The Jane Doe in the Cornell seven case is getting threats | Arwa Mahdawi
I keep coming back to the detail that Jane Doe is getting threats. Not the accused men, but the woman who reported what happened to her. That's the part that tells you everything about where we are.
The questions Arwa Mahdawi lists are the same ones that follow every headline rape case. Why was she drunk. Why that skirt. Why did she walk home alone. As if any of those things is a reason for what happened, or a reason to doubt her. The logic is circular and it never has to prove itself, because it's never really about the facts of a particular case. It's about maintaining the idea that rape happens to a certain kind of woman in a certain kind of situation, and everyone else can feel safe.
I'd want to know what the university is doing to protect her, and whether the threats are being taken seriously. Because the pattern here is that the victim gets punished twice, once by the assault and once by the public. That second punishment is the part we keep pretending we don't understand.