steubenville redux: victim-blaming in a florida football town
Last edited Sat Nov 23, 2013, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)
Steubenville Redux: Victim Blaming in a Florida Football Town
Shes just ruining Jameis good character.
Thats what I overhear a young mother, decked out in a garnet top and dream-catcher earrings, telling her teenage daughter at a Mexican restaurant here in Tallahassee. Her
daughter, also clad in Florida State colors, nods in eager agreement.
I cringe, glad that my toddler is too young to comprehend what she is saying. Glad that, at that moment, I dont have to explain what victim blaming is. Glad that I dont have to explain why a whole town has turned itself inside out to discredit a rape victim and defend a college football player who is her alleged attacker.
If you follow college football, you already know who this young mother was defending: Jameis Winston, Florida State Universitys star quarterback and a suspect in an ongoing sexual battery case. And if you follow college football, you already knew all about Jameis Winston, whose on-the-field play and big personality have been the toast of sports media. If youre to believe that media, Winston has singlehandedly brought Florida Stateonce a perennial national title contenderback from the dead. This year the Seminoles are expected to play Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game. The signs of local businesses here read: Go Noles! Bring on Bama!
In Tallahassee, Winston is more than a football player: Hes a hero or a saint. In town hes known as Famous Jameis..
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Right before TMZ broke the story, the TPD turned the case over to States Attorney Willie Meggs, who described the case as a cluster. He told CBS Sports: Our office would have been
informed about this as soon as it occurred. We first learned about it at 10:02 a.m on Wednesday.
I dont know if thats alarming, but its a fact in the case. We cant question motives. What the police department has done is clammed up.
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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/11/22/steubenville-redux-victim-blaming-in-a-florida-football-town/