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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTeen Allegedly Sexually Assaulted At A Concert As People Watched And Filmed Her
According to the Sun Chronicle, the alleged assault took place after the girl, who had been drinking, began kissing 18-year-old Sean Murphy of Boston near one of the venues concession stands. When Murphy began to drag the girl away from her friends to a different area of the lawn, the girl said she went with him because she was afraid of what would happen if she didnt.
As a crowd formed around what one person described as a couple having sex on the lawn, some began taking pictures and videos of the assault while the concert continued in the background. One woman in the crowd decided to ask the girl if she was consenting, and when the girl said no, she pulled Murphy off her. Murphy disappeared into the crowd, but was later caught by police after they quarantined the concert venue looking for a suspect.
On Monday, Murphy pleaded not guilty to allegations of rape in the Attleboro District Court Monday claiming the incident was consensual. Police collected some of the video and images taken of the assault to use as evidence in the impending trial.
*snip*
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/07/30/3465695/a-girl-was-sexual-assaulted-at-a-keith-urban-concert-and-people-watched-and-took-videos/
I hate this planet.
RKP5637
(67,083 posts)Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)of scrubbing us out of existence, but not soon enough.
RKP5637
(67,083 posts)other species now gone ... other than mankind has created its own demise. And what earth doesn't kill off, mankind will, with endless tribal warfare.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)If that's true, we can kiss a large chunk of the world's population goodbye.
Mother Earth is thinning the herd.
RKP5637
(67,083 posts)could happen. Science can only do so much ... there are not always magical solutions or hard worked solutions.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)If we're not here to enjoy it, then it serves no purpose.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)But I want to save the planet to save us... not just saving it for the sake of saving it.
I can't stand those who are filled with excitement at the thought of human extinction.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)To claim that the planet is useless without a human presence is precisely the kind of old testament thinking true environmentalists shun.
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)Who wants to live as long as biologically possible because I don't believe in an afterlife.
Polluting the environment and the effects of climate change knocks years off my life.
Therefore, I am an environmentalist.
I'm sorry that I don't fit into your profile of how an environmentalist is supposed to think.
Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)by being selfish, greedy, thoughtless and cruel.
Sorry this pisses you off, but it is reality.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Because they both can't be true.
trumad
(41,692 posts)conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)adds that to their post.
Maybe you should be piling on them instead.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)raping and pillaging their only home.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)will fill in for us.
If we didn't want to become extinct, we should have behaved better.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)But if there is no human, dog, dolphin, mouse, etc around to enjoy the planet, then I don't give a rat's ass about the planet.
kairos12
(12,841 posts)RKP5637
(67,083 posts)redqueen
(115,101 posts)RKP5637
(67,083 posts)opportunity to record it but do nothing ... like WTF.
redqueen
(115,101 posts)We are being desensitized to rape. It is now also referred to as a "struggle snuggle".
It has become entertainment. These incidents should be enough evidence that maybe we (the mouthy feminists) actually aren't exaggerating at all.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)again.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)If you see people having sex, one doesn't assume it's rape without a reason to.
And that has nothing to do with rape culture.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)It does demonstrate rape culture. http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5313150
SQUEE
(1,315 posts)had a doubt as to its nature? She seemed to see SOMETHING to give her pause.
If someone had a doubt about it others likely did too, either desensitsed, insensitive or cowardice, dozens of people stood by and did nothing. Not MY Problem is yet another part of rape culture too.
This was done in public, during the concert. You don't think that in itself was kind of unusual?
SQUEE
(1,315 posts)I find it highly unusual, and kinda ... gross, and applauded the ONE person with awareness AND guts to do something..
Since least one person could see this was fucked up, and I suspect many more could, the acceptance of it is further proof of how our society condones so many types of aggresion against women as the norm.
Niceguy1
(2,467 posts)That went viral and was claimed as rape but turned out to be consentual .
historylovr
(1,557 posts)Quite right that we're being desensitized to rape. And this is a prime example of that, along with rape culture in full force. Guy figures it's okay to attack a girl at a public venue because people wouldn't think it was rape to begin with, and if they did, hey, they'd probably just film it.
Kudos to the woman who stepped in.
trumad
(41,692 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)Initech
(100,027 posts)Filming a woman being attacked? Does everything we do have to be uploaded to YouTube?
Ilsa
(61,688 posts)Uploading a video of a rape in progress was more important than stopping it or at least asking questions to make certain it was consensual.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)dilby
(2,273 posts)If she did it's rape case closed, if she did not because she was scared this could create a problem. Good on the woman for stepping in and asking, I think people should have been confronting them way ahead of time, the lawn of a concert is not a place to be having sex. Furthermore whoever supplied the girl with booze should be going to jail. Booze most likely created the whole scenario, intoxication can cause people to do stuff they would not normally do while sober, like being dragged off by some stranger for sex on the lawn.
redqueen
(115,101 posts)We need to end this practice of assuming that if a woman doesn't say no or fight back that she can is consenting.
Our default setting is NOT 'yes'.
No one gets a pass on rape because they somehow couldn't tell whether their partner was into it or not.
Thank Goddess a woman in the crowd gave a shit about the victim's state of mind enough to notice.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)There is no implied YES or NO to a crowd unless they have more information.
He doesn't get a pass on rape of course if he know she didn't want it, and indicated it in any way at all.
The crowd gets a pass if they had no reason to suspect. The article didn't indicate they had a reason.
If they did, they don't get a pass.
Of course it was great that someone eventually asked and a shame no one did sooner.
redqueen
(115,101 posts)Ask yourself why that woman intervened.
Think.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025312668
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)Perhaps you don't realize two people can have different opinions while thinking, and without endorsing rape or a culture that doesn't do enough to stop it.
Two people having sex does not in and of itself imply rape, no matter what you say.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)We now know that to be a fact. You said the default position is to assume consent. That is a mistake. This is not a hypothetical. It's an actual event where a girl was being raped in public, and that everyone stood around filming it (assuming it was consensual) is indeed demonstrative of rape culture. Your opinion is demonstrably wrong. To continue to maintain it even in the evidence of rape is problematic. The reasonable thing to do is to take note of this situation and consider it in future rather than just assuming.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)All sex is rape unless proven otherwise. Utter bullshit.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)Not "all sex." This case.
trumad
(41,692 posts)oh boy!
dilby
(2,273 posts)At 17 her brain is not fully developed and then throw booze in the mix and you have a recipe for disaster. Booze did not cause the rape but it did have a factor in how it happened.
trumad
(41,692 posts)The guy who drug her off was the factor.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)The article claims he took her hand and she went with him (just going by the text as written). It was only later during the police interview that she claimed she was afraid.
trumad
(41,692 posts)Needless to say... never blame alcohol for a woman getting raped.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"Booze did not cause the rape..."
The guy caused the rape, all else is rationalizing his behavior to one degree or another.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Anything else is just an excuse for his behavior imo.
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)Jesus.
bullwinkle428
(20,628 posts)No matter how many times or how heavily I've been wasted in my life, I always knew it was incredibly wrong to attempt to force anyone to do anything against their will.
Iggo
(47,534 posts)Just like the woman you were praising who stepped in.
johnp3907
(3,729 posts)First comment: "Hopefully, he gets convicted and gets the favor returned to him in jail."
Jeez, the sick just goes 'round and 'round, doesn't it?
JI7
(89,237 posts)and when the girl said no, she pulled Murphy off her."
good for her, we need more people like this
Rex
(65,616 posts)I LOVE this planet...it is a great planet and is not at fault for the tiny little creatures that run around on it. I am not a big fan of people and this article is one reason why. People will just stand around and watch someone get mugged and killed, raped, bleed to death on the street...and record it with their phones!
Nope...just not there yet, we might evolve into some kind of wonderful species...but not there yet.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)watch someone get raped and take pictures with their phones. I'm glad that woman stepped in and stopped the rape.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)mythology
(9,527 posts)Unless she was visibly fighting him off, or verbally telling him no, or giving some sort of sign that it wasn't consensual, then I can't blame the onlookers for not stopping him.
If I hear my neighbors having sex, I'm not going to knock on the door to ask if it's consensual.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)I wasn't there, but my guess would be that people who didn't worry that it might be rape were not thinking straight.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)This isn't someone's private home. The outrage is over the fact that people do not see and do not care, and now we have you arguing why they shouldn't.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)Last edited Thu Jul 31, 2014, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)
He was a feminist instructing a drunk woman on how to do feminism right.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)They knew she was drunk how? They knew it wasn't consensual how?
Because two people never have consensual sex in public?
Geez, talk about twisting anything that happens to make it fit into your paradigm.
BainsBane
(53,010 posts)What kind of sex do you know of where only one of the participants is active?
This poster had a cogent point. http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5313553
I agree that the failure to observe it was an assault says something disturbing about not only those at the scene but society more broadly.
What is most disturbing is that knowing it is rape, you now insist everything looked just fine, that there was no way for anyone to know. If people pay attention, if they see sex as something other than something to be taken from women but rather as something in which two people actively and enthusiastically consent, chances are far greater that they will recognize assault when it is happening right in front of them, rather than filming it and egging it on. The fact is it was a rape. It was not sex. No amount of dismissal on your part can change that. The only question is do you care about that victim or future victims, or are you more concerned with making excuses why no one should intervene?
I expect the guy didn't think he was raping the women either. He likely shared the view that if a woman isn't strong or aware enough to punch him in the face, it's good enough to constitute consent. That very notion is rape culture. The dismissal of this crime and excuses for those standing by is rape culture. Rape culture is everything that allows assaults like this to proliferate. That doesn't occur by accident.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)You nailed it.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)I didn't say it wasn't rape. And yes, it's highly possible people didn't realize it was rape.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)The fact that people did not know it was rape when the videos they took showed it was rape clearly enough for the police to use them as evidence is exactly the point.
Rex
(65,616 posts)At least one good human being in the crowd.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Adam051188
(711 posts)i'm going to guess she was CLOSE to blackout drunk. he probably knew the condition she was in. she probably didn't actually say no or resist TOO much(she was public and drunk under age, might have thought, if it can be called thought in her state, that there was no way he would do too much to her in public like that and she wanted to avoid making a scene. things got out of hand and she didn't know what to do until someone asked wtf was going on) which of course in his male american brain said "oh boy sexy time!!!".
american society does not take an interest in teaching men that treating women like people, not sex objects, is important.
this young man's life is now a casualty of that failure. his life is over because he never learned that women are people too.
Roy Serohz
(236 posts)Eww! That girl who pulled Murphy off the rape victim is so gonna get defriended on Facebook! OMG you're just supposed to watch, record, and text!
Stick a fork in us. America's done.