During the course of less than two years, a teenage girl was raped, left outside in the cold for hours, publicly shamed, ran out of town and then told that her former house burned to the ground for “unknown” reasons.
So when the link to the Kansas City Star article documenting the former Maryville, Mo. resident’s story popped up on my Facebook newsfeed, I was happy.
Let’s be clear. Reading about what happened to Daisy Coleman was about as sickening as how her classmates, neighbors and local law enforcement dealt with the case: by blaming her. What made me happy was that people started talking about it, and at least among my friends, they were pretty sickened by the situation as well.
Especially since basically an entire town turned on 14- and 13-year-old girls because of the stigma surrounding sexual assault, it was refreshing and hopeful to see so many people speaking out against what happened to them both.
All of the comments (again, at least among my friends), condemned the entire situation. Not a single person blamed her, a practice common in nearly every sexual assault case, said Julie Donelon, president of the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, in an interview with the Star. Granted, comments were disabled on the original article, but for the most part the feedback I saw was overwhelmingly supportive of Coleman.
What’s most encouraging is not only that people are more sensitive to issues of sexual violence, but that people felt strongly enough to comment and share the article. By the end of the day, at least five of my friends shared the same link or another version of the story on Facebook, and two were men. Seeing my male friends speak out against acts like this is reassuring. Rape is not just a women’s issue. It affects all of us.
Here’s a comment from one of my friends:
“Normally I don’t read entire articles and just breeze over them, but holy s—-. That had my attention.”
Good. I hope this has everyone’s attention.
I’m glad Coleman’s story went viral. I’m glad Anonymous, an international Internet hacker and activist group that also spoke out against the Steubenville, Ohio rape case, is taking this case up, too. I’m glad so many of my friends shared the article and joined me in speaking out against rape and the persecution of victims of rape.
Even if everyone in the country felt as sick to their stomachs as I did when I first read the Star’s article, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Change happens when we all speak up and have a conversation. So thank you to everyone who has, or will, share the tragic story of Coleman.
Summer Ballentine is the State News opinion editor. Reach her at sballentine@statenews.com.
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