Jesus. I wonder how much jail time he'll get? Better be a lot.

Can you get any more revolting than that? I vote for "drawn and quartered," but I suppose a lot of jail time will suffice. What a disgusting man. I hope he shares a cell with lots of men who have daughters.

How do things like that happen? How does no one notice? How does a young girl end up in a situation like that?

prairielily:

Unfortunately, in poor urban areas, there's often not very much attention paid to what happens to kids. Dropout rates can become unbelievable, and gangs become primary caretakers. I know some people who would just be happy that she was still in school. :(

Note that this girl had been a prostitute in that area since September -- almost an entire year -- and only now did anyone notice.

This isn't uncommon. Note for instance the recent report from Georgia (the state, not the country).

My god. That's terrible. I have to second the "drawn and quartered". You just keep wondering how no one noticed that this guy was having sex with minors on school grounds. One more reason to home school, I guess.

Zed:

I know HOW it happens... I was more just expressing my anger. It horrifies me that we live in a society where children are expendable based on income and location.

prairielily:
considering that in society everybody is expendable based on income and location, why are we so surprised that children aren't exempt?

"everybody is expendable"

EXCEPT unborn fetuses!!!!!!

;)

*sighs*

Once again, I'm not actually surprised... just angered. I don't want to accept it as a norm. I think that's what perpetuates the inequalities.

-Trying not to become too cynical and jaded

Not to sound all cliche and conservative but:

"Where were her PARENTS?"

Yes, I realize that girls can be raped without their parents knowing. But being raped multiple times by your gym coach while being pimped all over a city? Can this even be possible?

It seems to me that the problem isn't so much "society" as "fucked up parenting".

But I've never had children so maybe this sort of thing happens all the time. It's a bit tricky to watch your kids CONSTANTLY, you know.

EJ:

In poorer areas, often parents (many times single mothers) have more children than they can possibly look after, are working multiple jobs, have drug or psychological problems that make them inattentive, have other issues, or all of the above.

Or sometimes they just don't care. It's a common problem.

That said, sometimes it is hard to keep track of what your kids are doing, especially late at night. I used to sneak out and do remarkably stupid things as a teenager without my mother figuring it out. Oddly, my father, who wasn't even living with us at that point, had more of a clue.

I got lucky, and found a father figure in a high school teacher that stabilized my life, and eventually survived the period. I did credit him in my graduation yearbook for that, though, as there was a very good chance that I would not have, without his help, or ended up in prison.

And I didn't even grow up in poverty. The divorce was enough.

I understand that, Zed, but presumably you were doing things you wanted to do and therefore wanted to keep hidden from your parents (lest they find out and spoil the fun).

I cannot imagine that this girl wanted to live a life of forced prostitution. Again, I know children do not always report things. But how hard can it be to realize that your daughter has been systematically raped by dozens of men over the period of one year? The emotional and physical trauma would be enormous!

Hence my statement that "fucked up parenting" has to be an issue here. Maybe not the main one, certainly not the only one, but definitely an issue.

In my opinion. :)

The screwy thing about 'fucked up parenting' is that it is a cycle. The children of poor/ghetto communities don't have great role models, no one is teaching them how to be a parent much less basic life skills. Like Zed was saying: In poorer areas, often parents (many times single mothers) have more children than they can possibly look after, are working multiple jobs, have drug or psychological problems that make them inattentive, have other issues, or all of the above.

Combine all of these issues, plus denial....it's hard to imagine but it happens all the time. I guess I see so much of it in my line of work that it doesn't suprise me anymore...which is even more depressing!

Someone's precious life, being sold and defiled by filthy men in this shameful manner. Defiled and violated not only from Sept. till now, but with scares that will remain with her for the rest of her life.

What are we gonna do about this as a society? Or bettter still, what can we do about it? How can we ensure that our leaders address the fundamental factors that make our sisters vulnerable to this kinds of abuse. How can we ensure that parents are enabled to take care of their families?
This is just unacceptable

MAWULI, It really is saddening.

The best thing I can think of to address this as a society is to incorporate much harsher penalties for this kind of abuse. I have no idea how long a man goes to jail for repeatedly raping a 14 year old girl, but however long it is, it isn't long enough.

Outside of that, I just don't know. Maybe the parents would be able to pay more attention to their children if the minimum wage wasn't so low and they didn't have to work so many hours. Maybe the schools would be better equipped to prevent these sorts of things with better funding, more rigorous screening processes, and more school counselors. I just don't know. It IS terribly sad, though.

EJ:

I understand that, Zed, but presumably you were doing things you wanted to do and therefore wanted to keep hidden from your parents (lest they find out and spoil the fun).

I cannot imagine that this girl wanted to live a life of forced prostitution.

It's kind of you to take the nicest possible interpretation of what I said, but at the risk of losing your good opinion of me (and since the statute of limitations has long since expired), let me be clearer.

I was sneaking out to associate with my gang buddies and break laws. I wasn't looking for fun, I was looking for a place to belong. I've done a lot of things that I regret. People got hurt, physically, financially, and emotionally, including myself. That wasn't something I wanted. Some old high school acquantaintances that I was (and to a certain extent still am) fond of don't want to hear from me. That wasn't something I wanted, either. I did things that terrified me, and sometimes made me horribly ashamed, for the sake of the approval of people I thought were more like me than my mother. I experienced statutory rape (heterosexual, and yes it can happen to boys and it can be just as traumatic as when it happens to girls).

I wasn't exaggerating when I said that teacher I mentioned probably saved my life. I still have scars on my forehead and cheek from when my idiosyncratic reaction stopped a man who set me up, ambushed me, and was in the process of beating me to death with a piece of metal. I never wanted that.

(This all probably sounds overly dramatic, so let me conclude this little story of woe by noting that I eventually became a very tame, domestic, monogamous computer specialist and writer, and I managed to even avoid any criminal record. Many an exciting tale has a remarkably boring ending.)

My mother finally caught on that something was up when I had to call her to get me to a hospital, but she took my explanations at face value, so she never really learned why, and never knew most of what I was doing. Like I said, my father, who wasn't even living with us, suspected more than she did, but decided against stepping in without real information, a decision he would later tell me he regretted. And it wasn't because my mother didn't care, or was particularly stupid, drugged, or otherwise incapacitated. She just never learned to read either me (or my brother, for that matter, but since I am not exactly anonymous here, I'll leave out anything that may come back to haunt him), or understand what she read. Or what I told her. I tried to explain once, almost a decade later. It didn't work.

I can only speculate on what that girl was thinking of when she became a prostitute. I can tell you that life as an unattended teenager can become incredibly complex, even without the extra pressures of poverty that were on that girl, but not on me. I can randomly guess that perhaps she was trying to keep her family fed, or that she just wanted some attention of any kind, or maybe she had a self-esteem so low that she thought this was all she deserved, or maybe she was terrified of the coach, but even more terrified of racist cops.

Or maybe none of the above. I'm speculating wildly without a shred of real information.

But if she decided to keep it hidden, I have no problem whatsoever believing that her parents or parent didn't know.

Poverty greatly exacerbates this kind of problem, but it isn't the only cause. Socially ingrained xenophobia is another piece, perhaps, as kids that are a little different get isolated.

I don't have any answers at all on this one. Just a horrible awareness of how complicated it gets and how hard it is to be a good parent.

Wow, Zed. Just, well, wow. I really want to give you a hug or something. That sounds awful. :(

Maybe I am being too hard on this girl's parent or parents. As a disclaimer, I have no children and my parents were very much a traditional Brady Bunch type of parents.

I have to assume that a 14 year old girl being raped repeatedly by men twice her age would leave physical signs (scarring, bruising, bleeding, possibly the occassional miscarrage) and emotional signs (depression, crying, not eating, any number of possibilities). Personally, I cannot imagine ever being so busy, even legitimately busy, to not those physical signs in a girl, let alone my daughter.

However, I realize that people who don't have children make the "best" parents - in the sense that we have no idea how hard it really can be. And I'll admit your story actually is quite applicable to this girl's story and is a good possible explanation for why her parents didn't notice.

And I'm really sorry to hear all that. I'm glad that your current life is mundanely safe and happy. :)

That's revolting.