George Huguely is said to have been a vicious drunk who menaced Yeardley Love, yet there has been no indication that any of his teammates said anything to police. Ben Roethlisberger seems to be a serial insulter of women, whose behavior is shielded by the off-duty cops he employs. And if the charges are true, Lawrence Taylor ignored the bruises on a 16-year-old girl's face as he had sex with her, never thinking to ask who beat her.
<snip>
Should women fear athletes? Is there something in our sports culture that condones these assaults? It's a difficult, even upsetting question, because it risks demonizing scores of decent, guiltless men. But we've got to ask it, because something is going on here -- there's a disturbing association, and surely we're just as obliged to address it as we are concussions.
"We can no longer dismiss these actions as representative of a few bad apples," says Jay Coakley, author of "Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies," and a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado. "The evidence suggests that they are connected to particular group cultures that are in need of critical assessment."
<snip>
We can argue about gaps in the system, but one constituency very likely knew about Huguely's behavior: his teammates and friends, the ones who watched him smash up windows and bottles and heard him rant about Love.
Why didn't they tackle him? Why didn't they turn him in?
Undoubtedly, many of the young men on the Virginia lacrosse team are fine human beings. I don't mean to question their decency. I don't mean to blame them.
But I do mean to ask those who knew of Huguely's behavior an important question. Why did they not treat Yeardley Love as their teammate, too?
Where were her brothers?
Why was she not deserving of the same loyalty as George Huguely? She played lacrosse. She wore a Virginia uniform. She was equally a champion. And yet because she played on the women's team, she seems not to have been accorded the same protection that Huguely was.
That doesn't just break the heart. It shatters it into a thousand pieces.
The allegations against Huguely, Roethlisberger and Taylor share something in common. In all of these cases, the alleged female victims were treated as undeserving of inclusion in the protected circle. They were "others" rather than insiders.
<snip>
"Who needs the bodyguard here?" Coakley asks incredulously. "What is the role of bodyguard? It's not to maintain male hegemony and privilege. It's to maintain order."
<snip>
According to Coakley, the data is clear: Certain types of all-male groups generally have higher rates of assault against women than the average, and their profile is unmistakable. They tend to include sports teams, fraternities, and military units, and they stress the physical subordination of others -- and exclusiveness.
<snip>
The truth is, women can't do anything about this problem. Men are the only ones who can change it -- by taking responsibility for their locker room culture, and the behavior and language of their teammates. Nothing will change until the biggest stars in the clubhouse are mortally offended, until their grief and remorse over an assault trumps their solidarity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050704895_2.html?sid=ST2010050704068This is a disturbing pattern, and it's not new. The tendency of groups to protect their own has been obvious. 'Snitches' are ostracized.
The number of women personnel in the military being raped is horrendous.
Sexual Assaults on Female Soldiers: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
What does it tell us that female soldiers deployed overseas stop drinking water after 7 p.m. to reduce the odds of being raped if they have to use the bathroom at night? Or that a soldier who was assaulted when she went out for a cigarette was afraid to report it for fear she would be demoted — for having gone out without her weapon? Or that, as Representative Jane Harman puts it, "a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire."
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968110,00.html#ixzz0nKESZB4qDADT gets the headlines and does need to be repealed immediately. However, this fact about women serving their country being in harm's way from some their supposed brethren is appalling. Who has their backs in a hostile environment? If I had been raped by a fellow soldier, I would feel a lot less safe under other conditions too such as coming under fire. We should be able to address two problems at once.
The answer when this comes up is that women don't belong in that arena. Why aren't those men held accountable for their egregious conduct instead? If they get away with impunity when they commit rape or any other crimes, then what does that do to their mindset when they are in other places? Those that carry out these acts taint the whole military and create havoc with our allies when they are involved. They push the edge of what is allowed until the line moves to an unacceptable place.
In sports, almost every week if not more, some player is arrested or accused of violent acts against women. That they make up a minority of the members of the overall group is true. However, the response by those in charge is telling. The acts are bad enough. The reaction of those in charge is even more disgusting.
Then there is the Duke lacrosse rape case. Prosecutor Nifong, the media, and a whole host of others took out after the players without regard for the facts. That is the flipside that shouldn't be tolerated either.
The fans can be as much a part of the problem. Those that dare to speak out against players or teams can come under fierce attack in the community. A different example is the case of the drunken driving conviction of the St. Louis Cardinal's manager Tony LaRussa. He was treated with great sympathy and listening to the coverage, one could conclude that he had been the victim. If anyone else had committed that act, they would have had MADD on their heels. He didn't hurt anyone, but that isn't a mitigating factor. It was chance.
Crimes are committed and not reported or addressed. When attention is finally paid, there is a lot of hullabaloo and possible overreaction that doesn't help. At some point, a reasonable mindset may be reached or the problem can be forgotten.
These problems shouldn't be tolerated anywhere. However if they are, that still doesn't give any other group the right to commit them or be excused for them.
I found one act of Congress to be both commendable AND appalling. It was commendable that Senator Franken brought an amendment to hold defense contractors accountable for their acts. It was appalling that nobody else had addressed this and that it took an act of Congress to fix it.
Flame away.
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