Parents and faculty all across Fort Myers, Florida now have every right to keep a proverbial (or literal; I’m sure that exists) GPS on their kids after a group of teenagers had sex in a high school bathroom this week. According to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office incident report, cell phone footage showed at least two dozen — dozen — students entering a bathroom to have sex with one girl during school hours at South Fort Myers High School.
Authorities and the victim’s parents had not planned to press charges, but now that the video leaked to social media, Florida Department of Children and Families have confiscated the device and are conducting an investigation. It’s unclear whether the acts were consensual or not, but no matter how you slice it, the victim was not of a consenting age, rendering it rape. Had she been older and more capable of informed consent, I could see myself playing devil’s advocate, because I listen to a ton of Guys We Fucked: The Anti Slut-Shaming Podcast and I know better than to yuck another woman’s yum. But a teen? I am genuinely concerned for her well-being and safety and I can’t fathom how traumatized she must have felt, or how she might be processing the incident as days go by.
Only two states have mandated sexual education, and you guessed it, Florida is not one of them. We can no longer afford to sit idly literally watching acts of sexual violence on our security cameras as an impetus to implement mandatory nationwide programs.
It’s been said before, many times, by many people, but once more for the cheap seats in the back: We have to teach our kids what is “sex” and what is “rape” and generally what the fuck is OK and what isn’t when it comes to your own body and the bodies of other people.
Sure, it’s our duty to support victims in the wake of an attack, but here’s an even better thought: lets teach boys not to rape. Make sexual education a holistic part of a kid’s upbringing, not some isolated condom-wrapped banana tutorial after science class when their brains are reefer-fried. How about we work hard from day one to normalize sex around the dinner table so our kids don’t run rampant in the bathrooms; to teach them to respect boundaries; to ignore that shitty, shitty line in that otherwise really good song saying “What do you mean when you nod your head yes but you wanna say no” promoting the idea that a woman’s limits are fluid and that her intuition can betray her.
The concern that there won’t be a football team next year while the players are suspended is, well, concerning. Sports can wait while these boys sit in their rooms and think about what they’ve done, only to resurface periodically for their daily allowance of mash. And that’s it. Only mash for young rapists.
Original by Marissa Miller @Marissa__Miller
