I never watch local news because it tends to be sensational – “What product do you have in your home that could KILL your child????” But it was on last night and I didn’t turn it off. I should have.

There was a report on a rape and beating of a 14 year old girl. Her attackers were two 14 year old boys. The attack was watched by several other people who photographed it. Afterwards, the girl was left for dead by everyone involved. There was a whole report on this about the boys being tried as adults and the watchers facing charges also. And then, the last sentence of the story was, “The girl survived the attack but her blood alcohol content was found to be twice the legal limit.”

I stared at the TV openmouthed and said, “Oh, she did not just say that…” Yes, this was reported by a female anchor who should know better. No mention was made of the attackers’ alcohol consumption. To get picky, the legal limit for blood alcohol in a 14 year old is zero. But all of that is irrelevant. Drunk or sober, this girl was beaten almost to death and then gang-raped while people watched. Nothing she did made her deserve that. This is just another case of blaming the rape victim for the crime.

I wrote to the station to express my disgust.