*** CONTENT WARNING: Descriptions of Rape Culture ***

Yes, it may seem odd more than decade later to reexamine this case.  Some might feel it’s better to let bygones be bygone.  But I want to question some of the things that went on then.  Here they are, in no particular order.

Entitlement: The lacrosse players were Big Men on Campus (BMOC), with all of the baggage that entails.  So even if they didn’t know it, they should have had some inkling in 2006 that our perception of their ilk, even before this incident, was not all roses and cupcakes.  The locus and focus of much of the rape and sexual assault that is perpetrated on college campuses happen in Greek (fraternity) organizations and male sports teams.  At least some of them should have known this and sought to conform their behavior to better standards as it pertains to alcohol, gender relations, and misogyny.  There are plenty of women, regardless, that would have found men like them conventionally attractive and would have willingly dated and had sex with them.  They were not “hard up” for female attention, and even if they were that wouldn’t have been an excuse for their deplorable actions.  Deplorable, you ask?  Yes, deplorable, as I will soon explain.

Bigotry: Many of the players were disappointed that the sex workers they surreptitiously hired for a striptease (that they legally couldn’t have seen at a strip club, by the way) weren’t white.  Whoop dee fucking do.  Two women were willing to get naked under the fucked up dynamics of no outside oversight (like bouncers at a strip club).  You’re lucky anyone showed up.  Then some of you decide to hurl racial epithets at them as they left?  Okay, yeah, that doesn’t constitute rape, either, but what do you think those sex workers now think of young, entitled, mostly white men with too much time on their hands and shitty attitudes towards women of color?

Rape culture: This is the kicker, the heart of the matter, the great “a-ha!” moment for me.  The woman who brought the initial accusations was clearly in distress that night, not really wanting to perform and under the influence of some kind of substance.  Many of the lacrosse players were disappointed that the performance came to an abrupt end.  There are, of course, conflicting accounts of what went on that night.  Whether you believe they did or didn’t do it probably has a lot to do with your social class, race, and gender.  But something that night raised warning signs and sounded alarms and sirens.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s this: that picture.  I’m not going to link to it.  It’s of the African-American woman that brought the accusations.

It’s what got me thinking about this case in a new light, away from the “innocence” of the lacrosse players and “questionable character” of the accuser.  All credit must go to Elodie Under Glass for shaping my thinking around this issue.  If you haven’t read her story about spotting “The Question,” then I highly recommend that you do, especially if you’re a man that hasn’t thought about rape culture.  Seriously, stop reading this and go read that story, then come back here.

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Done that?  Good.  So if the Duke lacrosse players didn’t rape her, fine.  They’re not supposed to want to rape anyone.  That’s standard operating procedure for being a decent human being.  You don’t get cookies for that.  One of the players escorted her to her car, and is caught on camera doing that.  Great, helping someone who’s clearly in distress is what you should do, again, as standard operating procedure for a decent human being.  I’ll even, for a very brief moment, dismiss the racial epithets and the highly entitled behavior around sex, women and race, which, by the way, are major warning signs for men that don’t respect consent or women, especially women of color.  If you’ve read my blog at all, you know I’m down with consensual sex and consider myself an ally for sex workers and their work.

Yet that photo exists.   She is clearly passed out on back steps of a residence and partially clothed.  The picture is of her from behind with much of her butt exposed.

WHY THE FUCK DOES THAT PHOTO EXIST, ESPECIALLY FOR MEN THAT COULD EASILY AND ETHICALLY SEE WOMEN WILLINGLY, CONSCIOUSLY, AND CONSENSUALLY POSING FOR SEXUALLY EXPLICIT PHOTOGRAPHS?  Why the fuck would men, especially men with as much social privilege and prestige as these men had and have, need to take a photograph of a woman intoxicated or drugged to the point of unconsciousness, with the majority of her ass uncovered as the focus of the unseen picture taker?

If shivers haven’t gone up your spine yet, I question your humanity.  The answer, obviously, is there is absolutely no need for that photograph to exist, unless someone intended to get that photograph regardless of a woman’s willingness to have (or even ability to consent to having) that photograph taken.  Fuck that photograph.  Fuck the mentality behind that photograph. (“I didn’t get the performance I wanted.  Even if I did, I’m gonna get more, even if she doesn’t want to give it to me, even if she can’t give it to me.”)  Fuck the culture behind that sort of entitled thinking and fuck the man or men that took that photograph.

And yet the Duke lacrosse players are portrayed as “innocents” that were unfairly charged with rape.  What the fuck ever.  The woman that brought the charges felt she was in danger, didn’t feel safe, and that picture is the proof (the poker “tell”) that at least one of the men there had bad intentions for her that night.  It’s the mentality behind “up skirt” videos and pictures, unseen and undetected bathroom cams, revenge porn, and celebrity nude picture “leaks.”  It’s an attitude that says men are going to get whatever they want sexually from women, regardless of women’s agreement or consent.

The Duke lacrosse players may not have raped the sex worker of color that night.  But one or more of them (1) came pretty damn close and (2) definitely didn’t give a damn about her consent.  Fuck them.