sharky
New Yorker
ok, little background: Two girls [ages 16 and 17 so they are minors] were abducted and raped by a man in California before the police caught him and killed him.
So the story was then all over the news. People magazine ran a story of the girls on their cover. The girls showed up with their families on the Today show. Police involved in the case and a boyfriend of one of the girls showed up on Larry King's show. And this was all within a week of the abduction. [In most cases, a person who is raped is not identified by name by the media.]
I believe that if you are a rape victim, you shouldn't be ashamed. But it seems like these girls were being hounded by the media as soon as they got home. Journalists knew who they were because they received the girls names and photos before the fact they were raped was reported.
Personally, I think if these girls wanted to talk about this case after a few months have passed or they are able to do with what happened to them and they want to prove you don't have to be ashamed then more power to them. But I think they're in shock and denial about what happened and haven't been able to deal with what happened to them yet-- and are being taken advantage of while they are in this extremely vulnerable position.
So the fact that these girls were on these shows and in these magazines-- was it the girls proving they don't have to be ashamed they were raped, were they trying to get attention and their 15 minutes of fame or was it the media taking advantage of two girls in a vulnerable position?
So the story was then all over the news. People magazine ran a story of the girls on their cover. The girls showed up with their families on the Today show. Police involved in the case and a boyfriend of one of the girls showed up on Larry King's show. And this was all within a week of the abduction. [In most cases, a person who is raped is not identified by name by the media.]
I believe that if you are a rape victim, you shouldn't be ashamed. But it seems like these girls were being hounded by the media as soon as they got home. Journalists knew who they were because they received the girls names and photos before the fact they were raped was reported.
Personally, I think if these girls wanted to talk about this case after a few months have passed or they are able to do with what happened to them and they want to prove you don't have to be ashamed then more power to them. But I think they're in shock and denial about what happened and haven't been able to deal with what happened to them yet-- and are being taken advantage of while they are in this extremely vulnerable position.
So the fact that these girls were on these shows and in these magazines-- was it the girls proving they don't have to be ashamed they were raped, were they trying to get attention and their 15 minutes of fame or was it the media taking advantage of two girls in a vulnerable position?