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Roll Red Roll: Rape, Power, and Football in the Heartland

 Around ten years ago, in Steubenville, Ohio, two high-school football players sexually assaulted a girl. One of the players, Trent Mays, already had a predatory history, and it seems he chose the new girl because she came from another town, and she was vulnerable.


The two football players took the unconscious girl and violated her with their fingers. Trent Mays also attempted to force her to perform oral sex. It seems other acts occurred, because of semen evidence, but the rest of the story is shadowy. Mays liked to have trophies from his assaults, so he circulated photos; boys saw footage of the assault and commented via video, and the videos then spread themselves throughout Steubenville. Only one witness -- a kid who had some history with law enforcement -- attempted to raise objections. "This isn't cool; this is rape." No one listened to this one witness.

Later, adults -- parents and educators -- tried to erase evidence of what had occurred. Rape myths popped up: "Drink too much, and you're asking for trouble," "boys will be boys," "we can't ruin a boy's life because of a bad choice." Ultimately, the two attackers did spend time in juvenile detention -- but then they were allowed to resume their football careers, and one of the two never even apologized (and continues to whisper that he did nothing wrong).

"Roll Red Roll" makes connections between high-school football and the NFL. In the NFL, you can assault a woman, or multiple women, and then go on to have a high-salary career. Additionally, professional football seems to suggest that the role of women is to be eye candy; watching an athletic display of cheerleading, you might hear someone in the stands whisper, "Yeah, but can that blond one do laundry?"

No one can read this stuff without squirming -- and three cheers to Nancy Schwartzman, for making people uncomfortable. I loved this book.
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