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By Ashley Fantz
CNN
(CNN) -- The video is hard to turn away from. A sobbing 16-year-old sits in her bedroom and, staring into a camera, says she has been raped.
"Hi, my name is Crystal. ... I need some help. I didn't want to do it this way, but it's the only way I know that's going to work, that someone out there in the world is gonna listen to me."
The teen, whom CNN interviewed but is not identifying by her last name, is among dozens of young people who are turning to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to talk about sexual assault.
For an online generation, the Web offers what traditional counseling does not. It's a chance to communicate without having to face someone or fear their judgment. Some people are seeking legal advice and medical information, and many younger victims believe that they can warn others about their accused attacker, counselors say.
There also are people like Crystal, whose case was dropped by the Orange County, Florida, state attorney's office, who feel slighted by the justice system.
"Young victims, particularly girls, turn inward. They are going to reach out and try to connect in the isolation of their dorm room or their bedrooms," said Jennifer Dritt, the director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence. "Most young women feel like they want somebody to know that someone did this to them."
One in four American women under the age of 25 report that they have been sexually assaulted, according to the nation's largest rape crisis counseling organization, RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
"We noticed that this trend of posting details of an attack really picked up speed a few years ago," said Scott Berkowitz, RAINN's founder and president. "A rape survivor's intention may be to reach out, and we encourage that, but this is a dangerous way to do it."
Advocates worry that victims are divulging too much information. CNN found several Facebook and MySpace profiles on which young people say they have been raped. The postings include their names, photographs and hometowns. But Crystal is probably one of the few who have gone so far as to post a plea for help on YouTube.
Because anything posted on the Web is available forever through an Internet search, a rape survivor must consider how they would feel if that information were dredged up in the future, counselors said. By making themselves -- or their IP address -- available, victims open themselves to unreliable and unprofessional advice and the harsh judgment of their peers.
Perhaps worst of all, they could give their perpetrator a chance to find them again or gain more satisfaction.
In April, RAINN teamed with online security company McAfee Inc. and launched an anonymous and secure chat service where assault survivors can communicate with trained professionals. IP addresses are not tracked and transcripts of conversations -- which look like instant message boxes -- are not recorded. The service has helped more than 10,000 people, Berkowitz said. Go to RAINN's Web hotline
But counselors said survivors are going to look wherever they can to find help and comfort, particularly when they don't get it through the court system.
Fewer than 5 percent of reported cases in Florida make it to a prosecutor's office, Dritt said. Whether because of lack of forensic evidence or because many are he said/she said accounts, rape cases can be very difficult to try.
"What you hear from every rape crisis center from Pensacola to Key West is that there are hardly ever any prosecutions," she said. "Most sexual violence is acquaintance rape, and unfortunately, a lot of juries still think that if a victim had a relationship with their attacker, then they cannot be raped by that person."
Stacy, 25, worried about that when she was raped by a man she knew as a friend in 2001 while attending Ohio State University. Although she has spoken publicly numerous times about her experience, CNN is not using her last name in keeping with its policy of not identifying sexual assault victims.
As is typical of younger survivors, Stacy spent the days and weeks after her assault struggling to assure her friends and family that she was OK. She reported the assault to university authorities, but her attacker continued to go to class. She grew increasingly depressed and anxious. Her grades plummeted, and she gained weight.
"I thought that people who had never been assaulted would never understand. I thought I had no one to talk to, but then I realized, I had the Internet," she said. "Sometimes, talking to people who were not close to me was refreshing because there was no judgment to face. If you talk to someone online, there's no judgment, right? How can they judge you when they don't even know you?"
She began instant messaging in chat rooms but quickly realized that many people who initially seemed sympathetic were only pretending.
"The next thing you know, they are making it seem like they are turned on. They were asking me for details of my rape. It was very disturbing," she said. "I had to block several people. After that, I thought the worst of the world. I thought everyone was a perpetrator, and I trusted no one."
After years of face-to-face therapy, Stacy began to heal and feel more confident. She partly credits RAINN, which she found via an Internet search, for helping her recover. Other female students came forward to say they, too, had been assaulted by her attacker. He was expelled from the university and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge -- sexual imposition, a misdemeanor -- and was placed on probation.
Stacy watched Crystal's video.
"That's just heartbreaking," she said. "I feel really sad for her because no one seems to have explained that the justice system isn't always going to help. I understand why she's outraged. That's exactly how I felt, too."
Orange County authorities charged the 23-year-old man Crystal accused of assaulting her with lewd or lascivious battery. According to court do ents, Crystal and the man both said they had an ongoing sexual relationship.
The prosecutor, who declined to comment to CNN, concluded that the teen and the 23-year-old had consensual sex, according to the case file.
Florida law states that a 15-year-old cannot give consent to sex. And though Crystal was 15 at the time of the alleged forced encounter, the prosecutor wrote that the case would not be prosecuted because Crystal was "a mere 1 month away" from turning 16, when it would be "legal to give consent," according to do ents.
A spokeswoman for the Orange County state attorney's office declined to comment further.
Stacy had some advice for Crystal: Get counseling and keep talking.
"You're not always going to get what you want from the court system," she said. "So you've got to think about yourself, figure out who you are and realize that you're stronger than what he did to you."
attention
what do you guys think?
On one hand, I can't help but feel sympathetic with her. It makes me angry to think a 23 year old dirt bag can do something like this, and get away with it.
On the other, I don't know why, but her plea for help seems... like a performance. That and the fact she posted the video in youtube... I can't help but feel like she might be doing this for attention.
What do you guys think?
Orange County authorities charged the 23-year-old man Crystal accused of assaulting her with lewd or lascivious battery. According to court do ents, Crystal and the man both said they had an ongoing sexual relationship.
The prosecutor, who declined to comment to CNN, concluded that the teen and the 23-year-old had consensual sex, according to the case file.
Florida law states that a 15-year-old cannot give consent to sex. And though Crystal was 15 at the time of the alleged forced encounter, the prosecutor wrote that the case would not be prosecuted because Crystal was "a mere 1 month away" from turning 16, when it would be "legal to give consent," according to do ents.
it's pretty sick that she'll use rape to become a Youtube celebrity.
, that was gonna be my way of becoming an internet celebrity
He must have dumped her.Orange County authorities charged the 23-year-old man Crystal accused of assaulting her with lewd or lascivious battery. According to court do ents, Crystal and the man both said they had an ongoing sexual relationship.
The prosecutor, who declined to comment to CNN, concluded that the teen and the 23-year-old had consensual sex, according to the case file.
so she supposedly gets "raped" at 15 and 11 months....THEN has an ongoing consensual relationship with the guy.....and now after the fact she wants to accuse him of rape?
tough s. next time don't be such a .
Its hard to make up one's mind about the whole thing without really knowing all the details. Rape seems too horrible a crime to let the guilty er go, but I'm also not naive enough to think there isn't a possibility this girl is just looking for attention, in which case, ruining a mans life because of an evil little brat seems just as bad as the latter.
My girlfriend doesn't seem to have this problem though. According to her, they should fry his ass. I don't understand why she immediately decides that this girl is telling the truth, specially since she knows just as little as me about the whole thing, and yet, according to her, she wouldn't have trouble executing him herself
If the site was bigger back then, Kobe's accuser would have been showing off her multi-semen panties on YouTube.
i lol'd
Where does it say that the consensual sexual relations happened after the rape? Is it your assumption that once a girl enters a sexual relationship with someone, it en les him to get some whenever he wants?
what the ? are you joking? since when does having a consensual sexual relationship make a woman a ?? and since when does it give the man the right to rape her? you can't be serious
a friend of mine knocked up a 17 year old while he was 20 when he lived in florida.
he was ting bricks because he thought he would get jail time. that's seems awfully young to be able to give consent... isn't it 17 or 18 in texas?
The whole notion of crying rape to ruin a man's life doesn't happen anywhere near as much as people seem to think it does.Its hard to make up one's mind about the whole thing without really knowing all the details. Rape seems too horrible a crime to let the guilty er go, but I'm also not naive enough to think there isn't a possibility this girl is just looking for attention, in which case, ruining a mans life because of an evil little brat seems just as bad as the latter.
My girlfriend doesn't seem to have this problem though. According to her, they should fry his ass. I don't understand why she immediately decides that this girl is telling the truth, specially since she knows just as little as me about the whole thing, and yet, according to her, she wouldn't have trouble executing him herself
That's not to say that it NEVER happens, of course, as I'm sure there are plenty of women out there who would be low enough to go there. But, even in 2008, the legal side really doesn't favor the accuser most of the time. It's a of a lot of paperwork/procedure, usually fruitless, to go through unless there's a legitimate concern.
It makes it harder to prove rape, so while it doesn't en le him it makes it a lot easier to get away with
but it does happen, in which case, I don't understand people's hurry to try, convict, and execute the guy. Public opinion is a very powerful thing, and while I understand why people tend to always side with the victim, all I'm saying is sometimes it can be hard to ascertain who the victim is.
Its disconcerting how one girls accusation is enough to convict a man in the court of public opinion. Its downright frightening. Of course, if you're a 23 year old messing around with a 15 year old, you're just asking for it really. What the was the dude thinking?
It only makes it harder to prove rape because the legal system is currently set up in such a way that tends to favor the accused and blame the victim.
Questions about what the girl was wearing, whether she was sexually active, whether she'd previously had consensual sex with the accused, whether she was drinking, whether she was walking down a dark alley, etc., should never even have to be asked, because it suggests that sexual assault is more justified/understandable in certain situations.
's video only has a rating of 2 stars, that's pretty bad
People usually don't side with the victim in rape/assault cases. Not completely, at least. Even a lot of the bleeding heart feminist responses often contain a little footnote that the victim made a decision or did something that she should have made and/or done.
yeah just handcuff the accused and give him no defense, all those examples you threw out, minus the dark alley, would indicate a situation that there is plausible consent.
I also like the name dropping she did for the reporters.
So, then, if a girl has been sexually active in the past, it means that she's probably going to say yes every single other time she's propositioned? Seriously?
The legal system you're talking about is not just currently set up that way, its based upon it. "Innocent until proven guilty" is the bases of the American justice system. Which is better? to put an innocent behind bars or to let a guilty person go? That's what it boils down to.
I see, so what, IYO, should be asked in order to determine whether or not there was consent?Questions about what the girl was wearing, whether she was sexually active, whether she'd previously had consensual sex with the accused, whether she was drinking, whether she was walking down a dark alley, etc., should never even have to be asked, because it suggests that sexual assault is more justified/understandable in certain situations.
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