Social Media's Impact on Recent Rape Cases

             Recently, the Steubenville rape case has caused much debate regarding media coverage. Two high school football players from a small town in Ohio, Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl, while she was highly intoxicated. The ongoing case has been highly impacted by the use of social media. Many people have speculated that the rape would not have been reported had it not been for a video that was uploaded to a popular social media website. The peers of the victim and reporters from national media organizations have both affected the case by voicing opinions regarding the incident through multiple social media outlets. Social media posts of images, text messages, and especially a 12-minute video of the offenders discussing raping the victim played a large part in the prosecution’s case.
            Two teenage girls were placed in house arrest and ordered not to use any forms of social media after they were accused of threatening the victim via Twitter. According to NBC station WPXI, one of the threats posted on Twitter said, “You ripped my family apart. You made my cousin cry. So when I see you it’s going to be homicide.” 

            Social media is something people, especially students, encounter on a daily basis. With the rapid growth of social media use, there has also been a consistent growth in “cyber-bullying,” as seen in this case. However, this is not news to most high schools and college campuses, including here in Reading.

            Recently Facebook group pages have become increasingly popular among Albright College students. Two pages in particular are places where students can post anonymous confessions either of themselves, or of fellow students. While the rules of the Facebook page clearly state to not use specific names, this has not been the case to date.
            Social media outlets such as these can be detrimental to a person socially, but also emotionally. Recent cases have been emerging from the news of young rape victims committing suicide after feeling attacked through social media after their case has been publicized. Cyber bullying is a growing problem in our society, especially directed towards victims of violation, but what is being done to inform students and young people of these threats before they arise? Many of these instances of violations and cyber-bullying can be lowered if our society educates youth on this topic.

            When freshmen attend orientation before beginning their first year at Albright College, there is a portion of the orientation where the males and females are separated into two different rooms. The females are introduced to the dangers of sexual assault that could arise, especially since there is a higher risk of being violated during the first year of college. The girls watch skits of potential scenarios they could find themselves in, followed by an open discussion on the topic, where they are encouraged to ask questions. This serves as a good source of information for students, but some students feel as though further action should be taken to provide students with the resources they need.
             Allana Duncan, a junior, believes the college does not adequately inform students of the dangers that occur or campus, nor do they give enough information on how to stay safe. “Like most information here at the college, it is here if you look for it, but this is the type of information that students should be FORCED to know,” said Duncan.
             
                Duncan herself has taken advantage of these resources and has found them to be extremely helpful.

                The college offers R.A.D., or Rape Aggression Defense training, through the office of Public Safety. The college’s webpage says that Albright began offering the classes in 2001 and over 600 women. According to their website, “Sexual assault remains a significant problem on college campuses and is frequently under reported according to the U.S. Department of Justice. At least half of all sexual assault cases involve alcohol and the majority of them occur between people who know each other most often in a dating situation. “This program is designed to eliminate these risks and prepare young women on how to handle dangerous situations such as these.

                “By the end of the RAD course, I felt confident that I could defend myself in any dangerous situation, since we were taught different techniques on how to possess potentially dangerous situations. We also gained confidence and reassurance that we had the power to control what happens to us, not the attacker,” said Duncan in reference to the R.A.D. classes.

               Duncan also believes that schools should take action regarding social media and bullying. “It angers me that teachers are aware of the cyber pages that potentially bully students, yet have not done anything about it.”

               Colleges and high schools both need to prepare students for situations similar to this one, to diminish the number of occurrences similar to the instance in Steubenville, Ohio.