Voices
not always a word that you hear
used for boys,” one said. “But
yes, you’re right ... so I guess, me
too.” At the end of the day, we
wanted our tiny, fragile, helpless
baby boys to grow up to be kind.
Strong, resilient, athletic, funny ...
but above all else, kind.
Max is almost 4-years-old. He
knows nothing about the horrific things that young men did
to a young woman on the saddest
night that Steubenville has ever
seen. He doesn’t know, but I sure
do. I know that someone’s daughter was violated in the most violent way possible, by someone’s
son. By many sons. The blame for
that night falls squarely on the
shoulders of the young men who
made terrible choices, but it also
falls in the laps of their parents.
Sexual assault is about power
and control. But it is also about so
much more. While it’s true that
big scary monster men sometimes
jump out of bushes to rape unsuspecting women, most rapists look
like the men who we see every
day. Acquaintance rape (or date
rape) accounts for the majority of
sexual assaults that we see among
young people. In colleges, in high
schools, at parties, in the cars and
bedrooms that belong to the men
KIM
SIMON
HUFFINGTON
03.31.13
who women trust. These men are
your fraternity brothers, your athletes, your church-going friends,
the young neighbor who mows
your lawn. They are somebody’s
son. Date rape is often saturated
with entitlement. It feeds off of the
hero worship that grows rampant
like weeds on school campuses and
in locker rooms. Young men are
taught to be strong, to be athletes,
to be feared. Young women are
At the end of the day,
we wanted our tiny, fragile,
helpless baby boys to grow
up to be kind. Strong,
resilient, athletic, funny ...
but above all else, kind.”
taught to be meek, to be feminine,
to be small. As our young people
begin to sort out relationships with
each other and relationships with
alcohol, they encounter an endless
menu of ways to hurt each other.
As a community, we give our
athletes free reign. Young men are
filled with the heavy power of triumph, their heroism illuminated
by the bright lights of a brisk Friday night football game. Young
cheerleaders spend hours painting