Jump to content
IGNORED

Brigham Young University Investigating Students Who Report Sexual Assault


tehfanglyfish

Recommended Posts

Here's your evening dose of rage-inducing content. http://www.wral.com/byu-students-investigated-by-school-after-reporting-rape/15652915/ Apparently students who report sexual assault at Brigham Young are being investigated for honor code violations. Grr!!!! Hopefully I'm not duplicate posting (I did search FJ for this story and found nothing).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, man. I read about this  a couple of days ago and was pissed! How could they possibly do this to the unfortunate young lady who has just been sexually assaulted?!?

And I don't understand the issue about how BYU got the official police report and then wouldn't return it to the sheriff's department so they could continue their investigation?

Fuck BYU's honor code. Even if she was lounging in her apartment getting a tattoo and 2nd holes pierced in her ears drinking wine and not wearing any pants, It. Was. Still. Rape. Full stop! :angry-cussing::angry-screaming::angry-banghead:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

why would this be a surprise at such a terrible school? it is always the woman's fault we see it over an over and over again. we even see it in the courts. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear female students,

Fuck you for getting raped and risking our reputation.

In Christ's name, Brigham Young University

P.S. the tuition deadline is July 1 and is subject to the new 2% rate hike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's so shocking.  Not.  Considering the way rape is treated on progressive campuses, I'm not at all surprised than an uptight, religious school with an honor code would treat it way worse.  Can you imagine if it happened at Crown or PCC?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just disgusting. People need to stop treating this school as a respected institution. It should be considered a joke after this. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course they are. A good, Mormon girl would never get raped, I mean would never challenge a possible headship and turn his perverted ass in to the authorities. This school and others like it irate me. What in the world. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wasn't it Mormonism saying that if a women did not fight for her life it was her fault?

 

"Rape is the only violent crime in Utah whose rate exceeds the national average. By comparison, Utah's rates for other violent crimes - such as murder, robbery or aggravated assault - are historically half to a third of the national average, according to the report, entitled 'Rape in Utah: A Survey of Utah Women About Their Experience with Sexual Violence.'"
- http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2935199

Equally distrubring, according to the report:

- Less than 10 percent of the victims surveyed reported the assaults to police.

- Less than 3 percent of victims went to rape crisis centers.

- Only 30 percent of those surveyed sought counseling.

"In fact, sexual assault victims reported they were more concerned about friends and family members discovering the assault than about getting pregnant or catching a sexually transmitted disease, the survey discovered."

This situation for Utah women has a direct connection to Mormon teaching and culture. Not only does the Book of Mormon teach openly that rape deprives women of their chastity and virtue (Moroni 9:9) the church teaches that women should die before "giving in" to rape.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, doggie said:

wasn't it Mormonism saying that if a women did not fight for her life it was her fault?

 

"Rape is the only violent crime in Utah whose rate exceeds the national average. By comparison, Utah's rates for other violent crimes - such as murder, robbery or aggravated assault - are historically half to a third of the national average, according to the report, entitled 'Rape in Utah: A Survey of Utah Women About Their Experience with Sexual Violence.'"
- http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2935199

Equally distrubring, according to the report:

- Less than 10 percent of the victims surveyed reported the assaults to police.

- Less than 3 percent of victims went to rape crisis centers.

- Only 30 percent of those surveyed sought counseling.

"In fact, sexual assault victims reported they were more concerned about friends and family members discovering the assault than about getting pregnant or catching a sexually transmitted disease, the survey discovered."

This situation for Utah women has a direct connection to Mormon teaching and culture. Not only does the Book of Mormon teach openly that rape deprives women of their chastity and virtue (Moroni 9:9) the church teaches that women should die before "giving in" to rape.

The Mormon church should die before teaching women that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, doggie said:



This situation for Utah women has a direct connection to Mormon teaching and culture. Not only does the Book of Mormon teach openly that rape deprives women of their chastity and virtue (Moroni 9:9) the church teaches that women should die before "giving in" to rape.

I have to admit I've never read anything from the Book of Mormon until now but just went to look at Moroni 9:9. What a lovely verse... "and after depriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue" - sure chastity is what matters most. Grrr!!!!

 

And holy shit... the Mormon Church totally put this quote from Richard G. Scott (apparently a church elder) on their freaking website:

"The victim must do all in his or her power to stop the abuse. Most often, the victim is innocent because of being disabled by fear or the power or authority of the offender. At some point in time, however, the Lord may prompt a victim to recognize a degree of responsibility for abuse. Your priesthood leader will help assess your responsibility so that, if needed, it can be addressed. Otherwise the seeds of guilt will remain and sprout into bitter fruit."

Um, fuck that shit! I had an abuser try to tell me I led him on when I was freaking 7 years old. I wonder what Scott's reaction would be to that. Rest assured, there have been no "seeds of guilt" in my heart - just a fiery rage for abusive douchebags and a lot of compassion for victims.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Institutionalised victim blaming at its finest.

This makes me so furious.

In a heck of a lot of jurisdictions, including my own, women who dare accuse a man of sexual assault/harassment, are often treated horribly by police and others who should be helping them.

If they manage to get the prosecutor to lay charges, it is often the past sexual conduct of the victim that is on trial, and if she is not a properly chaste 'good girl', or if she was friends with, or has ever said yes to the accused, odds are good that he's going to walk.

A friend is a law professor here, with over 20 years at the Bar, and he flat out tells his students if they are raped, not to bother requesting that sexual assault chargesbe laid - unless the person who attacked was a complete stranger, who grabbed them off the street and used or threatened them with a weapon during the course of the assault, and even then, according to him, in Alberta, "only poor men go to jail for sexual assault". I hope it's getting better, but the whole idea of women being responsible for men acting badly is so deeply embedded in the culture that I have a hard time being optimistic.

And I get, it's sometimes difficult to prove sexual assault, especially in the case where there was a pre-existing connection between victim and accused, and nobody should go to jail for something they didn't do, but the institutionalised bias against women in these situations is just frustrating.

For a church to formally entrench victim blaming and say the victim is to blame for not doing everything possible to preserve their virtue (even if fighting could get them killed) is just wrong on every level. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This issue has made me violently angry. I'm what my friend calls a "recovering Mormon". This issue has been a big deal among my other "recovering" friends. Among the active Mormons I associate with, especially online, it has been complete radio silence. I'm not really surprised,but I was expecting more of the defending BYU bit. The vast majority of my high school friends attended BYU-I back when it was still Ricks College or BYU. Sexual assault is all but the norm at those schools. When my best friend was getting his undergrad at BYU he told me that some of the big beefy dudes(of which he is not) were being interviewed by their bishops to escort female students over a specific part of campus. This area, that was on the way to certain classrooms, was where multiple women had been groped by some perv. 

Here's the worst example of how the attitude that is endemic in LDS church: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/3804620-155/letter-exempting-rape-victims-from-honor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/21/2016 at 4:14 PM, doggie said:

wasn't it Mormonism saying that if a women did not fight for her life it was her fault?

 

"Rape is the only violent crime in Utah whose rate exceeds the national average. By comparison, Utah's rates for other violent crimes - such as murder, robbery or aggravated assault - are historically half to a third of the national average, according to the report, entitled 'Rape in Utah: A Survey of Utah Women About Their Experience with Sexual Violence.'"
- http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2935199

Equally distrubring, according to the report:

- Less than 10 percent of the victims surveyed reported the assaults to police.

- Less than 3 percent of victims went to rape crisis centers.

- Only 30 percent of those surveyed sought counseling.

"In fact, sexual assault victims reported they were more concerned about friends and family members discovering the assault than about getting pregnant or catching a sexually transmitted disease, the survey discovered."

This situation for Utah women has a direct connection to Mormon teaching and culture. Not only does the Book of Mormon teach openly that rape deprives women of their chastity and virtue (Moroni 9:9) the church teaches that women should die before "giving in" to rape.

One of their leaders wrote a book "Miracle of Forgiveness" where he blamed women for being raped because they should have been killed trying to prevent the rape. In truth, that book should really be called "It's A Miracle IF You're Ever Forgiven."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really would have hoped that Elizabeth Smart publicly stating that this purity/die-first bullshit is why she at 14 - a child abducted by a grown man - was afraid and ashamed to return home would have changed some attitudes about this.  And Jesus, what kind of men would rather their mother, grandmother, wife, sister, daughter, niece, whatever be dead than survive rape? (Not to mention that men can be raped, too.). Sickening. These are the things that drive the "spiritual, not religious" movement. No one with a soul wants to be associated with this garbage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, NerdyHil said:

This issue has made me violently angry. I'm what my friend calls a "recovering Mormon". This issue has been a big deal among my other "recovering" friends. Among the active Mormons I associate with, especially online, it has been complete radio silence. I'm not really surprised,but I was expecting more of the defending BYU bit. The vast majority of my high school friends attended BYU-I back when it was still Ricks College or BYU. Sexual assault is all but the norm at those schools. When my best friend was getting his undergrad at BYU he told me that some of the big beefy dudes(of which he is not) were being interviewed by their bishops to escort female students over a specific part of campus. This area, that was on the way to certain classrooms, was where multiple women had been groped by some perv. 

Here's the worst example of how the attitude that is endemic in LDS church: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/3804620-155/letter-exempting-rape-victims-from-honor

I want to throat punch him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the Catholic Church, St. Maria Goretti is held up as an example of chastity and purity for young people.(Translation: your virginity is more important than your life.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, smittykins said:

In the Catholic Church, St. Maria Goretti is held up as an example of chastity and purity for young people.(Translation: your virginity is more important than your life.)

I think I commented on another thread that after a childhood finding much of my reading material in a parochial school library filled with lives of the saints, one of my requirements when I had my own kids was that we not name them after anyone who died rather than lose her virginity.

I also knew a girl who believed she had to become a nun because she had been raped as a young teen, and she held to that at least until she was close to twenty. I hope she changed her mind. Even, or perhaps especially, some of the nuns at our school worked to convince her otherwise, but she came from one of the families we referred to as, "more Catholic than the Pope."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first thought reading this was about Elizabeth Smart. No wonder she was hesitant to escape when she had the chance. She was raised in a church that believes it's better for a woman to be dead that raped, and then her captors threatened her family.

So BYU investigates the women who say they've been assaulted---why not investigate the men accused of assault?

Why do women have "purity" that is irreparably damaged by having sex, but men apparently don't?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, turquoise said:

My first thought reading this was about Elizabeth Smart. No wonder she was hesitant to escape when she had the chance. She was raised in a church that believes it's better for a woman to be dead that raped, and then her captors threatened her family.

So BYU investigates the women who say they've been assaulted---why not investigate the men accused of assault?

Why do women have "purity" that is irreparably damaged by having sex, but men apparently don't?

This, unfortunately, is seen in many faiths. In particular, within all Abrahamic faiths, to some level. There are many facets of Mormonism that are not unique to Islam. Many of those are ones I find a bit unsettling.  Not to imply that there are not parallels between Mormonism and other faiths. I think it is easy to understand what is wrong with Joseph Smith being a prophet of God simply because Mormonism is younger than Islam (and much younger than Judaism or Christianity) and both Muhammad and Joseph Smith felt Christianity had been overly reformed, hence attempting to restore a more true/primitive faith. 

When being raped taints a woman's worth, value, etc, something is incredibly wrong with the way you are thinking or believing. Any ideology is fair game to criticism, but when it punishes women for being raped, something is very, very wrong. 

BYU taking this stance is horrifying. I understand protecting both parties (the victim and the accused) because one should be innocent until proven guilty, but to punish the victim for breaking their honor code, absolutely gross. I am curious to know how Liberty University handles investigations. I do remember a few years ago a story came out about someone who was accused of rape, but not charged. While not being charged, I am fairly certain he was kicked out of the school and the victim was never "investigated" for following "The Liberty Way" but I could be mistaken. 

Note* I am not trying to defend LU as anything less than horrifying in it's own right. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, BYU. 

Sexual assult is pretty common there, I think. Common and drastically underreported. (For obvious reasons). There's even a place on campus known colloquially as "rape hill" (or at least it used to be). 

Also, The Miracle of Forgiveness is a book you definitely should not read if you need a pick-me-up. I'm pretty sure that's well known even in the most active LDS circles. 

The LDS church is certainly not known for the fantastic emphasis they place on gender equality. BYU is no exception. They would much rather blame the poor, lowly womenfolk than lose "worthy" Priesthood holders. 

@NerdyHil Hi! Another "recovering Mormon" here. Always nice to run into someone else fighting the good fight. :) 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2016-04-24 at 3:28 PM, NerdyHil said:

This issue has made me violently angry. I'm what my friend calls a "recovering Mormon". This issue has been a big deal among my other "recovering" friends. Among the active Mormons I associate with, especially online, it has been complete radio silence. I'm not really surprised,but I was expecting more of the defending BYU bit. The vast majority of my high school friends attended BYU-I back when it was still Ricks College or BYU. Sexual assault is all but the norm at those schools. When my best friend was getting his undergrad at BYU he told me that some of the big beefy dudes(of which he is not) were being interviewed by their bishops to escort female students over a specific part of campus. This area, that was on the way to certain classrooms, was where multiple women had been groped by some perv. 

Here's the worst example of how the attitude that is endemic in LDS church: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/3804620-155/letter-exempting-rape-victims-from-honor

What the heck did I just read? That someone would actually write a letter like that is just beyond comprehension... how does their logic work?

Speechless and wishing him serious ill karma in this life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.