Yes, they are innocent: innocent of rape, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Completely innocent of any crime. Undeserving of prosecution, injury, and innuendo.<\/p>\n
But they were not morally guiltless. After all, the team hired a stripper to perform for them; they (appeared to have) watched an act of live pornography. Unlike the innocent Rutgers women, the actions that led to the media assault against the Duke men were, while not criminal, hardly praiseworthy. Although few have said so, the men were engaged in pornography. Pornography created the climate in which a false accusation could occur and be believed by a good number of smart people. A rush to judgment? Yes. But an illogical imaginative leap? Probably not.<\/p>\n
That is what I suspect has led to the media\u2019s strange silence. I do not think, as some commentators have supposed, that this is an incident of reverse racism \u2013 apologizing to the black (and two white) women while ignoring the case of the white men. Instead, the Duke case seems to point in another direction: the tacit acceptance of, and inability to intelligently address, pornography as an important social issue. It is hard to apologize when there exists awkwardness about something that is morally wrong but legally permissible \u2013 and economically profitable.<\/p>\n
In her insightful book, Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families<\/em>, Pamela Paul traces how pornography has been “mainstreamed” into American culture, with devastating effects on society. She says that pornography functions beyond \u201cright\u201d and \u201cleft\u201d arguments: \u201cMost people don\u2019t talk about whether they\u2019re \u2018for\u2019 or \u2018against\u2019 pornography anymore.\u201d As Ms. Paul writes, \u201cThrough complacency and carelessness, the majority of Americans shrug or laugh off the issue as inconsequential and irrelevant to their lives.\u201d But, as her work shows, pornography is an \u201calienating product of a consumer culture.\u201d Its social costs are enormous \u2013 especially to young adults whose lives, intimate identities, and relationships are being shaped 24\/7 by a culture of easy and crude sex.<\/p>\n The Rutgers and Duke stories are not only about race and gender. They are about pornography. As a result of the Rutgers case, some journalists promised to address the pornographic tendencies of rap and hip-hop. But what about pornography in general? Can we sensibly critique \u2013 and offer sound policy solutions regarding \u2013 the pornified culture? A culture where privileged men can think it is acceptable to hire a poor black woman to perform sexual acts for them? A culture where adult entertainment companies, X-rated Web sites, and \u201cgentlemen\u2019s clubs\u201d rake in huge profits?<\/p>\n Both the Rutgers women and the Duke men are victims of pornography \u2013 the women were overt victims (don\u2019t forget the woman in the Duke case); the men victims of culture that stresses control over women and easy sexual gratification. It is tempting to see the men only as perpetrators of a sin (hence the silence); yet that seems too simplistic. The lacrosse players \u201cbought\u201d an idea about porn and sex that has been culturally \u201csold\u201d to them. Ultimately, pornography victimized them all \u2013 their self-esteem, sexuality, gender identity, wholeness, and in these two cases, public reputations.<\/p>\n This is not a liberal or conservative issue; a black or white issue; or a male or female one. It is not even a Christian or secular one. Contemporary pornography whittles away at our humanity, the goodness of intimacy, and the love of beauty. Pornography turns people into products that others consume for profit or pleasure \u2013 and not just the audience or actors who \u201chave a choice.\u201d Pornography affects all of us. Maybe we should ask the young women and men in both cases how their lives have been changed by pornified culture.<\/p>\n While most of the media has been consumed by Don Imus\u2019 racial slur against the Rutgers women\u2019s basketball team, I have been thinking about that other case: the case of the Duke lacrosse players. My friends will probably laugh, because, for the sake of full disclosure, I went to Duke. But more than familial loyalty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":379,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sojo.net\/images\/about_us\/portrait_butler_bass.jpg\")
Diana Butler Bass<\/strong> (www.dianabutlerbass.com<\/a>) holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University. She is the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith<\/a><\/em> (Harper San Francisco).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"