“Prosecutors say a former Vanderbilt football player encouraged his team-mates to rape an unconscious woman whom he had been dating.
During opening statements Monday in the retrial of Brandon Vandenburg, a prosecutor said the former player even passed out condoms to three team-mates before the woman was raped.
But one of Vandenburg’s attorneys blamed the three other players, saying that maybe Vandenburg could have stopped the June 2013 attack but he shouldn’t be held responsible for what others did to her.
The defense attorney said Vandenburg had been drinking all day, and the 19-year-old new recruit had asked players he didn’t know to help him carry the unconscious woman to his dorm. He said the others were on her as soon as they got her in the room.”
Horrific.
I know most of the guys I argue with on Reddit about this kind of stuff would never once look at it this way, but whenever I see this kind of story (and we all know at what frequency they happen, sickening) all I can think is ‘Wow, it’s so bizarre, and so strange, that men are constantly asking us to trust them, and that it’s only a few bad apples ruining the reputation of the bunch, but… There’s four men, four random men, from different households, different parents, different siblings, different walks of life- teachers, school districts, friends… Four different men who come together and all of them are rapists at heart.’
Like, think about that- how all four of these guys didn’t have the conscience, the scruples, morals, ethics, whatever you want to call it, to not rape an unconscious and defenseless woman. If you got four random men together and had one of them posit that they should murder someone, do you think they’d all just go along with the murder? Or would one of them go ‘Um, yeah, maybe let’s not murder someone tonight Chad, that sounds like a really horrible idea’?
But rape, that’s on the table apparently. He didn’t even know those guys, he couldn’t have cherrypicked the ‘rapiest’ guys in the group or anything, they were new recruits that he didn’t know, and yet all four of them… Just, fucking hell.
And THEN the next day when this girl asked what happened between blacking out and waking up in a strange dorm room, he told her she got really drunk and he had to spend the whole night “taking care of her” and “cleaning up after her”. She apologized to him. She didn’t know it had happened until the police showed her pictures/videos.
Here’s the thing. Things are already really shitty in this country
for rape survivors. Rape kits aren’t processed. The cops don’t believe
you. Everyone you know doesn’t believe you. Your friends think the
rapist is a really nice guy who wouldn’t do that. Your rapist is Bill
Cosby or Sean Penn or Woody Allen and then the whole country doesn’t
believe you. If by chance your case actually goes to trial, your rapist
gets three months and then he goes home to eat steak with his dad.
Or he gets acquitted and goes on to make Birth of a Nation. If you are
black, if you are trans, the chances anyone gives a shit about your rape
go down even further. They ask why you didn’t defend yourself, but if a
man tries to hurt you and you use force to defend yourself, YOU can go
to jail. You absolutely cannot fucking win.
The things he said weren’t his usual Trump bragging doucecanoe
nonsense. He was 100% correct. Trump could grab anyone he wanted. He
could sexually assault anyone he wanted. He has already. He’s done it to
his wife. He did it to a 13 year old girl. There have been no
consequences for him. Why would there be consequences for someone with
money and power when even your average college student can get away with
rape with impunity?
Paraphrasing from a powerful essay on rape
jokes I’ll link to at the bottom… I do not think all men are rapists. I
don’t think every man who likes Donald Trump is a rapist.
But
rapists? They really do think that all other men are rapists too. And if
you stand idly by and you won’t speak out against Donald Trump right
now, you are teaching rapists that they are right. You are allowing them
to think you condone sexually assaulting women. Your silence, your
excuses, your dismissal– these speak VOLUMES. To women. To survivors.
And to rapists.
(D) If she did not zealously advocate for her client, or purposely tanked the case, she would have faced disbarment from the legal profession. (SHE WOULD HAVE LOST HER JOB)
(E) In the 1980 audio interview, she talked about how her client somehow passed the polygraph that she’d hoped would have helped prove his guilt, and then laughed while saying that since then she never trusts polygraphs, ever.
(F) Even the picture used is not the actual victim, and you can be damned well sure they used a tearful angelic blonde little white girl to drive the hate.
but tldr;yes she defended a child rapist , no she didn’t really have a choice despite finding the case disgusting, because as a civil attorney YOU LEGALLY STILL HAVE TO REPRESENT THEM NO MATTER HOW ICK IT IS (this is what LAWYERS DO, they have NO CHOICE). She was essentially forced into it by her firm, and she made the guy take a polygraph test hoping that would prove him guilty. But when it didn’t prove him quilty (since he passed the polygraph ) she said she forever lost her faith in those tests.
Also, just FYI, in case you’re looking for a law degree, please know that this is STILL required of attorneys today. If you request to get removed from a case because you don’t like it and the court keeps you on you are legally bound to do so irrespective of how you feel about it.
No one is saying that every it of what that man did isn’t super horrible or gross.
But …
being legally bound to defend a rapist
≠ being an advocate for rape.
Also – bit of history for ya– despite this one gross case (among other civil cases no doubt) the Rose Law Firm she working for was known for actively taking cases for and defending groups like The Black Panthers. #tbt
Please do REBLOG/SIGNAL BOOST this post – the amount of anon messages I’ve gotten in the last 24 hours about this exact topic is uncanny.
People need to know the truth.
Thank you! People need to actually research shit before they slander her reputation like that.
I swear my fucking blood pressure isn’t going to take half a year of Hillary bashing.
I did not know this about being legally obligated to serve a client even if you think they’re guilty. I guess I understand the theory behind it, but that is really fucking grooosss. >.<
Unsurprisingly, this has been on my mind since my cousin posted it yesterday. These are her experiences with violence at the hand of men she should have been able to trust.
TW: Domestic and sexual abuse.
So much of her experiences disturb me, and I could comment on each really, but one case stands out to me as a terrible result of our toxic society and lack of consent education (not that these issues weren’t involved in the others).
“We worked together, we drank together, we karaoked together. We had a lot of the same friends and I loved him and his girlfriend to pieces…
”…I laid down on the couch, where I was going to sleep, and at some point during the Phish, I blacked out, as we have established I do from time to time — as normal citizens do after consuming too much alcohol from time to time. “When I came to, he was trying to go down on me, on his couch. By now his girlfriend had already gone to bed. I tried to push him away, but couldn’t muster the strength. His response was something like, “It’s OK, she won’t mind,” or, “won’t know,” or…I don’t recall. It was foggy. He must have thought that my attempted protests were because I wouldn’t want her to find out. He persisted. I tried to tell him to stop but I don’t think the words left my mouth. I couldn’t protest.”
It does not matter what the reason is for someone protesting any sort of sexual activity. I don’t care if the reason is ‘I didn’t realize you had already put a condom on’ or ‘I wouldn’t want your girlfriend to find out,’ a no or a protest or no specific signal of consent means NO. If you feel like you need clarification on why she would say no, fucking ask. If she doesn’t answer, get the fuck away from her.
A woman is allowed to say no to sex, even if some part of her would like to engage in such activity. If, somehow, a man truly did know that the woman he wants to engage in sexual activity with really wanted to have sexy times with them, it is rape if he engages in sexual activity with her without her agreeing. A woman can say no for reasons such as wanting to wait or even just not wanting to give into a pleasure she doesn’t feel she deserves.
It’s really best not to assume things when it comes to sexy times.
And, obviously, the dude’s first error was not asking in the first place, and also it’s clear that Clare’s reason for protesting is as simple as she didn’t want to engage with him. All of which SHOULD BE A FULL FUCKING STOP RIGHT THERE.
I just find it very important too that society as a whole addresses this kind of shit as well. That a person’s reason for protesting sexual activity REQUIRES NO QUALIFIERS and that having sex IS NOT A FUCKING NEGOTIATION. If someone says/indicates/shows reluctance, it ends there. That’s it. Full stop.
Thoughtfulfangirling 