I think that sexual assault laws vary from state to state, but there is such a thing as "object rape" that is a crime in many places. In my mind it is clearly sexual assault.
These kinds of stories make me very sad, as all parties involved are wounded by this incident. The perpetrators of course need to take accountability for their actions, but I also feel that they are in a sense victims of a subculture (in this case high school football) that contains hazing traditions that can easily get out of hand, especially when fed by hypermasculine, homophobic competitiveness.
High School Hazing Incident
Elkmont students involved in possible hazing investigation
ELKMONT, AL (WAFF) - As school officials continue to look into a possible hazing incident involving some Elkmont High School football players, the family of one of the alleged victims is speaking out.
Four varsity football players stand accused of hazing a freshmen player in the school's fieldhouse on Wednesday, September 15th, and then victimizing another varsity player who stepped in to help his younger teammate.
A family member of one of the victims says the details of the assault are too disturbing to reveal.
"It'll make you sick to your stomach, and that's a sick thing that everybody stood and watched."
The family member asked that we shield his identity to protect the identities of the victims.
"These kids are embarrassed, ashamed, probably will be for the rest of their lives because of this."
School officials will only confirm that Elkmont Principal Mickey Glass is conducting an internal investigation.
Principal Glass says the school has already taken action on several students, but this relative feels that law enforcement needs to take over the case.
"The school handling it their self, it's the bad thing about it. They're not legal authorities to handle criminal scenes."
Principal Glass says a police report has been filed, but the Limestone County Sheriff's Department will not release the report.
The family member also wants to know why no adults were around to stop it.
"These kids had to be struggling and yelling and making some noise, and you know, where were all of the adults?"
It's a question that will have to be answered as the investigation continues.
The family member says the accused players will appear before the school board Wednesday to determine their future in the school system.
Sigh...This is the school I'm interning at. One of the alleged perpetrators is (or was) in one of my classes, and I have about twenty other football players in all. Overall they're very good students (two of my absolute favorite students this year are football players), people I'm glad to have in my class. Even the one apparently involved in this thing was a good student.
Every student has wanted to be "the one" to tell me what happened, and I've only really heard rumors, but the main rumor I've heard is...pretty bad. The guys should definitely be prosecuted if it's true.
I do have to defend the school on the "where were the adults" charge. This happened after practice, in the locker room, when the guys were changing. An adult--coach or not--just standing around a locker room with a bunch of teenage boys changing clothes is going to raise PLENTY of eyebrows and start plenty of potentially career-damaging rumors in this day and age. I don't know where they were, but I can't blame them the too much for not standing around the field house while the boys were changing. Maybe they should've figured something out so that they could still be nearby while the players were still there after practice, but actually in the same room as the boys? Nope, I cant blame them for not being in the room at the time.
Terrible situation all around, for the victim, especially (I don't know who he is; he's 9th grade; I only deal with 10-12), but even for the victimizers, who may have ruined their lives with a bit of stupidity, and for the school, which is a really good school overall.