Cyberbullying Drove The Maryville Rape Victim To Attempt Suicide This Weekend

[LanternWaste]

Daisy Coleman, the teenage girl at the center of the controversial Maryville rape case that came to light in October, has been hospitalized after attempting to take her own life on Sunday night. Her mother, Melinda, told a local Fox News affiliate that Daisy experienced an onslaught of cyberbullying after attending a party this past weekend.

Two years ago, 14-year-old Daisy was sexually assaulted by a member of Maryville’s high school football team and left semi-unconscious in her front yard in the middle of the night. The charges against Daisy’s alleged rapist were dropped, and the Coleman family became the subject of intense harassment and abuse. This past fall, after the Kansas City Star initially broke the details of the story, the Colemans gave several media interviews in an attempt to draw more attention to the inadequate criminal justice response to cases of sexual assault.

According to her mother, Daisy briefly attended a party with friends on Friday night. When she returned home, she discovered she was being attacked on Facebook. Several high schoolers accused her of being a “hypocrite” and a “fake” for going to the party. Some told her she was a “slut and “wanted it.” That reportedly drove Daisy to attempt to overdose on pills on Sunday night. The teen is now in stable condition at a psychiatric hospital in Kansas City.

Over the past year, other high-profile rape cases have ended in tragedy after cyberbullying and victim-blaming took its toll on high school girls. Rehtaeh Parsons and Audrie Pott both committed suicide after evidence of their sexual assault spread throughout social media and they were bullied by their peers. Nonetheless, the majority of states don’t currently include cyberbullying in their criminal statutes. Several states are currently working to update their anti-bullying measures to make it easier to crack down on this type of abuse.




http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/01/07/3127711/maryville-rape-victim-suicide/


"Several high schoolers accused her of being a “hypocrite” and a “fake” for going to the party. Some told her she was a “slut and “wanted it..." I've heard *that very thing* implied about various rapes on DU.

[gollygee]

1. So what was the suggestion?

If she were really a rape victim, she'd never go to another party? She'd remain in the house forever?

People can be so cruel.

[ismnotwasm]

2. Is there a support page or organization for this young woman?

Anybody know?

[LanternWaste]

4. I began looking this afternoon, and came up with very little.

I began looking this afternoon and was unable to locate anything other than a facebook page which doesn't appear to have much recent activity.

That being said, I'm certainly not the world's greatest internet super-sleuth, and as she's courageously placed her name into the collective discourse, I'd think that someone with a bit more internet and search-engine savvy than me could probably locate one or more.

[boston bean]

9. I will buy a domain and we can start a website

letting her know how much she is valued and loved.

I just am not that good at creating a website.

Anyone know of someone who might be able to donate a little time to help create one?

[In_The_Wind]

7. Not enough.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4293895

[redqueen]

3. There's no such thing as "rape culture". It's a HoF invention.

Cause we needed something to be outraged about.



(Yes, sadly, all the above has been posted - in all seriousness - on a democratic website.)

[LanternWaste]

5. I become more and more frustrated at the denial of it from the Gang of Six

I become more and more frustrated at the denial of it from the Gang of Six (The Usual Suspects has become too cliche for me)-- the six males on DU who are too frightened at the prospect of full equality for all, and hide behind Hawt Celeb threads so as not to see the reality that more and more people are simply laughing at them.

It's that denial, that willful ignorance, and the necessary rationalization they make to better validate that two plus two equals five that instills in me a combination of pity and frustration.

Pity, because I'm certain they are smarter than that. Frustration, because they are enabling the last, dying vestiges of sexism to linger on longer than it otherwise would.

They are the 21st century Dixiecrats.

[BainsBane]

6. I think the federal government needs to step in and prosecute some of these cases

under the grounds that they are violation of the victim's civil rights. Rapists act with impunity. Why is rape and appropriate prosecution of rapists not a civil rights issue for DOJ?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. I like that angle, Baines. A shame there is to be an angle but, there it is. And, I like it.

[boston bean]

8. People can be so cruel! Breaks my heart!

Daisy, hang in there, please!