In the last month, the Steubenville rape case has gained a
lot of media attention nationally and caused a great division in the Ohio town.
As a result of the trial, many
disturbing themes emerged that concern me as a parent and as a high school
counselor. Some of these themes were
identified by two national authors that I admire, Rachel Simmons and Rosalind
Wiseman. Some of these themes include: underage drinking,
parental abandonment, date rape, female relational aggression, rape culture
silence, child pornography, and misogyny.
As a high school counselor, I frequently hear stories from
students about drinking at parties, regrettable sexual encounters, the misuse
of social media, and the pain from sexual abuse. While reading about the
football’s players’ disparaging comments regarding the offensive photos of the
victim, my mind flashed back to a classroom I visited last year. During a
freshman guidance session, I was talking to students about the pitfalls of the
freshman year. One of my slides was
about cyber bullying and our discussion turned to sharing photos on Facebook. During our dialogue, there was a group of
football players on my right who started laughing uncontrollably when I
mentioned that sharing nude photos of themselves or others was considered child
pornography. Following the outburst, I quickly realized that these boys were
putting themselves in serious jeopardy of getting into trouble. Before class
was over, I walked over to two of the young men and began to spout off my legal
and criminal knowledge of the consequences of sending nude photos over social
media. After I finished my educational tout, the boys just looked at me and
burst into another round of laughter. At that point, feeling defeated and
highly agitated at their immaturity, I walked away.
The Steubenville case is not an isolated incident. Each
weekend around our country, high school students are involved in promiscuous
and dangerous behaviors that may impact them for years. The results of their
reckless behavior can result in post-traumatic stress, academic failure, legal issues,
mistrust in relationships, creation of a negative school culture, and dropping
out of school. How can high school counselors use the themes from this
unfortunate case to make a difference in their school? Since there is such a stigma in talking about
rape culture, there are several ideas that school counselors can employ to
educate students and parents. Here are some suggestions that can be added to
your counseling curriculum and I hope to hear from other school counselors about
their ideas as well.
Teen Violence Awareness WeekTeaching Teens About Date Rape Drugs and Staying Safe
Sexting and Relationships
Sexting and Texting
Twisted Love Discussion from PBS
Power and Control Wheel
4 Easy Ways Schools Can Stop Rape Culture
Yes Means Yes
How do you talk to your son about rape?
Alcohol Abuse
Stop Alcohol Abuse
In Steubenville, Why Didn't Girls Help?
Safe Prom
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