How to classify this use of YouTube? Private justice, the new public sphere, the new wired self, the postmodern condition of the self — all this and more intersects in a story of a young girl, allegedly raped, rejected by the courts, and seeking justice on YouTube. Truly a pure, Generation Y use of new media if there ever was one (as horrible as the circumstances are…). All the more so given the known bias against rape victims and the young.
- “Hi, my name is Crystal. … I need some help. I didn’t want to do it this way, but it’s the only way I know that’s going to work, that someone out there in the world is gonna listen to me.”
Crystal’s case was dropped by the Orange County, Florida, state attorney’s office.
This from a CNN report on the story:
- “Young victims, particularly girls, turn inward. They are going to reach out and try to connect in the isolation of their dorm room or their bedrooms,” said Jennifer Dritt, the director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence. “Most young women feel like they want somebody to know that someone did this to them.”
One in four American women under the age of 25 report that they have been sexually assaulted, according to the nation’s largest rape crisis counseling organization, RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network … Fewer than 5 percent of reported cases in Florida make it to a prosecutor’s office.
For better or worse, we can expect YouTube and online amateur video to become a common tool for the 25% of American women who have been sexually assaulted.
16 YEAR OLD RAPE VICTIM NEEDS HELP
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_OdFuxwEy8]
Related posts:
- YouTube Video Showing Beating of Female Student in McDonald’s body {background-repeat: no-repeat;}News stories about teenagers fighting in around schools...
- Targeting Non-contemplators with Preconception Messages via YouTube. body {background-repeat: no-repeat;}Background March of Dimes has learned from focus...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
I am certain this sort of usage demands us to communally articulate an ethics of YouTube. What should be exposed, how, with what safeguards and protections, and for whom.