It seems no good deed goes unpunished, while bad ones continue to. The women who took action in this case, and the assaulted woman who continues to want to press charges, are heros. I hope other people will be inspired to step up when they see something wrong.
I think SAFER should set up some annual awards for Best Bystanders, Athletes Making a Difference, Best Prosecutor, Most Proactive Campus Security Team, Best Student Education Campaign, Most Effective Student Movement, etc. Submit your nominations now! Alleged rape victim’s rescuers threatened: Soccer players are called names after intervening at party
[...] These fears apply to witnesses to sexual assaults not on stage as well, and have a lot to do with why so many rapists and sexual assailants get away with their crimes. Victims get told to “laugh it off” or “get over it” (one commenter at the Curvature wrote about the similarities to hallway gropings at her high school, which often get treated with a “boys will be boys” erasure of a serious offense and one that, if tolerated, can easily escalate). Victims are questioned as to why they didn’t put a stop to it if they didn’t really want it, or are told by their friends what mistakes they made (blaming the woman for sitting in the front row at the Vegas show) that caused their sexual assault to happen. Most people are afraid of intervening in a situation that seems sketchy, as they are worried they’ll seem uncool or uptight, or, more generously, that there are things about the situation they don’t know and that their interference will be unwelcome. Those who question an assailant, if, for instance, they see him (or her) carrying a person clearly too intoxicated to consent, are told to stay out of something that is none of their business or chided for not being one of the boys or reassured that the victim had consented earlier and it was all okay. And finally, those who are brave enough to intervene may be ignored or themselves harassed (two of the three women who intervened in an alleged gang rape at De Anza have left the school because of the harassment from their classmates). [...]