After last year’s infamous Steubenville case, it seemed like lessons about exploiting rape culture over the Internet had been learnt. But, after (yet another) teenager’s sexual assault has turned into some kind of vile blockbuster for the selfie generation, it’s clear that we have a very, very long way to go.
16-year-old Jada from Houston was at a fellow high-schooler’s party when she got drugged and raped. She lost consciousness after being handed a drink from a friend—which she believes was spiked—and had no recollection of any other events from that evening.
But then photos started spreading online. Videos made their way into the public sphere. Memes mocking Jada’s unconscious, assaulted body peppered social media. The rape of a 16-year-old girl had gone viral—and she only found out the reality of what had happened to her after it did.
“I had no control,” the high school junior says of that night. “I didn’t tell anyone to take off my clothes and do what they did to me.”
The details of what had happened to Jada emerged after friends saw images of her at the party being posted online, and began contacting her to see how she was doing. “Everybody knows,” she told KHOU 11 News, a local station in Houston. “And everybody’s texting me, ‘Are you okay? You’re going to be okay.’”
Jada has reported the attack to police, but the assault she is facing at the hands of the Internet rolls on. After the video began to surface, keyboard warriors managed to dig themselves a new low by posting photos on Twitter mocking the positions her body had been forced into using the hashtag #jadapose.
That’s right: a minor gets roofied, raped and recorded—and people see fit to use that as fodder for a spot of online entertainment. One of those posting under the hashtag described the decision process behind his actions as a remedy for being “bored at 1 a.m,” and wanting to “wake up my Twitter timeline.”
Everything about this case is disturbing in the extreme. How many kids need to be raped on film before people sit up and pay attention to what’s going on here? We have a duty to offer protection to those who need it, but society’s seemingly laissez-faire attitude to this dark strand of sexual assault is becoming a grave problem. (read more here)
