Being Forced to Cheer for Your Rapist

Read the full story here. Or I can sum it up for you-A girl in Texas gets raped at a party. Three men are arrested and charged with the assault, including basketball player Rakheem Bolton. Bolton plead guilty to sexual assault, but the charges of rape were dropped. The victim in this is also a cheerleader. She was kicked off the cheerleading squad when she refused to cheer for Bolton specifically during a basketball game. The cheerleader and her parents sued the school, claiming that they had violated the student's first amendment rights.

Their lawsuit argued that HS's right to exercise free expression had been violated when she was instructed to applaud her attacker. But two separate courts ruled against her, deciding that a cheerleader freely agrees to act as a "mouthpiece" for a institution and therefore surrenders her constitutional right to free speech. In September last year, a federal appeals court upheld those decisions and announced that HS must also reimburse the school district $45,000, for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against it. 

 The Supreme Court refused to hear the case, but made no comment as to why.

Doesn't is just piss you off, not only that this case had to go to court, but that the courts ruled AGAINST the victim? A woman got in trouble for not wanting to cheer on her rapist. That's fucked up.

From the beginning, the school should've handled that better. I believe it was her right not to sing the praises of her ra-ra-rapist. What does it matter if one cheerleader sits out for one cheer? Oh, my bad, I forgot that male athletes some how had a free pass in the world and can't be condemned too much for their actions (that theme is consistent at any level-high school, college, pros).

It doesn't get much more misogynistic than this. The victim pretty much just had to pay $45,000 for standing up to her rapist. That is some HATEFUL shit right there. Where is the love, the sensitivity for this woman who was the victim of a violent crime?

So many rapes and sexual assaults go unreported because women are scared: of not being believed, of repercussions, of backlash. This girl stood up for herself. She took a stand, being brave enough to not only prosecute her attackers, but also to further stand up for herself by refusing to cheer for one of them. For that she was punished.

He Man Woman Haters..............Gotdamn.