This isn't about guilt or innocence, it is about the climate women find themselves when they are traumatized by sexual assault.
This is not about hate, girls, boys or assigning guilt. This is about the way sexual assault is discussed and how it is also dismissed that allows boys to believe they are above the law.
In this case, the people involved are still minors. I am sure the word of the alleged rape spread through the school like wildfire. What was the message the girls received when they turned toward their leadership in the school? They were told, they are vulnerable and basically, no one is terribly worried about it.
Girls and women don't want to feel as though they are the problem or that they own the problem because of their gender or that assailant(s) have a problem that is permissible because of their gender. The way this entire subject is discussed is wrong.
I do not want boys to believe they have a right of passage, as Kavanaugh did when he decided sexual assault was not in his vocabulary. I don't want girls afraid of boys in thinking they have to distance themselves in order to be safe. The entire engagement of sexual assault is wrong and has to be replaced with confrontation so both girls and boys know what it is and why it is wrong and that it is against the law.
When girls and boys begin to identify their sexuality, they should understand there is a social opportunity in that, but, also a responsibility. When administrators have to grapple with such issues when they occur, that is not a school system ready to put students and parents at ease. It is also not a school system that prepares their young people to know the responsibility of their burgeoning sexuality and that misconduct has more consequences than a week in detention.
Sexual assault is a serious topic for every girl, boy, parents, man and woman. It is not discussed nearly enough. If parents want to protect their young men or young women and their future, then do it before a sexual assault happens. No one has entitlement to satisfy their sexual dreams, especially when they are drunk, legally or otherwise.
The discussion is not happening and this is proof.
August 16, 2019
By Amanda Quintana
Madison - Madison East High Principal Michael Hernandez (click here) sent a message to the school community and staff Tuesday morning to apologize for a statement made by the district's safety and security coordinator in a News 3 Now story Monday night about an alleged sexual assault on campus.
Two 15-year-old boys have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a girl in the bathroom.
When asked about the security of the building, Joe Balles said there are six security guards in the high school throughout the day, in addition to an educational resource officer during school hours.
The alleged sexual assault happened after school around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Balles said at that time there are usually two security guards on campus....
