Unthinkable

Two incidents involving sexual harassment and assault took place in Brazil and the U.S. this week, shocking each nation. Though both were seemingly isolated incidents, part of what made them so horrifying was the thought that these terrible events could somehow reflect on the people of the respective countries. I'd like to think that they were, in fact, isolated incidents, but the events are undoubtedly telling.

In Brazil, a female college student at a respected university was chased by a mob shouting and cursing at her and threatening to rape her, supposedly because she was wearing a very short skirt to class. She barricaded herself inside a classroom and was escorted off the campus by military police. Several videos of the incident were floating around the Internet this week, though most have been removed (this one seems to be working). It seems as if a few reactions to the woman's attire sparked a mob, consisting of both men and women accusing the woman of being a whore. The incident provoked outrage all over the country, with many shaking their heads at what was perceived as evidence of a machista society. [From an outsider perspective, the irony of this terrible incident is that it debunks the gringo myth that Brazilians love nudity and approve of wearing little clothing in everyday life, as opposed to just at the beach].

I take your mob and I raise you something infinitely worse.

In California, a fifteen year-old high school student left a high school dance intending to go home, and instead went to drink in an alley behind the school. She wound up getting drunk, and was attacked by around ten male students who gang raped her for nearly three hours, while allegedly around a dozen other people stood around watching and did nothing. Several of the attackers have been arrested (they are being tried as adults even though they're minors), though police are still looking for more suspects, including those who watched and failed to call the police or alert authorities. The girl was found later in critical condition, and only was released from the hospital three days later. All over the U.S., people expressed outrage and disbelief that such a large group of people could watch such a brutal crime and refuse to stop it.

Both incidents forced both countries to reflect on issues people neither want to think about nor acknowledge. In the case of Brazil, some claimed that the victim "asked for it" because she provoked her fellow students with her "lewd" clothing. In the U.S., there's likely a minority who blame the incident on immigrants, since the arrested suspects are Latinos. But fundamentally, the large majority in each country tried to reconcile how something so unthinkable could happen in civilized places in this day and age, how as a part of a crowd, seemingly normal individuals could become monsters. 

Comments

[brazinglish]

The funny thing is if a girl from the cast of Pânico na TV went to that campus to record something wearing only her bathing suit, vigorous cheering and applauses would ensue.

Brazilians do tend to use the "she was asking for it" excuse often when these things happen. For example, when girls are raped in circumstances similar to the ones the American girl found herself in, they'd say "Well, why did she go to an alley in the first place?", like it was her fault.

I will disregard the American part of this post, it has to be the plot of a Law & Order SVU episode... no way this is real!

[Rio Gringa]

Actually, Americans sometimes use the "she was asking for it" line too. Another facet of the horrible rape case is that allegedly the girl had a hard time fitting in, so some would jump to the conclusion that she may have even encouraged the rapists. I'm not sure the writers on SVU could think up something like this. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes :(

[Simone]

Actually, I saw the picture of this Brazilian girl sitting in the classroom on the newspaper Estadao and it seems to me that the dress was not that short.

I mean, I had seen girls dressed much worse than this... in High School!!! Seriously. I also had many friends who dress with very short dresses going to colleges campus, whether because of the hot weather or as this girl claims, for going out afterwords! But one common trend among them though, they were not as "chubby" as this girl. Not that I think she was fat or anything but these girls I am talking about were very skinny.

Anyway, sexy dresses and tight clothes are very common in Brazil. I am surprised of this reaction. I believe it might have been the combination of pink, blonde and "gostosa" (ou "cheinha"), or even her behavior at school?, that triggered this reaction but whatever reason there was, this simply is not acceptable. Especially coming from an Educational institution!! I feel very sorry for us women. It seems like whatever we do, we rarely are treated with the respect we deserve here or anywhere else. I also did not see this news portrayed in any other major Media Outlets online today (e.g Folha, Veja, O Globo). That tells just how much people really care about this issue.

In a separate note.... Rachel, did you see that the call girl Surfistinha got public funding for a theater production? The government think that is culture and deserves funding, lots of it!!! It might as well be "culture" but with public money? In the mean time, many people who had apply to get money to restore historical places, etc. get their petitions denied.

Yes, you were 100% right when you said (I read it somewhere in this blog) that Brazil is a country of contradictions. Go figure that!!

[Patricia]

I can't even think about it anymore. It's so disgusting to think that people can do that. What happened to our morals and our compassion?

One think I did notice was that although Americans also use the line "she asked for it," it wasn't from the police like in the Brazilian case, where the police was adding their own comments.

Sad. Enraged. Upset and hopeless. That's how I feel.

These students behaved like savages, typical of mob.

[Livia Silveira]

See... I couldn't believe in the scene I watched on youtube (I had watched it even before coming here). The similar event I've seen in Brazil was a girl who once tryed to do topless in Rio, and there the TV and the cops also came to arrest her for "Atentado ao pudor".

What I find really strange about the actual story is that people are used to see girls in short skirts and tight tops to go to school and to work. On the topless case, even if I don't personally see any harm on it, it's not at all common in Brasil and ignorant-radical people could have been "shocked" by it.
However, I've seen people wearing inapropriate clothing and short skirts to go to school and to work throughout my life(and I worked at the congres hall, where people supposedly should dress accordingly(!)), but NEVER I've seen such a reaction.

However I've seen surreal persecutions like this one when I was in Highschool. Reasons weren't necessarily related to sex or to an sexual appeal, but they could develop to a similar level.

That's why I can only figure that the problem in this case wasn't actually the girl's skirt. In my opinion,I'd say this was a typical case of bulling - even if those people where adults.

I'm not saying that to "excuse" people who participated on it. I think it was a barbarian scene, really a medieval inquisition brought to our days. But, trust me, I've suffered bulling in my adolescence in Brazil. This whole thing didn't start for the size of the girl's skirt, but most probably because of who was wearing it.

I'm pretty sure that the same skirt on the gorgeous Miss Uniban(if she exists)or in any popular "gostosa" from the same university would be pretty much appreciated by those people who chased this poor girl.

I could be wrong... but I've passed by some quite weird bulling situations myself, and in Brazil, you could expect pretty much anything from (ignorant) people around you. It's very common to not know your limits.

[Ray Adkins]

I just have to say we should fear high school kids and young college idiots more than we fear criminals in a prison...
At least you know what to expect from real criminals...
These people are crazy!
I have a friend who's daughter was gang rapped at a high school party, by 5 class mates,in a Dallas middle class suburb, while many others watched...

[Sonia Strong]

Just a comment: the so-called "university" is a shitty type of institution, not a "respected" one. The type where you pay for the diploma...never mind studying!

[Tricia]

Did you see the latest news with this girl? The school expelled her. Unbelievable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/6526367/Brazil-student-expelled-after-wearing-miniskirt.html

[Ana Luisa]

the Brazillian girl asked for it. If she didn't want the attention then why did she go to school dressed liked that? in addition bystanders said that she was exposing herself even more on purpose by twirling the dress

[Ana Luisa]

and by the way I think it is very sad that you compare an innocent 15 year old girl getting gang raped to a girl that on purpose wore a very provocative dress to school, if she didn't want to be noticed then why did she wear it? again its terrible that you compare an attention-starved person to a rape victim

[Rio Gringa]

[Comment about Brazilian girl deleted for offensive language]