TRIGGER WARNING
I came across this troubling article on ABC News, about a man named Jonathan Hock whose girlfriend of 2 weeks passed out at his home after a night of heavy drinking. He then allegedly used a webcam to live-stream a video of himself having sex with her unconscious body.
His girlfriend learned of this after receiving numerous text messages from people who had supposedly seen this video.
The incident itself is disgusting, terrifying, and vile, but equally disturbing is the fact that the owner of the site where the video was posted (Stickydrama.com) says that he would not have a problem with later reposting the images from the assault (he has taken them down for now because of the investigation).
The owner of the site, 30-year-old Chris Stone, has this to say: "On my site we repost other people's screen recordings about controversial things that happen on sites like Stickam.com and then we blog and post about it."
As if it wasn't offensive enough to refer to posting the video of an alleged rape as "controversial", he goes on to engage in a little victim blaming.
"I follow the letter of the law and I think it's a good thing over time for teenagers, in particular, to see what's happening and what the consequences are of meeting people and getting drunk with them off the Internet" (the victim supposedly met Jonathan Hock through MySpace)
Chris Stone says that he has not yet decided whether to post the full-length video on Stickydrama.com, but says that many of the site users have asked him to.
I'm absolutely sickened.
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This caught my eye too:
"I've seen videos of coerced sex but not rape."
coerced sex = rape
Some people make it really hard to oppose the death penalty.
indeed
I like how he talks about "the consequences" of meeting people off the internets and drinking with them, as if being raped is somehow kind of like your parachute failing or going through the windshield of your car because you forgot to wear your seatbelt. Just, ya know, something that happens. Like the "laws of physics" or something.
frankly i'm not surprised. porn users aren't known for their fusiness over where the content came from, or what was done to produce it. and neither are the owners of porn websites. you only have to glance at most porn forums to work this out. and there is a hell of a lot of stuff like this out there, all for the viewing pleasure of 'ordinary' men from their cosy homes.
Yes of course! We should scare young people into not drinking, dating, leaving the house, walking alone, using myspace, and occupying rooms with boys! Thats obviously the easiest solution!
*heres hoping my sarcasm is blatant*
I am going to take an opposite view.
Pictures are more powerful than words. Videos are even more powerful. Talk can convey only so much.
If a video of a "date rape" can make people realise how repugnant it is, is not that a good thing? (I presume this would be classified under "date rape".)
Just a thought.
The only people who are going to see this video and think its repugnant are people who already thought that in the first place.
The others are just going to get off on it.
Yes, hopefully people would think it was terrible, but this girl's suffering is being exploited and put on display for the whole world to see. As a victim of sexual assault, I'm not sure if I could have ever started healing knowing that that experience was immortalized on the net.