Rape Culture Claims Another Victim: Teen Ends Life After Photo Of Her Alleged Gang Rape Goes Viral



By Andrea Peterson posted from ThinkProgress Health on Apr 9, 2013 at 1:38 pm

Seventeen months ago a Canadian teen was allegedly gang-raped by four of her peers and the photo evidence of the rape spread across her community. But unlike the situation that unfolded in Steubenville, where the victim was at least given the comfort of knowing her assailants received some measure of punishment (even if the media took their side), this case ended in tragedy: The victim was taken off life support by her family on Sunday, three days after attempting to end her own life.

Seventeen-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons’ suicide was the harrowing end to a story involving not only sexual assault, but also the issues of harassment and victim-blaming that are problematic symptoms of rape culture. According to her mother Leah Parsons’ post on her Facebook, Rehtaeh was subject to significant bullying from her peers, who labeled her as a “slut”:



Parsons didn’t know about the assault until days after it happened, when Rehteah broke down in the kitchen crying. At that point, it was too late for a rape kit — which may have contributed to the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) dropped their investigation after a year without charges.

But there were other issues with the investigation as well, Parsons told the Halifax Chronicle Herald: “[t]hey didn’t even interview the boys until much, much later” and “nothing was done about [the photos] because they couldn’t prove who had pressed the photo button on the phone.” She was told that even the distribution of the photos was “not really a criminal issue,” despite the fact that Rehtaeh was 15 at the time, meaning the photos constituted child pornography.

While the investigation was ongoing, Rehtaeh struggled with anger and depression leading to her hospitalization on one occasion. She also moved to a different city to avoid harassment of her peers, including a barrage of texts asking “Will you have sex with me?” and telling her “You’re such a slut.” The Steubenville victim similarly faced harassing text messages after her identity was revealed by news coverage, including threats resulting in charges against two teens.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/09/1840501/rehtaeh-parsons-rape-culture/

It's heartbreaking ~ the teenage years are tough enough with all the emotions/hormones/peer pressures raging ~ the "rape culture" is bullying on steroids ~ life-altering and deadly ~

Sooz

This story is absolutely infuriating, John. I hope somebody is eventually held accountable for their actions.

Very unlikely.
We live in the land of corruption, coverups and incompetence, just like you folks.

They may be held accountable, but I have a real problem with the way the Canadian court system metes out punishment. They will likely just get a slap on the wrist, maybe a little community service and be sent on their way.

Canada is a little too liberal in that regard and has not caught up with the rest of the world. It's a tad too "bleeding heart" style of punishment that has me rolling my eyes.

Murderers who get sentence to 5 years? Come on! The one I know about personally where the woman strangled her daughter to death, just infuriated me. "She came from a war-torn country. She was traumatized" bullshit. Give me a break! She still murdered her child, but was given probation.
She was suppose to be re-tried this spring, but now supposedly has some sort of cancer and they are postponing it.

I knew this woman slightly. She was a mean, cruel bitch who treated her son, who was in a wheelchair, like a piece of crap. I saw it with my own eyes.

They may be held accountable

Nope.
Not enough evidence, they claim.

I hate facebook.

At the hospital this weekend I had a 15 yo patient who was dumped by her 19 yo boyfriend in Philadelphia. The 19 yo boyfriend called her a ho, slut, fat and a bitch I think. The two had never met in person and the entire relationship played out on the social media. The girl took all of her asthma meds, theophylline, and was in the hospital for theophylline overdose. Her mother is very engaged and upset because the girl has always been attention seeking and sensitive to the criticisms of others.

I don't know the details on Rehtaeh's suicide but in the little I read it involved too much vodka and vomiting at a party. The RCMP investigated and said it was he said/she said. No rape kit, etc.

The mother took to facebook to discuss her daughter's death.

Rehtaeh is gone today because of The four boys that thought that raping a 15yr old girl was OK and to distribute a photo to ruin her spirit and reputation would be fun. Secondly, All the bullying and messaging and harassment that never let up are also to blame. Lastly, the justice system failed her. Those are the people that took the life of my beautiful girl.

Is there a take away from this?

More on this story.

Question: It seems we are seeing stories like this more often. Is it because they are happening more, are being reported more, or are covered more by the news?


17-Year-Old Rehtaeh Parsons Killed Herself After Her High School Ignored Evidence She Was Raped

By Andrea Peterson on Apr 10, 2013 at 4:25 pm



The details of 17-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons’ death shook the internet on Tuesday. Parsons’ mother alleges her daughter was struggling with depression after she was gang-raped by four boys, became the target of intense victim-blaming bullying, and the investigation into her assault was grossly mishandled by law enforcement. Now, new troubling details are emerging about the alleged assault and the culture of the community that turned a blind eye to Parsons’ plight.

The picture of Parsons’ alleged assault that “spread like wildfire” among students showed one of the assailants giving a “thumbs-up with a big smile.” The school that Parsons attended at the time of the alleged sexual assault was aware of the allegations, but administrators did not probe the incident, even after the photo was seen by “most students” at Parsons’ high school. That left students to piece together the incident on their own — and potentially fueled the high school gossip mill that led many of Parsons’ classmates to place the blame on her, in a classic example of the additional trauma that rape culture can inflict on victims.

The school reportedly did not even make an announcement Monday or Tuesday about her death. But despite the school’s silence, it appears some students at the school were aware not only of Parsons’ ordeal, but that it wasn’t an isolated incident in the community:

Not everyone who saw the photo thought it was a joke, said former Cole Harbour High student Victoria Boutilier, who was friends with Rehtaeh in middle school.

When asked if she and those she knew thought they were looking at an image of a rape, she nodded emphatically: “Yes.”

“It’s horrible,” said the 16-year-old. “Just the fact that no one actually took it seriously just, like, pisses me off.”

She said she’s not entirely surprised by the alleged sexual assault or the reaction to it in the community.

Boutilier said she knows of one other person who had a similar experience to what Rehtaeh described.

While the original investigation into the alleged gang-rape was dropped after a year without any charges being made, late last night Nova Scotia’s Justice Minister Ross Landry announced he was asking senior officials to present him with options for reviewing the case. This is a stark reversal from his earlier position of standing by investigator’s decision to close the case.

The intense media scrutiny and online outcry may have influenced his decision: An online petition calling for “justice for Rehtaeh” now has more than 13,000 signatures and a prominent Canadian Liberal strategist, Warren Kinsella, has posted an open letter asking online hacktivist collective Anonymous for help putting pressure on those who stood by while Parsons’ tragedy unfolded.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/10/1848681/rehtaeh-parson-high-school/

This is a stark reversal from his earlier position of standing by investigator’s decision to close the case.

Well, duh!
Elections are coming and he's under the gun. Otherwise he wouldn't give a shyte.

I'm horrified by the school's criminal neglect ~ it's deeply shameful this teen was a victim of sexual abuse/assault and then again victimized by emotional abuse/assault from both her peers and the adults who had a moral responsibility to help/protect her ~ but it's sounding to me like there's a case to be made here ~ and, at a bare minimum, Rehtaeh deserves the respect of a full investigation ~

I don't much care why Landry is doing this, oskar ~ I'm just glad he is ~

Sooz

I signed the petition linked below ~ I hope others will too ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating info in the original ~ Sooz

Internet Activists Seek Justice For Alleged Teen Gang-Rape Victim Rehtaeh Parsons
By Andrea Peterson on Apr 11, 2013 at 9:20 am


Internet activists are demanding action on the tragic case of alleged teen gang-rape victim Rehtaeh Parsons, with hactivist collective Anonymous organizing around the hashtag #OpJustice4Rehtaeh. The news of Parsons’ suicide following a battle with depression her mother alleges stemmed from a gang-rape by four boys, seventeen months of victim-blaming bullying, pictures of the assault being shared widely in her community, and legal inaction broke earlier this week.

The original investigation into the alleged assault was dropped after authorities decided there was not enough evidence to convict, although Rehtaeh’s mother believes many aspects of the investigation were mishandled. Tuesday, in a stark reversal of his earlier decision to stand by the investigators’ decision to close the case, the Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landy announced he was asking for a review of the handling of the case. But no further action has been taken.

Here’s what you need to know:

Anonymous was encouraged to get involved. A prominent Canadian Liberal strategist, Warren Kinsella, posted an open letter asking the group for help putting pressure on those who stood by while Parsons’ tragedy unfolded.

One group of Anons claim to have identified the assailants. Yesterday, a press release posted to Pastebin claimed to know two of the four alleged assailants, with a third being confirmed. By this morning a newer release claimed the group is “confident” they know the identities of the people involved in Rehtaeh’s rape, but are still looking for those who turned a blind eye in the investigation or assisted in sharing the photo evidence of her assault.

Anonymous doesn’t want vigilante justice. Instead, it’s calling for a thorough investigation into the original allegations and into the behavior of the investigators who led the initial inquiry. Prominent Twitter accounts self-identifying with Anonymous have requested the identities of the assailants not be exposed out of respect for Parsons’ mother’s wishes.

Anonymous claims it took “only a few hours to identify the boys that assaulted Rehtaeh.” In the Pastebin post this morning they claim it was not a high tech investigation and that within hours they had emails from dozens of personal acquaintances that “recalled confessions made by these boys blatantly in public where they detailed the rape of an inebriated 15-year-old girl.”

They believe school administrators enabled the rape culture that allowed Parsons’ alleged assault to go unpunished. When asking why the boys were so blatant in their public discussion of the incident, Anonymous has an answer: “They believed no one was ever going to do anything to stop them and they were right. For this we point our fingers at the Cole Harbour school system.”

This isn’t the first time Anonymous has gotten involve to combat rape culture. The collective also engaged in activism around the Steubenville rape, which bore many striking similarities to the Parsons tragedy.

Anonymous is helping other campaigns asking for justice in the case. A Change.org petition asking for Justice for Rehtaeh has skyrocked from 13,000 signatures as of ThinkProgress coverage yesterday to over 75,000 as of this morning, and with much of that growth coming after Anonymous accounts started sharing the link.

There will be an offline protest. Various Anonymous members are publicizing a protest being arranged outside the Halifax RCMP station for Sunday, April 14th.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/11/1851191/anonymous-rehtaeh-parsons-2/

I'm very pleased the public outcry forced the police to keep the investigation open ~ hopefully, these arrests will lead to convictions ~ and I very much like the new Nova Scotia cyber-bullying law described below ~ Sooz

Two arrested in Canada for bullying rape victim Rehtaeh Parsons
By Reuters
Thursday, August 8, 2013 20:35 EDT

(Reuters) – Canadian police arrested two men on Thursday in the case of a teenage girl who died after a suicide attempt that followed months of cyber bullying, including lewd photos of an alleged sexual assault that were posted online.

The April, 2013, death of Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old from Halifax, Nova Scotia, focused international attention on the issue of bullying in the Internet era, where cellphone pictures can easily circulate on Facebook and other social media sites.

People magazine put her photo on its cover to illustrate a story on the consequences of online harassment among teenagers.

A police statement did not say what the two men were arrested for, only that they were taken into custody from their homes this morning. No charges have been filed.

Parsons was taken off life support following a suicide attempt that her parents said came after months of sustained harassment following an alleged November 2011 sexual assault, when she was 15. Cellphone pictures of the alleged assault circulated among her classmates and on social media sites.

Police closed an initial investigation without filing charges, citing insufficient evidence, only to reopen it following a national outcry and an Internet campaign that claimed to have uncovered new evidence of the assault and the bullying that followed.

The arrests come the day after a new cyber-bullying law came into effect in Nova Scotia, the first of its kind in Canada.

Under the new law, anyone who feels they are being harassed online can seek a restraining order or sue on behalf of themselves or their children. Cyber bullies can face up to 6 months in jail or a fine of up to C$5,000 ($4,800).

(Reporting by Peter N. Henderson; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Philip Barbara)

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/08/two-arrested-in-canada-for-bullying-rape-victim-rehtaeh-parsons/

A police statement did not say what the two men were arrested for, only that they were taken into custody from their homes this morning. No charges have been filed.

Kiddie porn charges so far.
Doubtful they can be charged under the new bullying laws, though.