Letter
to the Editor: Kobe Bryant not a victim
I
was offended by the article on Sep. 14th
by Gerry Wachovsky where he labels the
young woman that may have been raped by
Kobe Bryant "the girl who cried wolf".
He
writes that because she has decided not
to testify, that proves "beyond the
shadow of a doubt" that Bryant did
not rape her. Her withdrawal only proves
that our court system cannot protect women
from being assaulted, and raped again
by the media, and lawyers who were allowed
to drag her sanity and sexuality out in
the open, this after she feels she has
been violated by a man in power. Her withdrawal
only proves that women do not have the
power to get justice for what is right.
Gerry
Wachovsky seems so consumed about these
poor helpless men, possibly being falsely
accused of rape. News flash — get
to know a woman as a person before you
sleep with her.
Kobe
reduced this woman to a sexual object.
Bryant then tried to offer a payoff to
keep her quiet and then cried foul when
he was charged and his wife found out.
Bryant should not be idolized or made
out to be a victim in this horrible situation.
Wachovsky,
you fantasize that the possible victim
did this for the fame; imagine if he raped
you, is that the kind of fame you are
looking for? Especially being a man, would
you have gone up to his hotel room if
he invited you up for a beer? Would you
be expected to have sex with him? If you
came out of his hotel room raped and went
to the police, would they be likely to
believe you? Would society be more likely
to believe you? We put rape victims up
to an astounding level of morality and
this keeps some women from ever reporting
their rapists.
Be
careful how quickly you buy into what
the media is telling you. Be a better
journalist and look at your issues from
several sides and do us all a favor and
don’t waste your time feeling sorry
for Bryant. Spend some of that human emotion
on all of the rape victims, that as a
result of this case chose not to come
forward, to get help and to convict the
man that will most likely rape again.
Stephanie
Green is a graduating senior in women’s
studies at CSULB.
