Joanna Weiss, though conceding that it is less than “ideal,” applauds masked vigilantes taking revenge on two 16-year-old football players accused of rape as a “cultural service” (“Internet shifts rape stigma to perpetrators,” Op-ed, Jan. 8). Rather than being a service, such cowardly persecution is akin to lynching.
Weiss’s endorsement may stem from how she sees herself in the social order. She is unable to understand how sports can figure into the aspirations of young men, especially in a part of the country where one-quarter of the residents live in poverty. She callously dismisses the sacrifice, work, and talent of high school athletes, deriding them merely as being “good at throwing balls.”
Comments
My God! The statement:
When girls post semi-nude photos of themselves on the Internet, drunkenness at high school parties is the norm, and the number-one bestseller among American women is a tale of sadomasochism, it is hypocritical to effect shock at teenage sexual transgression.
is a veiled attempt at essentially blaming the victim... what can you expect when girls "tempt" men like this: of course, they deserve to be raped.
Well, Stephen, you show in your letter, which would have a good point to make, that you're much, much worse than the ones you accuse of hypocrisy: you blame the victim and your letter has a whif of mysoginy in it.
I guess the Globe's editorial policy now allows for debate about whether girls deserve to get raped. Stay classy, bostonglobe.com. Welcome to the gutter.
You sir are a Coward.
Rushing to judge these young men before they are convicted is wrong. But you showed your true colors with your wimpering complaint about girls and the photos of themselves they post online. Just come out and say it - 'bad' girls deserve to be raped. It is YOU who make us (men) embarrased to be part of your sex/race/country. Please apologize NOW.
I am shocked that a man would write a letter justifying rape. I am more schocked that the Globe would publish it.