The Victim-Blaming Begins in Earnest

Shaker Ann just forwarded this article regarding the heinous sexual assault and torture of a black woman by six white assholes, about which Litbrit posted earlier. The headline sets the stage—Neighbors say Logan abuse victim was 'very trusting'—but it's in the body of the article where the real magic happens.

"She was very trusting," [56-year-old Stephen Hairston, the victim's former next door neighbor] said Tuesday at his Stockton Street home. "I figure that's what got her into trouble. Supposedly, these were people who she thought were her friends."

The case has shocked both the residents of the neighborhood where 20-year-old Williams grew up and got a reputation for maybe being a bit too trusting and the Logan County hollow where the six people accused of torturing her had a reputation for their wild, sometimes violent, way of life.

It's the ultimate case of running with the wrong crowd.

Um, no it isn't. "Running with the wrong crowd" refers to erstwhile good kids who make bad choices after falling in with bad kids. Being "held captive for a week in a ramshackle shed … stabbed, choked, sexually abused, forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from the toilet … doused with hot water, choked with a cable cord, stabbed in the leg and [having] her hair cut and pulled" isn't making a bad choice. It's being tortured.

But in case you weren't yet convinced that none of this would have happened if only Megan weren't so gosh darn trusting, the article helpfully continues;

On Stockton Street, residents knew Williams as a nice, well-mannered girl - vulnerable and possibly too naive.

Consider for a moment how completely fucked up it is to accuse someone of being naïve because they trust that most people won't hold them captive and torture them. You know, I think most of us are that naïve.

Meanwhile, another neighbor, 77-year-old Willa Ann Leonard, says that the victim "usually appeared somewhat slow and deprived," which suggests she could be mentally disabled—a rather odd tidbit to just tuck in toward the end of a story calling her "naïve" and "too trusting." If Ms. Leonard is right, the entire premise of the story is even higher heaping piles of bullshit, as the victim may well have lacked the capacity to accurately assess even obvious risks.

The county magistrate who oversaw the arraignment of the six fucks charged in the case describes it as "the worst thing I've ever seen. It makes you want to puke." He didn't have any words about how overly trusting their victim was.