Disturbing Sexual Assault Case
On the morning of January 7th, 2014, a woman named Jennifer (last name is withheld due to anonymity) woke up on her floor confused, lying half-naked with her pants pulled to her knees, her shirt pulled over her head, and bruises and scratches all over her bare chest. She had recently moved into a rural village in Alaska and was told when she signed the contract to "be careful" because a teacher had been raped just the year before in a nearby village. To add to this unease, the locks on her house often wouldn't latch, and according to her lawsuit, at least 20 people who worked for the school also had a key that could open the deadbolt.
Jennifer began having multiple inappropriate encounters with men that lived in the village. One night, she awoke to two teenage boys standing at the foot of her bed. She said that she "jumped out of her bed and chased them through the house... screaming at them." She later began barricading her door with brackets that she had bought. Local boys would then instead scream from outside her house and would demand that she comes outside and have sex with them. This situation had reached an extreme point, and she began begging her superiors at the school district to move her to a new house, or to at least give her a new roommate. According to her lawsuit, the school officials told her that she "had no options" and that the problem she was having "sounded personal."
On the evening before the assault, she was gathering her things when she felt a seizure coming on; she had recently been diagnosed with epilepsy. As she was living alone at the time, she figured out that the best way to avoid injury for herself is to lie down on the floor away from sharp edges including tables or other objects that she could bump into. She decided that she would line the walls with pillows and that she would make a bed on the floor with a sleeping bag. The next morning she had lacerations on her chest and a pain between her legs. She called the police, but she was given atrocious treatment, as no one answered the phone for hours, and when they finally did, they told her not to call again. Eventually, her coworkers convinced state troopers to take her report. She was flown into the village for an examination. According to her lawsuit, the exam indicated signs of forcible assault. She also tested positive for herpes, a diagnosis that she did not have before January 6th.
This lack of assistance absolutely appalled me as I cannot believe that the police showed little to no care about any kind of concerns that she was having. If the school officials had found any kind of solution for her, then this could have potentially prevented the sexual assault, but sadly this was not the case. This incident also brings up the major problem of the level of entitlement that men feel they have over women's bodies, especially when women are in a state where they cannot protect themselves. In this situation, Jennifer was clearly not in a conscious state, as a result of her seizure, but the men in her area obviously took this as the 'perfect opportunity' to use her for sex.
This also relates to the case study 'Audrie and Daisy,' as in both cases they were intoxicated and were unable to make any conscious decisions for themselves, let alone give consent. The boys in both situations took this as an opportunity to take advantage of her and saw no problem with sexually assaulting them. Everyone, but especially young people, need to be educated on the importance of consent, as unfortunately there are hundreds of cases like this and many more that go unreported. Rape culture has become such a problem, especially in the United States, which highlights the need for more effective systems in place that could potentially help this problem.
Jennifer began having multiple inappropriate encounters with men that lived in the village. One night, she awoke to two teenage boys standing at the foot of her bed. She said that she "jumped out of her bed and chased them through the house... screaming at them." She later began barricading her door with brackets that she had bought. Local boys would then instead scream from outside her house and would demand that she comes outside and have sex with them. This situation had reached an extreme point, and she began begging her superiors at the school district to move her to a new house, or to at least give her a new roommate. According to her lawsuit, the school officials told her that she "had no options" and that the problem she was having "sounded personal."
On the evening before the assault, she was gathering her things when she felt a seizure coming on; she had recently been diagnosed with epilepsy. As she was living alone at the time, she figured out that the best way to avoid injury for herself is to lie down on the floor away from sharp edges including tables or other objects that she could bump into. She decided that she would line the walls with pillows and that she would make a bed on the floor with a sleeping bag. The next morning she had lacerations on her chest and a pain between her legs. She called the police, but she was given atrocious treatment, as no one answered the phone for hours, and when they finally did, they told her not to call again. Eventually, her coworkers convinced state troopers to take her report. She was flown into the village for an examination. According to her lawsuit, the exam indicated signs of forcible assault. She also tested positive for herpes, a diagnosis that she did not have before January 6th.
This lack of assistance absolutely appalled me as I cannot believe that the police showed little to no care about any kind of concerns that she was having. If the school officials had found any kind of solution for her, then this could have potentially prevented the sexual assault, but sadly this was not the case. This incident also brings up the major problem of the level of entitlement that men feel they have over women's bodies, especially when women are in a state where they cannot protect themselves. In this situation, Jennifer was clearly not in a conscious state, as a result of her seizure, but the men in her area obviously took this as the 'perfect opportunity' to use her for sex.
This also relates to the case study 'Audrie and Daisy,' as in both cases they were intoxicated and were unable to make any conscious decisions for themselves, let alone give consent. The boys in both situations took this as an opportunity to take advantage of her and saw no problem with sexually assaulting them. Everyone, but especially young people, need to be educated on the importance of consent, as unfortunately there are hundreds of cases like this and many more that go unreported. Rape culture has become such a problem, especially in the United States, which highlights the need for more effective systems in place that could potentially help this problem.
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