To come across that insensitive? Or is she a future Republican?
Abuse victims blast Serena Williams' rape comment Posted by Barbara Dorris on June 19, 2013 ยท Flag
Rape is an act of violence, not stupidity. And victims are never to blame for it, no matter how old they are, what they wear, where they are or what they're doing. What Ms. Williams said was stupid. What those rapists did was criminal.
She should apologize - clearly and publicly - to this wounded Steubenville girl and to rape victims everywhere.
And to make amends, she should donate generously - of her time and money - to rape prevention programs. Tragically, it's not just men who hold antiquated views and make hurtful remarks about rape victims. Teenagers shouldn't get drunk. But being drunk doesn't excuse deliberate and heinous sex crimes.
http://www.snapnetwork.org/abuse_victims_blast_serena_williams_rape_comment
Serena Williams: Steubenville rape comments in Rolling Stone "insensitive and hurtful"
Serena Williams: Steubenville rape comments in Rolling Stone "insensitive and hurtful"
Serena Williams arrives for the Burberry Prorsum show during London Men's spring summer fashion collections 2014 in London June 18, 2013. / Jonathan Short/Invision/AP
Updated at 4:22 p.m. ET
Serena Williams says she's reaching out to the family of the victim in the Steubenville rape case after the tennis star was quoted in a Rolling Stone article saying "she shouldn't have put herself in that position."
"I am currently reaching out to the girl's family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article," Williams said in a statement released through her agent and posted to her website Wednesday. "What was written - what I supposedly said - is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame."
The comment was made in one paragraph of a lengthy story posted online Tuesday about Williams, a 16-time Grand Slam title winner who is ranked No. 1 heading into Wimbledon, which starts next week.
Two players from the Steubenville, Ohio, high school football team were convicted in March of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl; one of the boys was ordered to serve an additional year for photographing the girl naked. The case gained widespread attention in part because of the callousness with which other students used social media to gossip about it.
"What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened," Williams said in the statement. "For someone to be raped, and at only sixteen, is such a horrible tragedy! For both families involved - that of the rape victim and of the accused."
According to the Rolling Stone story, Williams says the perpetrators of the crime "did something stupid," and she asks: "Do you think it was fair, what they got?"
She adds, "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."
Williams also is quoted as saying: "... she shouldn't have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that's different."
Williams is in England preparing for Wimbledon.
"I have fought all of my career for women's equality, women's equal rights, respect in their fields - anything I could do to support women I have done," she said in the statement. "My prayers and support always goes out to the rape victim. In this case, most especially, to an innocent sixteen year old child."
WTA CEO Stacey Allaster said the tour had been in touch with Williams about the article.
"If she was accurately quoted, then Serena's comments were both insensitive and wrong," Allaster said in a statement. "We disagree with the statements and have made that clear to her."