According to Akron News Now, even though the verdict was reached in the Steubenville case, apparently the victim has been harassed through social media. The people harassing her said that she "ruined their family's lives" and threatening to hurt her. It's already bad enough that people have been supportive of the rapists and not the actual victim, its even worse that peers of the rapists have retaliated through social media after the verdict was announced. It can't be stressed enough to consider the actual victim and what her life is like right now. A good film that explores what rape does to a person, and highlights the social pressures well is 1950's Outrage.
Given Production Code censorship, it's amazing the film was made. But, due to such censorship, the word "rape" is never mentioned. It is referenced as "criminally assaulted." The film was directed by Ida Lupino, a famous actress, and a pioneering female director.
The film starred Mala Powers. The film starts off with Ann Walton (Powers), coming out from her lunch break to meet up with her boyfriend, Jim Owens (Robert Clarke), whom, while picking up dessert, is leered at by a soda jerk (Albert Mellen). Once she meets up with Jim, Jim says he got a raise and they can get married. Ann has Jim come over for dinner at her parent's house, where Eric and Mrs. Walton (Raymond Bond and Lillian Hamilton) talk to them about the future, and Jim says he's asked her to marry her. Eric is worried, but Ann reassures. The next day, she talks about her engagement with her boss, Andy (Vic Perrin) and her co-worker (Joyce McCluskey), at lunch, where the soda jerk overhears. The same day, Ann works late and is the second to last to leave the office, and the soda jerk follows her. Ann tries to lose him and cry for help, but eventually, he rapes her. She comes home in total shock, and a doctor comes to see her, with the police waiting to interview her. It takes a couple of days, but Ann can see people look at her funny, and talk about her. She refuses to see Jim thinking that she is no longer good for him. On her first day back, the fear amplifies that she has an outburst at work and confronts Jim saying that the public will continue to scorn her even though they are married and moved away. Finally, she decides to board a bus to Los Angeles. When hearing that police are on the look-out for her as a missing person while getting coffee at a rest stop, she bolts from the bus stop and starts walking towards Los Angeles. You will have to see the film in order to see what happens to her.
One could only imagine what it was like to be a rape victim in the 1950s, but not much has changed, really. People still blame the victim for causing it when they had nothing to do with it at all. People glorify the rapist and defend his character rather than scorn him for what he did. Not much has changed socially in how we deal with these rape cases. Don't you think its time we start changing?
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