Off-topic but important for parents to read

Last week I began following the Steubenville rape case, I know I'm a little behind but I try to avoid some news because it scares me for Amelia.  But as I read various accounts I became more and more angry at what happened and how it was handled by the adults involved and the media.

First, what these boys did was reprehensible.  There is no excuse, there is not enough "I'm sorry" in the world to excuse what they did.  I could go on and on but I think that the act speaks for itself on how disgusting I find what they did and how disgusting I find them to be.

Next, the parents of Mays who act like they are so great.  They took in this boy "from a bad home" and say they tried to help him.  These people couldn't even raise the child they had responsibly so give up the God-complex and stop trying to act like your doing such good things with "the poor boy from the 'hood". 

And lastly (for now), why do I keep reading in the media that they raped "a drunken girl".  Who cares if she was drunk?!  We claim that society has changed from the days of "she asked for it", but we haven't.  One of my friends commented on my Facebook page with this:

That's the thing WE, as parents of girls, are being given that sole responsibility when so much of it is out of our control.  Too may parents of boys aren't teaching their sons "don't rape".  We have a society that's trying to teach girls "don't be raped" and not only is that obtuse, but also insulting.

I have personally seen boys at Amelia's daycare, 4 and 5 years old, act like little punks.  They are rude and will be cruel to the girls and most of these boys I find have their fathers in their lives, so that's not an excuse.  There are a couple of the boys who are just so sweet and those are the boys being raised by single Moms.  Sure that's not always the case but I find that some of these men are teaching the boys to be tough rather than to respect women.  I should not notice these things in 4 year old boys!  But it's happening because we, as parents, are failing our kids.

I do believe that we need to teach our girls to be safe, to behave appropriately and it seems more and more to fight for themselves but if someone makes a poor choice that is not an excuse for them to be raped.  We have to move past the "boys will be boys" way of thinking and raise our boys to do what is right, no matter how scary it may be.