Quick hit: Lori on the role of race in the Cleveland, TX, gang-rape case

Do not – I repeat, do not – consider your analysis of what’s going on in the media coverage of the horrific gang-rape case in Cleveland, TX, complete, until you’ve read what Lori has to say about it. From The Grio:

When a situation arises that seems to fit the stereotype — in this case, that some black men do rape — people become frenetic in their deflecting the stereotypes, going so far as to invoke other stereotypes to protect a historically targeted group. This helps contextualize, but certainly does not justify, some of the inconceivable media and community backlash against the young Latina rape survivor, which pointed to her clothing and behavior to attempt the suggestion that she was at least partially to blame for her own assault.

These are just a few examples of harmful and untrue sexual stereotype about blacks, Latinas, and women that came to a head in this case. So when will the cycle of race-baiting and violence be stopped?

Go read it, now. And then join me in my honest delight at the fact that there are thinkers like Lori, who engage fearlessly, and publicly, with these incredibly challenging and entangled problems.

New York, NY

Chloe Angyal is a journalist and scholar of popular culture from Sydney, Australia. She joined the Feministing team in 2009. Her writing about politics and popular culture has been published in The Atlantic, The Guardian, New York magazine, Reuters, The LA Times and many other outlets in the US, Australia, UK, and France. She makes regular appearances on radio and television in the US and Australia. She has an AB in Sociology from Princeton University and a PhD in Arts and Media from the University of New South Wales. Her academic work focuses on Hollywood romantic comedies; her doctoral thesis was about how the genre depicts gender, sex, and power, and grew out of a series she wrote for Feministing, the Feministing Rom Com Review. Chloe is a Senior Facilitator at The OpEd Project and a Senior Advisor to The Harry Potter Alliance. You can read more of her writing at chloesangyal.com

Chloe Angyal is a journalist and scholar of popular culture from Sydney, Australia.

Read more about Chloe

Join the Conversation