When social media, “boys will be boys,” and vigilante justice collide, Steubenville, Ohio will never be the same.
When two high school football players are accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at a pre-season party in Steubenville, Ohio, they nearly get away with it until a crime blogger notices insufficient information reported about the incident and begins doing her own research. Not surprising that in a huge football town like Steubenville where star football players are worshipped, the community expresses no sympathy for the victim in order to maintain the reputation of the perpetrators.
The victim, referred to as Jane Doe, began receiving text messages from friends regarding the assault. Having no memory of the incident, she was shocked to see a picture of herself completely incapacitated and in the hands of two teenage boys. After confirming that it was, in fact, her, the mother immediately filed a report with the police and an investigation began but didn’t lead to any arrests. Alexandra Goddard, an assault crime blogger, came across an article written about the crime but noticed that it gave very little details about those involved. Dissatisfied that this case wasn’t getting the proper attention, she decided to investigate and started searching on social media.
Since social media is where most young adults share their whole lives, Alexandra decided to examine the pages of all involved to see what really happened that night. She didn’t have to put forth much effort as the teens exposed themselves by posting everything about the incident, one even posted a video discussing what was going to happen to the girl. Alexandra found disturbing tweets and text messages shared by many regarding everything that occurred before and during the assault. She made screenshots of each message, post, and photo just in case they were erased in the future. She carefully arranged the messages in time order so everyone could see how the whole crime took place from the beginning.
After her blog went public, the case started gaining a lot of attention as the community now had access to the actual facts; there were no blurred lines only clear evidence. An anonymous hacker leaked the video of one teen laughing as he described how the girl was going to get raped that night and this gained massive media attention that propelled protests against rape victims. I was bewildered at how the victim was treated by her peers. She was called derogatory names by teens as well as adults and was blamed for being at a party intoxicated. There was absolutely no confrontation brought on to the accusers, in fact, they were the most protected even by the media.
This documentary is a must-see, especially for young adults. It is shocking, disturbing and upsetting because you realize the culture we are living in has become numb to sexual assault against women. You see from the beginning of the case that it wasn’t widely reported and clearly not taken seriously. This film raises so many questions about who we are as a society. How are we raising our children? What conversations do we need to have about sexual assault and what to do to prevent it? What do we do if we witness a violent act or even hear about it? Why didn’t the adults involved say anything when they were fully aware? And let’s not forget the responsibility of the media, what deserves attention and what doesn’t? What important information is being left out in cases like this one?
Both teens were found guilty and sentenced, but there are still so many things that linger in my mind and I’m sure it will continue to do so every time I hear of another assault case or think about those that go unreported.
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