Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Myspace have always been outlets to connect with friends and family, creep all your favorite celebrities, and even market a business or organization.
With all of the apps now available such as Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on, social media users can login anywhere to watch a video or see a picture to get a quick laugh or whatever fits the mood.
People turn to these websites and apps daily for leisure and enjoyment, but there’s one very hideous and dark side to all of this; a side that no one ever wants to be the victim of.
A side much worse than being tagged in a not-so flattering picture of yourself. A side you can do nothing but watch in complete terror and pray you don’t have nightmares after seeing it.
On one of the very popular apps known as Vine, a Viner by the name of Johnny S., posted a series of videos of a girl. In the series of three videos, the viners first showed the girl becoming intoxicated with alcohol and unknown pills.
The guys then showed the girl surrounded by a group of guys trying to perform sexual acts with her. The third video showed the girl unconscious on the sidewalk being raped by an unknown male, while the same viner mentioned earlier recorded the act.
This video not only created chaos on Vine and other social media website, but it ruffled the feathers of some of the students as well.
“It made me sad to see that the world is coming to that,” said senior Tabitha Bacon who found out about the video via Twitter. “I had nothing to do with it and yet I felt disgusted with myself after seeing it.”
Although the video created talk on the web and in school, if you were to search for the issue on google or any news websites, you would find nothing on the matter.
When searching for it on Google or any other search engine, it would show up similar cases in nearby cities, but never the exact incident. The same goes for the online news sites that gave no information about the subject.
“I hope the police take it seriously and not brush it off just because she looked intoxicated,” said Bacon.
This is not the first time an incident like this has happened, in 2012 a young lady by the name of Amber Cole committed suicide after a video of her performing sexual acts was posted on Facebook and several other websites. This matter raises the question of the filter on some websites and the content they allow to be posted and/or viewed.
“I think websites allow stuff like that to be posted because some people are just sick minded and it brings more attention to their website,” said senior Bridget Alderson.
This Vine was more than a post of an innocent girl being violated for the whole world to see, it was a reality check to others that this can happen to absolutely anyone, even people closest to them. According to “rainn.org,” 44 percent of rape victims are under the age 18 and 80 percent are under the age of 30. They also reported that approximately two-thirds of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim and 38 percent of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.
“If my sister was ever the victim of a sexual attack like this one, I would do whatever I could to make sure she felt safe and the person who did it would be gone forever,” said Alderson.
The website also reported that every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. There is an average of 237,868 victims of rape and sexual assault each year; they fall under the ages of 12 and over. The website went on to say that thanks to the decline in sexual assault since 1993 the actual number of victims is about 4.2 million and if it weren’t for the progress made in the last 20 years, an additional 5.5 million Americans would have been victims of sexual violence.
“I would be shocked if someone close to me were raped, because you would never think it could ever happen to your friends or family,” Bacon said.
This story hit home for many parents as well. According to “911rape.org” teens who have been raped tend to refrain from telling their parents in order to spare them emotional pain. One of the most startling aspects of sex crimes, according “crimevictimservices.org,” is how many go unreported. One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies are under six years old.
“If one of my children were raped, I would be destroyed,” said English teacher Katherine Moore. “I have a really strong morality code where I could never hurt or harm anyone, but in that situation that code would definitely be tested.”
Simply bringing up the subject of rape makes for a very awkward and uneasy conversation, you can see people’s bodies turn from completely relaxed to stiff and very uncomfortable at just the mention of the word, you could only imagine how people felt when they watched it. Some people do things that others cannot understand and rape is definitely one of them, although they may never understand, they’ll always have an idea or theory. This video not only changed some people’s view on women, but on men too.
“It just made me see that women go through so much, and it hurts to know that this can happen to somebody,” said Alderson, “It’s sad to see how little respect men have for women these days, they see them as toys.”
911rape.org reported that if you have a friend who has been through a sexual assault and is willing to report the crime, encourage her or him to contact the police as soon as possible. They also said the best way to help a friend or loved one recover from a sexual assault is to encourage them to get medical care and talk to a counselor at a rape treatment center. If your friend is not ready to talk to a counselor “in person,” encourage them to call a rape hotline and talk with a counselor on the telephone.
“It would be really hard to give advice on this matter because it’s such a personal issue, but I would tell them not to let their fear overcome them,” said Mrs. Moore, “They don’t have to feel like they’re taking on the world, their voices matter too.”
This Vine is proof that the importance of values and not just respect for you, but for others is slowly fading away. Some people may never be able to understand or wrap their heads around the fact that this not only happened to someone, but was also made public for the world to see.
“It shows that people don’t think anymore, they don’t realize that their actions affect other people, they think they can do whatever they want an get away with it,” said Bacon.
