Dear Mr. Mckinley,
I have just finished reading your article entitled "Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town" and I have been inspired to write to you due to my deep disappointment and visceral disgust in the way the story was handled.
I would like to believe that you stated so little about the victim other than her age, gender, clothing/makeup and associates in an effort to protect her identity. However, in publishing the comments about her appearance, and that she "dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s" you have subtly painted her as somehow complicit in her own assault. By quoting individuals who are more concerned about the boys who will "have to live with this the rest of their lives" you have made the rapists the victims. The victim in this situation is the child who was raped. This is a gang act of pedophilia and these men and teenagers chose to participate or not report these assaults on a child. Also the whereabouts of her mother are irrelevant. The child, and her mother, are not to be blamed for what happened here. It is writing such as this that has allowed a pervasive rape culture in our country to make it difficult and sometimes impossible for women to protect themselves or go to authorities to report assault without immediately becoming suspects in their own rapes. And that is for grown women, this is an 11-year-old child!
I want you to re-read your article with the eyes of that girl, her family and her friends. Shame Mr. Mckinley, you have victimized that little girl again with your words.
Sincerely,
I have just finished reading your article entitled "Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town" and I have been inspired to write to you due to my deep disappointment and visceral disgust in the way the story was handled.
I would like to believe that you stated so little about the victim other than her age, gender, clothing/makeup and associates in an effort to protect her identity. However, in publishing the comments about her appearance, and that she "dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s" you have subtly painted her as somehow complicit in her own assault. By quoting individuals who are more concerned about the boys who will "have to live with this the rest of their lives" you have made the rapists the victims. The victim in this situation is the child who was raped. This is a gang act of pedophilia and these men and teenagers chose to participate or not report these assaults on a child. Also the whereabouts of her mother are irrelevant. The child, and her mother, are not to be blamed for what happened here. It is writing such as this that has allowed a pervasive rape culture in our country to make it difficult and sometimes impossible for women to protect themselves or go to authorities to report assault without immediately becoming suspects in their own rapes. And that is for grown women, this is an 11-year-old child!
I want you to re-read your article with the eyes of that girl, her family and her friends. Shame Mr. Mckinley, you have victimized that little girl again with your words.
Sincerely,
*signature*
And here is the letter to the Public Editor:
Dear Mr. Brisbane,
I am writing to you in response to the article "Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town" by James C. McKinley Jr. I have also written directly to Mr. McKinley.
I am sure you are aware of the nature of the article in that an 11-year-old child was brutally raped by numerous teenagers and adults in a Texas neighborhood. That this occurred at all is tragic and understandably would devastate any community. However, in reading Mr. McKinley's article, it is not the vicious assault on the child that appears to be the tragedy, but the effect it will have on her attackers. Comments such as, "if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?" and “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.” make the rapists the victims and the little girl the cause of their downfall. By describing the child as "dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s" he implies that she somehow is complicit in her own assault. The townspeople quoted are rallying around "their" boys and accusing the victim and Mr. McKinley is continuing that inappropriate attitude with his choice of quotes and comments.
This is an 11-year-old child who has been brutally, viciously, repeatedly raped by numerous teenagers and boys who chose to assault her. They are not the victims, she is. I am appalled that this article was published as it was. I implored Mr. McKinley to re-read the article through the victim's eyes, and the eyes of her family and friends because he has victimized her all over again.
I am disgusted on behalf of that poor child, and rape victims everywhere who are blamed for the crimes against them. This article has perpetrated the rape culture that allows men and boys to assault women and children and get away with it while their victims are made suspects. It is very difficult for a grown woman to report her own rape for fear she will be investigated as complicit in the crimes against herself, how must this child and her family feel as she is repeatedly assaulted, first with rape, now with words.
Sincerely,
I am writing to you in response to the article "Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town" by James C. McKinley Jr. I have also written directly to Mr. McKinley.
I am sure you are aware of the nature of the article in that an 11-year-old child was brutally raped by numerous teenagers and adults in a Texas neighborhood. That this occurred at all is tragic and understandably would devastate any community. However, in reading Mr. McKinley's article, it is not the vicious assault on the child that appears to be the tragedy, but the effect it will have on her attackers. Comments such as, "if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?" and “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.” make the rapists the victims and the little girl the cause of their downfall. By describing the child as "dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s" he implies that she somehow is complicit in her own assault. The townspeople quoted are rallying around "their" boys and accusing the victim and Mr. McKinley is continuing that inappropriate attitude with his choice of quotes and comments.
This is an 11-year-old child who has been brutally, viciously, repeatedly raped by numerous teenagers and boys who chose to assault her. They are not the victims, she is. I am appalled that this article was published as it was. I implored Mr. McKinley to re-read the article through the victim's eyes, and the eyes of her family and friends because he has victimized her all over again.
I am disgusted on behalf of that poor child, and rape victims everywhere who are blamed for the crimes against them. This article has perpetrated the rape culture that allows men and boys to assault women and children and get away with it while their victims are made suspects. It is very difficult for a grown woman to report her own rape for fear she will be investigated as complicit in the crimes against herself, how must this child and her family feel as she is repeatedly assaulted, first with rape, now with words.
Sincerely,
*signature*
I have not received any response from either Mr. McKinley or Mr. Brisbane and do not expect to as they have denied that there is anything wrong with the way this article was published. This case is keeping me up at night and inspiring me to hold and cuddle V even more than usual (if that is at all possible). I hope and pray to all the powers that may or not be that when she grows up, this world is safer for her than it is for girls and women right now.
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