When a 16 year old girl in Ohio was filmed being raped by two boys at a party<br/> CNN reporters talked about how tragic it was...

When a 16 year old girl in Ohio was filmed being raped by two boys at a party

CNN reporters talked about how tragic it was

because the rapists could have been star athletes

Because God forbid we lose a future football star

over something as silly as forcing oneself onto an unconscious girl

right?

You say that victims of sexual assault were asking for it

But was that 8 year old girl asking for it

When you told her you would give her a ride home?

Did her overalls provoke you?

Isn’t it awful we live in a world where 1 in 5 women

Have been sexually assaulted

But only 3% of rapists spend even a day in jail.

That is rape culture.

You say that a woman is “cold”

Because she didn’t like him kissing her neck,

but when he refused to stop

it’s considered his “natural behavior”.

That is rape culture.

You say that men who are victims of rape are “weak”

But tell that to former U.S. Marine

James Landrith,

Who was raped at the age of 19.

That is rape culture.

Thinking that sexual assault

Against women is “the norm”,

That is rape culture

Rape culture is a Lawmaker from Maine

Saying that if a woman has the right to abortion

Then a man should have the right

To use his superior strength

To force himself on a woman

It is the boys in my class laughing at this poem

And the word “rape”

Being their favorite joke.

Rape culture is believing that a woman can’t become pregnant

As a result of rape

When actually 32,000 women in the U.S.

Become pregnant from rape every year.

So maybe we should stop saying

“Boys will be boys”
and “She was asking for it”

And start teaching men and women

To not rape.

my protest poem for language arts 

(inspired by this post by wearethefourthwave)