Kaylee Jakubowski

*Trigger Warnings: Gang Rape, Public Assault*

News reports from Scotland share a story of a 14 year-old girl who was raped by 2 men. …On public transit. …While other passengers (and not to mention a driver) were present.

The article in Herald Scotland focuses mostly on the utter surprise of how something like this could happen “right here in good ol’ Glasgow” (which, ironically, lends itself to be the most crime-ridden city in all of Scotland). Not surprisingly, the article ignores the fact that a young woman’s life has been thrashed, slashed, and thrown to the trash for an indeterminate amount of time until she’s able to learn to overcome the terror, anxiety, and crippling emotional blows that come with being sexually violated – except for one edgewise quote from the presiding police officer who mentions the victim’s trauma. Thankfully, the editor took the liberty to frame the word “trauma” in oh-come-on-it-can’t-be-THAT-bad quotes to really nail home that we don’t actually need to be concerned about the victim.

And, of course, what would a misogynist, patriarchal society be if that was the ONLY issue here?

The two men who raped the 14 year old girl were “ejected near Queen’s Park at Pollokshaws Road at around 12.30am [two hours after committing the rape]” because “they are said to have become increasingly loud and were making lewd and crude comments to other passengers.”

The company says that the “driver was not aware of the assault [in spite ...