La La Land Mommy: Rape Is Not A Laughing Matter! What If It Were Your Daughter? #IStandWithJada
First off no my daughter was not raped. She is the first person I thought about after reading the story I’m about to share though. Yesterday I was sitting at home with my children when I received a text with a news link from The Husband. It was a link to a story at the website Jezebel.com. The story circles around this young lady named Jada. She attended a party with some friends. At the party someone gave her drink and she said from there she doesn’t remember anything because she passed out. Some time after the party Jada discovered that there was video and pictures on the internet of her engaged in a sexual act with a young man. To make matters worst people started making fun of her and posting pics of themselves in the same pose as Jada in one picture using the hashtag #Jadapose. The article I read posted examples but I won’t be doing that. I refuse to make the disgusting people doing this famous.
I am wondering when it became okay to make things such as rape a joke or any crime for that matter. I see videos on the daily of people doing things like fighting. I will admit it most videos I click on but I’m not laughing at them. I often wonder why the people who are recording press the record button instead of help. As quick as they can press the record button they can dial 911. I really think that social media is desensitizing us to the seriousness of crimes such as rape. When did it become funny to see people in these situations and humiliate them by sharing it on the internet. I wonder if people ever put themselves in the shoes of the victims they are embarrassing or wonder how they would react if it were their daughter, sister, cousin, niece, or any female they knew being treated in this matter. I will never understand why. I know I would be highly upset if this were someone I knew. I for one am highly upset that stories like this are becoming more and more common. How is it fun to embarrass someone who just found out that something as dramatic as rape has happened to them? This is why the suicide rate is as high as it is now. We now take things as jokes. I’m not going to lie there are some things that I have laughed at that maybe I shouldn’t have. But then when I thought about it later I realized that if it were me I wouldn’t find it as funny. I also wonder if the people sharing the original picture of Jada are going to be laughing when they go to jail for child porn. Honestly where is the humor in all this?
I was having a conversation with a fellow blogger on twitter about this situation with Jada. I suddenly got a tweet from someone claiming to know Jada. She said that Jada wasn’t raped and that she willingly had sex with the young man in question. I told her that from what I read I consider it rape. She proceeded to call me a moron and stupid. That’s when she informed me that she had the video and the pictures. I asked her why she would want video or pictures of such a humiliating situation. I got no response. But she was quick to defend the young man saying that Jada was afraid of getting in trouble with her parents so she lied. I don’t agree. But like I told her we may never know the truth but from what I have read I do believe Jada was raped. The only thing we both agreed on was that Jada didn’t deserve to be embarrassed by having her picture and video plastered all over the net. I don’t think that this young lady would feel the way she feels if the shoe was on the other foot. She would not be so quick to defend the person who wronged her. I admit it may be possible that she knows something that I don’t but either way Jada was wronged. Consensual sex or not she did not deserve to be embarrassed or treated the way she is being treated. I saw the pic in a news report clip that I came across and from the looks of it Jada was indeed impaired. The way she was laying you clearly see that something was wrong. So again I don’t believe she had consensual sex. The young lady claims to have seen the video. I haven’t and don’t want to.
I turned this into a teachable moment with my kids. Especially my daughter. I am so sad that I had to have a conversation such as this with them but I would rather have the conversation than not have it. I let them read the article first and then asked them if they had any questions. Then I gave them some guidelines like:
1. Don’t accept drinks from anyone.
2. Drink only what they fix themselves.
3. Don’t leave their drinks unattended.
4. If they aren’t sure what’s in the punch bowl then don’t drink it.
5. Bring their own drinks.
What is the world coming to when you can’t go to a party and enjoy yourself without worry? Then on top of that in the age of camera phone you have to worry about the things that you are doing being plastered on the internet. I almost wish for the days when camera phones weren’t so accessible. I hope the people participating in the hashtag #Jadapose remember that the very thin that they are participating in could be them or someone they know. If ever that day comes I doubt it will be as funny as they seem to think this young lady’s situation is. My prayers go out to Jada and her family. #IStandWithJada
To find out more about this story read it here at Jezebel.com.
