Rape, Rolling Stone, and the Radical Notion That Women Are Trustworthy
Last week, Rolling Stone distanced themselves from the tale of a horrifying gang rape at the heart of their story about the culture of sexual violence at the University of Virginia, after concerns arose about “discrepancies” in the account of the survivor, Jackie. Now the Washington Post is re-investigating those discrepancies, uncovering major mistakes in Rolling Stone’s reporting. The details of what happened to Jackie are now up for vehement debate in the media, though by all accounts, she “experienced a horrific trauma,” as one of her friends — who saw her on the night of the assault — told the Post.
When Rolling Stone threw Jackie under the bus last week, they initially did so by saying, “Our trust in her was misplaced.”
That sentence felt — still feels — like a gut punch. Just six words, but six words that contain so much of what is wrong in our society’s attempt to deal with sexual violence.
“Our trust in her was misplaced.”
Rolling Stone’s managing editor Will Dana backtracked on that statement, saying that the magazine should have done many things differently. “These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on Jackie,” Dana wrote.
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