Serena Williams on Steubenville Rape: 'Shouldn't Have Put Herself in That Position'
Serena Williams Steubenville rape comments have caused controversy before the top-ranked tennis pro heads to England for Wimbledon next Monday. Williams said that the Steubenville rape victim, who was drunk and passed out at the time of her assault, "shouldn't have put herself in that position," which caused outrage on social media Tuesday.
Serena Williams' Steubenville rape comments came during an interview with Steven Rodick of Rolling Stone magazine. While together, the news came on with coverage of the trial; Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, the two teenage football players who violated the 16-year-old girl, were convicted and sentenced to a year in juvenile detention in March.
Williams found it unfair.
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"Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don't know. I'm not blaming the girl, but if you're a 16-year-old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don't take drinks from other people. She's 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn't remember?" Williams told the journalist.
"It could have been much worse. She's lucky. Obviously, I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin, but she shouldn't have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that's different," she added.
The Steubenville rapists' abuse didn't end with the assault. The girl's name was slandered after pictures surfaced on social media, tweets flew through the Twittersphere, and soon many denizens of the small Ohio town had ostracized the victim.
Williams comments' outraged many, who feel that the girl has suffered enough and was not at fault for the rape.
"When you have somebody as prominent as Serena, and you have as many girls that look up to her as a role model, that's what bothers me. Because, in essence, what she is telling these girls is, 'If you are drunk, it is your fault, and you shouldn't report anything, and this is what's to be expected,'" Kathy Redmond, the founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, told FoxSports.com.
"We should be teaching the boys that leaders, that real men don't do that - that the real men protect someone, protect the girl who might be drunk or might be passed out," Redmond said. "They protect her and they make sure she's secure and safe, they get her home. And if something does happen to her, they step up and they come forward and they speak out about it."
