are with a 13-year-old girl, the cousin of someone I know. They'd been desperately trying to find her after she ran away from home (not for the first time). Today they found her. It turns out she was raped by a 17-year-old and 24-year-old (I'm not sure if it was before or after she ran). Her mom's reaction was to imply her daughter was lying, and she and her husband are planning to go away for the weekend, leaving her in the care of the cousin, who seems to be the only one who both believes her and cares about her and who is risking her job to leave to go to court and get the temporary custody assigned so the girl can get out of juvenile detention. Both the my acquaintance and another woman with whom we were discussing it were raped when they were younger--the later never told anyone, not even her family. Needless to say, the person I know was very angry. She didn't feel the police were particularly helpful, and of course she's angry both at the men involved and at her family. But I think she's truly angry with herself, that she wasn't able to get to the girl in time to protect her. I know it's irrational, but I'd probably feel the same way. It's an awful situation, and I hope there are no further physical complications (like pregnancy or STD) and that the girl can get counseling.
It's things like this that make me wonder about men. Thank goodness I do have some decent men in my life, because a lot of my past experiences pretty much suck and I could just be a bitter man-hater otherwise. But there are times I wish we could still stone rapists.
I've never been raped. I've been pressured into sex through emotional manipulation and I was molested as a child. But I can't imagine what this young girl is going through. I hope things go as well as they can at this point. I hope my acquaintance holds up, because it's going to be very challenging to help her cousin. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
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