"Sending Emails of Support to OC Rape Survivor"

I saw this on Alas....

From Hugo's blog:

One topic that's been well-discussed in the feminist blogosphere case has been the Orange County Gang Rape case. Sheelzebub has done a very good job of providing coverage, and recently posted the statement to the judge written by Jane Doe, the then 16 year-old victim in this horrific case.
Though the three rapists have been sentenced to six years each, Jane Doe is proceeding with a civil case. She was repeatedly harassed by defense investigators and the families of the accused; she has lived a long and horrible nightmare. One of my regular readers, Catty, has a connection with Jane Doe's civil suit attorney. She would like to collect letters of support for Jane Doe via email; these will then be passed on to her attorney and then, presumably, to Jane Doe herself. Catty is also looking for folks who live in the OC area who are willing to show up during the civil trial to offer support for this very brave and very young survivor. Contact her at the email address below.

The letters will be screened, and obviously only supportive letters will be passed on. Please email them to Catty at her email address: ihiroe@yahoo.com.

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2006/03/17/sending-emails-of-support-to-oc-rape-survivor/

http://hugoboy.typepad.com/hugo_schwyzer/2006/03/showing_your_su.html

http://pinkofeministhellcat.typepad.com/pinko_feminist_hellcat/2006/03/oc_rape_survivo.html


Jane Doe of Orange County is a strong young woman. She was attacked from the inside out and afterwards intimidated and mocked as the attacker's family tried to silence her. She withstood 2 trials and the young men - her former friends - eventually received 6 years each - which will be closer to 21 months. I think they deserved life in prison for what they did.

There was a poster who said that people are sexist who have a "visceral response to rape" - that such notions are "paternalistic victorian sexist crap." But I don't have a problem with the fact that Jane Doe chose to have sex with 2 of the men the previous day. That was her choice. And it should not be used against her.

But it makes the matter all the more clear that what the 3 men did was not for sex - which they could have had and had it been freely given. No they were out to demean, denigrate and record their rape for posterity - so proud they were of their power and abuse and cruelty.

Where would someone get the idea to do the things they did and to make a video of it? Ideas don't come from nowhere. It would be interesting to know what pornography those guys have watched. Those who make it and those who make it available - whether professionally or otherwise - should be wondering what role they played.


See also Robert Jensen articles on the subject of gender, sexuality and pornography:

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Erjensen/freelance/genderarticles.htm

I liked what I saw on the site, so I'm curious who he is? How long have you visited his blog?

The victim's statement made me cry. It breaks my hear that she was treated so horribly by the rapists' family and hired cronies. It absolutely sickens me.

:cry::puke::cry::mad::cry:

I started writing her and was crying--had to save it as a draft until I can compose myself.

http://www.amptoons.com/blog


For awhile - maybe a year or so - now and then. It's mostly about feminist issues.

Hugo's blog was linked from that. And I'm not familiar with it.


pinko feminist hellcat has quite a collection of information about the OC rape case.

http://pinkofeministhellcat.typepad.com/pinko_feminist_hellcat/oc_rape_case/index.html

She seems to be in contact with Hugo and Alas/amp's blogs.



It is a very disturbing case. Not only the horrible event itself. But how it was handled by the courts and the press - how the girl was intimidated and stalked afterwards.

Dana Parsons of the Los Anegles Times is completely annoying with his suggestions that the prosecutor should never have expected more than a 3 year sentence. I don't know why someone so completely idiotic has a platform like he does in a major newspaper. I don't see that helps society one bit. I think he is also the one who wrote:

"I hate (this case) because it led me to take the side of boys whose behavior I considered disgusting. Convinced from the start the case was overcharged, I argued for a plea bargain and lesser sentence. That, naturally, provided fuel for the angry mob that didn't care if the boys, then 16 and 17, spent 20 years in prison."

http://pinkofeministhellcat.typepad.com/pinko_feminist_hellcat/2005/02/haidl_headace_c.html

he sounds like an asshat of the highest order, and you're right in that he does not deserve the platform that he has at all.

Why would he side with the three boys--because they were white and wealthy? Because one's father is rich and a former deputy sheriff? Because the girl is merely that...a girl, a young woman? Maybe because she's biracial--half african american--so surely somehow that equates to her being some porn star in training? She of course, asked to be fucked on a pool table in some garage, while drugged out of her mind, and have items jammed in every orifice of her body, while simultaneously being filmed. :eyes: :crazy: Is that why this mysoginistic piece of shit has the audacity to say that the case is annoying and forced him to side with those wastes of human life? :sarcasm:

Well, fuck him and the arrogant, bigoted, clueless, holier than thou attitude he's somehow managed to utilize as objective journalism. May the very shit he espouses bite him in his ass someday. :grr::mad::grr::mad:

"...As all this illustrates, at every step of the way, in our system, there are actors who can bend the law to prevent rapists from being punished - especially if those rapists are rich, fresh-faced, white boys. Even in a case where the evidence seems overwhelming, some of these actors will try to find ways to let rapists off - and in many cases, they'll succeed. As long as human actors implement the law, legal reforms will be very limited in their effect.

Real reductions of rape - and increases in the likelihood of convictions - may be accompanied by legal reforms, but they won't be caused by legal reforms. It's only by a massive alternation in how our society thinks of rape at every level - so that "boys will be boys" and "the slut defense" is understood by the average person, the average judge, and the average juror as not merely wrong but also repugnant - that real change will happen."

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2006/03/17/oc-rapists-sentenced-to-six-years-in-prison/



I think that is one of the saddest aspects of this - what this case says about so many aspects of society - and how far we as a society have to go - just to be half-ways reasonable.

"I wanted to knock the woman off her pedestal, and I felt rape was the worst thing I could do to her," said one serial rapist. " And that it was his intent to "defile, degrade and humiliate the woman".

I thought it was interesting in light of the comment by the person (male, I presume) who was so concerned about women's "visceral response to rape" - he said that such notions are "paternalistic victorian sexist crap" partly because people think that punishment should be greater than for other crimes of violence.

When the comment by the serial rapist would lead one to believe that it is the RAPIST who has the notion that women have a "visceral response to rape" - and that it is the rapist's intent to make the woman feel "violated, horrified and ashamed." It is not the rapists intent to merely "hurt" women. There are easier ways to do that.


In fact - in thinking about the OC gang-rapists - I wonder about all of this stuff that is going on in society - like the extra degrading pornography and the extra degrading rapists with their lighted cigarettes and such - if these rapists feel like they have to try harder to "defile, degrade and humiliate the woman" because just the act of sex itself (contrary to what the person with the "visceral response to rape" comment thinks) isn't defiling, degrading and humiliating enough for some rapists when women are willing to have sex anyway. When women were "Victorian prudes" - it was easier to "defile, degrade and humiliate" them.

I'm not saying that women need to go back to being "prudes" - and I don't know what can be done so that some men are not so intent on degrading women - regardless of what they think that entails.

Some people blame religion - some blame the lack thereof - I think people would benefit from a sense of morality that is beyond religion. Something that is not predicated on the belief of that which cannot be proven.

What bravery and strength she demonstrated to get through this....have men evolved at all? Will they ever?

I hope she sues those families for every cent they have and end up having to live in one bedroom apartments in Modesto.

I'm going to write to her! I don't know if you noticed my thread about the case on this board. A few people that posted on it, said they wished they could speak to the survivor.

This is SO great...! Thanks for sharing with us. :hi:

Thanks for posting.

How many of you think the sentence would have been only three years had the perpetrators, instead of being well-off white boys, been African-American boys from East L.A.?

I think they'd be revving up the lynch mobs even as we speak.

This hypocrisy makes me so sick...we have two systems of justice in this country - one for the rich and one for the rest of us.

about the state of our justice system.

And the media - where sexist, women hating assholes get to write columns for the Los Angeles Times that reinforce these ideas that (white) men who gang-rape and torture "friends" should get off with some lame ass 21 months to serve.

It's damn ridiculous.

should consider...This information is in my thread on the Greg Haidl case, but it bears repeating. This is taken from the website of a former police officer, who is now a private investigator. He apparently is attempting to show the depths of the corruption in the Orange County criminal justice system.

Maybe if the Times reporter took the time to pull his head out of his ass to read this... (excerpt follows about Greg Haid's father, and his involvement in the corruption)

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY


Don Haidl is all about money. When George Jaramillo introduced him to candidate Mike Carona, Haidl stepped up and delivered. Checks flowed in and Carona’s campaign had more than enough to win the election. After he was sworn in as the Assistant Sheriff in charge of the Reserve Officer program, Haidl wasted little time implementing a business plan for raising campaign funds. By expanding the reserve force to 1000 members, Sheriff Carona could count on at least $1,000. from each reserve officer at campaign time and probably a lot more from their friends and families. That’s more than a million dollars! What Haidl didn’t consider was that giving guns and badges to 1000 people with limited training could also be a recipe for disaster. Fortunately for the Sheriff, Haidl’s plan fizzled and he recently resigned to spend more time with his son, Gregory, who is facing trial on two separate criminal charges of allegedly gang-raping one female minor and having unlawful sexual intercourse with another.


GET OUT JAIL FREE


Millionaires sometimes go out of their way to make sure their kids are well grounded, but apparently, Don Haidl did not. As a young teenager, Gregory Haidl was the son of a divorced father with a lot of money who moved to Orange County and got a big badge. The lure of “The OC” was not lost on young Gregory and with a rich and powerful father, the sky was the limit. Sex, drugs, rock and roll became Gregory Haidl’s lifestyle and there were no limits. When he and two friends had sex with a 16 year old girl at Don Haidl’s home in Orange County, Gregory felt so bullet proof that he videotaped the sex and bragged about it later. If Gregory Haidl had felt even a little worried that he had gone too far, he and his friends would not be facing prison time. But he wasn’t worried. He was proud of the tape until he realized that it was evidence of an outrageous series of criminal acts, but then it was too late.


True to form, Don Haidl has dealt with his son’s problems by throwing money at them and so far, nothing has worked. Lawyers, doctors, private investigators and reward offers have done nothing but make things worse. Don Haidl feels that DA Tony Rackauckas is going after his son to get much needed publicity as a tough on crime prosecutor. Haidl feels that Rackauckas should be his friend because he gave money to his campaign too. Apparently, Don Haidl didn’t explain to his son that he was trying to earn the respect of law enforcement and seeking favors was not a good thing.

------------------------snip-------------------------------------------------------

Excerpt taken from:
http://www.twistedbadge.com/theoc_6.htm

I'm tempted to e-mail the information to the piss ant of a reporter personally. I doubt it would make any impact on him, though...

and told them what I thought about their columnist.

I think it would be great if they heard from a lot of people. And had subscriptions revoked, etc.

...I don't know that they will care about my opinion, as I'm not a subscriber and rarely read their rw rag. But I will contact them anyway.

I'll ask them when they started competing with the National Enquirer and the other drugstore rags for readership. I'll also inquire as to when the newspaper became an editorial as opposed to actually providing objective news coverage.

:eyes:

columnists who support gang-rapists instead of the survivors.

include that in your letter to them? If you didn't, I will... btw, do you have their e-mail address? I hate their website...I can never find anything there. :eyes: It figures.

what I said - just that I read them the riot act. ;-)

I used their form:

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-contactus,0,1439615.htmlstory


but here is the address for questions or concerns about The Times' journalistic standards and practice:

readers.rep@latimes.com


Letters that you may want published can be sent to :

letters@latimes.com

"Letters should be brief (250 words or less) and are subject to condensation. They must include a full name (initials and pseudonyms will not be used) and a valid mailing address and telephone number. Unpublished letters cannot be acknowledged."

I'll let them know how much they suck! LOL!