Through a Shattered Looking Glass

Recently Ariel Castro stunned many with his ramblings at his sentencing. He made a meandering twenty minute statement before the court where he blamed everyone but himself for the kidnapping, torture and rape of Michelle Knight, Gina De Jesus, and Amanda Berry.  He stated, "I am not a monster." He claimed he was "sick." He asserted that there was "harmony" in the house and that the women weren't really prisoners;he simply kept "them there without them being able to leave."

He stunned many when he said: "But, uh, most of the sex that went on in that house, practically all of it was consensual. This – this – these allegations about being forceful on them, that is totally wrong. There was times that they would even ask me for sex. Many times. And I learned that these girls are not virgins from their testimony to me. And they had multiple partners before me. All three of them."

News programs and talk shows covered every angle of his statement. Clearly he is a mad man! Surely his level of self delusion is great! They rightly concluded this is a man who deserves his thousand year sentence without parole. But then they moved on to the next thing without further reflection.

Is what Ariel Castro said that "stunning?" Are the delusions he is operating under unique to him or did we see, just for a moment, beyond the image in the mirror to the fractured reality?

Just this week, it was reported that prison officials and their lawyers are trying to avoid culpability for the rape of a 14 year old inmate by a corrections officer while she was in their custody. They argued, "“Vickers could not have engaged in sexual relations within the walls of the detention center with [the victim] without cooperation from her. Vickers did not use force, violence or intimidation when engaging in sexual relations."

Furthermore, an anonymous source told the Tri Parish Times, "These girls in the detention center are not Little Miss Muffin."

So here we have it! The state is arguing that the 14 year old girl consented to have sex with the corrections officer and thus there was no wrongdoing; there were no monsters! And an anonymous source has been quick to point out that girls in detention facilities are inherently naughty.

Let's put this into perspective here. Mary Doe, the fourteen year old victim, was an incarcerated fourteen year old. Prior to her incarceration she had lived a life rife with tragedy and sexual abuse beginning at age 5! Now she is in prison where she is completely dependent on the system. She is alone; her mother died when she was nine and the uncle who was given custody sexually assaulted her AND tried to kill her. Then came a much older male who had the power to make her situation marginally better or far worse. What choice did she really have? Maybe she just wanted to survive. Does that mean she wanted to have sex? Does that mean the sex was consensual?

And, why is this even a question because Louisiana's statutory rape laws say it's rape. She was fourteen years old!

Yes, this is the shattered looking glass of rape culture we are staring through here. The one where certain politicians pontificate about "legitimate" rape and moralize that a pregnancy from  rape is "something God intended." Perhaps it is a comfort to Ariel Castro to know that the daughter he fathered with Amanda Berry was planned by the almighty.

Ariel Castro kidnapped Michelle Knight when she was twenty-one, Amanda Berry at age sixteen, and Gina DeJesus at age fourteen. He believes he isn't a monster. He believes he provided a good home and that his victims wanted to be there, and wanted him. After all, they weren't virgins. The nation is shocked.

The state of Louisana argues they are not culpable in the case of a corrections officer in their employ who repeatedly raped a fourteen year old inmate. It wasn’t really rape because she didn’t fight. And after all, she wasn't a virgin. The nation doesn’t see the ugly reflection. It doesn’t see that these events are connected that they are simply shards from the same broken mirror.

*Edited by TB