Not sure we’re feeling this Tommy Christopher column on Mediaite regarding the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal. (See what we did there?) Thoughts?
To clarify: While he’s right that “sex scandal” is a little too timid and doesn’t get the point across, “rape scandal” has the effect of sensationalizing it too much. It doesn’t feel objective. There are ways to make the point he’s trying to make without spiking the language quite that harshly.
Rape = ”forced, manipulated, or coerced sexual contact by a stranger, friend or acquaintance. It is an act of aggression and power combined with some form of sex. A person is forced into sexual contact through verbal coercion, threats, physical restraint, and/or physical violence. Consent is not given. … Consent cannot be given (legally) if a person is impaired, intoxicated, drugged, underage, mentally challenged, unconscious, or asleep.” (via)
Therefore, child sexual abuse = rape.
It’s not the language that’s harsh; it’s the truth.
“It’s not the language that’s harsh; it’s the truth.”
Precisely. It is what it is and it’s necessary and proper to refer to it as such, that is, a rape scandal. Calling it a rape scandal should arouse harrowing emotions because the intensity and the seriousness of the crimes in question are disturbing. Describing the situation in any other way only trivializes the experiences of the victims and inaccurately reduces the perception of the severity of the crimes.
Not cool, SFB.
Shit. I have been guilty myself of dancing around the edges of this. I just read the full gory details for the first...
nope, because it’s not a legal matter if someone else says it. they don’t care about hearsay, just about what will be...
Boom.