Rolling Stone on its lapse in judgment

On November 19, 2014, Rolling Stone published a story titled “A Rape on Campus”, which describes in detail the alleged gang rape of a college first year student at a fraternity party in the University of Virginia (UVA). A month later, Rolling Stone has added a note before the article, which in part says:

“In the face of new information reported by the Washington Post and other news outlets, there now appear to be discrepancies in (the victim)'s account.”

"We published the article with the firm belief that it was accurate. Given all of these reports, however, we have come to the conclusion that we were mistaken in honoring Jackie's request to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. In trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault, we made a judgment – the kind of judgment reporters and editors make every day. We should have not made this agreement with Jackie and we should have worked harder to convince her that the truth would have been better served by getting the other side of the story. These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on (the victim). We apologize to anyone who was affected by the story and we will continue to investigate the events of that evening."

The article published on the Rolling Stone website, which has captured America's attention, has urged the UVA and the Obama administration into investigating the matter. The victim is now a junior and only now is her story being aired in public because of fear of reprisal and isolation.

  

I see no reason for a woman of any identity to lie about her gruesome rape. Considering that she was being raped by seven men at the time, I'm surprised the victim remembers anything at all. Rolling Stone's recent note to its readers paint the victim as someone with “discrepancies” regarding her own rape. This is not fair to her, she who came and told her story in good faith. The victim blames herself for her rape, as if it was her fault that a pack of degeneratives like to get off on violence and bloody women.

"Everything bad in my life now is built around that one bad decision that I made," she says. "All because I went to that stupid party."

The magazine's statement, however, does not only discredit the victim but the magazine as well. Though the writer did a good job of bringing the details of sexual violence in university campuses into the limelight, she failed to interview other stakeholders, particularly the alleged perpetuators, only relying on one woman's account of a very sensitive and rampant issue. A statement from the magazine is necessary, considering the writer's lapse in judgment, but it is incredibly insensitive to accuse a rape victim of lying, a woman who kept her mouth shut for two years because of apathy.

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