime.” Sad, but I think true.
—I cannot believe some of the clips I’ve watched w/ the football guys laughing about that rape.
And people are standing behind them.
As far as I’m concerned, we are in India.
xxx
As far as I’m concerned, you’re correct.
Eloquently stated. I agree with Lance, I hope the right eyes see this. Ellen
While I mostly agree with you about the Ohio and UND I think you might have been mistaken on your information of Coach Paterno. He did do as he was supposed to and reported the allegation to the Vice president of security, who is currently charged with failure to investigate and other crimes. Please do not lump in a good coach who did amazing things for a university in the same group with the lowlifes who allowed the rapes to go on. Sandusky also was not part of the PSU football team at the times the rapes occurred, he was retired and given an ofice by the athletic department to run his charity out of. Paterno donated large amounts of his salary back to the university, i can think of at least one library his donations built. I am not a PSU alumni or even live in PA but feel sorry that his reputation is tarnished by this.
As for the money that athletics brings into a university and spends on student athletes, it is not what you think. I know my university, where i was a student athlete, made enough money from the tv and marketing divisions to not only totally support the athletics department but the excess money was turned over to the university and spent on the academics. When we moved from what was then DII to DI athletics our academic side was able to put in place two new programs, archeology and Latin American political science/ economic. These new sections would not have been available without the athletic departments. Yes the athletes do tend to have more money spent on them, tutors, medical scholarship but please remember they allow the school to give out scholarship and run programs that they wouldn’t otherwise afford.
Thank you for your comment, but I respectfully disagree about Paterno. Yes, he probably followed the “guidelines” for reporting an incident. But this wasn’t just a run of the mill incident. This was sexual assault on a child. He should have kept going, shouted it to anyone who would listen especially knowing Sandusky was working with children. Nothing else he did matters because at the end of the day he was a coward who let children continue to be abused for years. That is his legacy and he deserves it.
I realize athletics bring in lots of money. Although, plenty of schools do without big athletic programs, but yes you are correct. Even so, those athletes should not ever be allowed to get away with sexual assault to protect the program.
I think a lot of Western countries get on their high horse like this.
Australia is so happy to finger point places like Indonesia for human rights issues and yet we treat our indigenous people not only appallingly but without admission.
Football and alcohol always leads to bad, very bad decisions and actions.
It’s so much easier to point figures than to deal with our own problems, isn’t it?
This was a Fantastic post, Bridget. It’s amazing that we still have to fight for our dignity as women. After all this time, we’re still nothing against the reputation of a star athlete. It’s disgusting. At least rock stars just trash hotel rooms.
Thank you. Who would ever have thought we would still be told, “she asked for it” about rape in 2013. Disgusting.