same story all over
repeating motif.
a 16 year old girl gets *raped by 4 classmates in a greek school in the amarynthos high school in evia.
"four schoolboys charged with attack on 16-year-old classmate on evia:the school's teachers association voted, unanimously, to punish the four boys and the victim, with a 5-day suspension, charging them all, equally, with 'inappropriate school behavior'. the thinking was that the girl had behaved provocatively and was partly responsible for the rape.
a prosecutor in halkida, on the island of evia, yesterday charged four boys with raping a 16-year-old female classmate. the attack is alleged to have taken place last thursday at the senior high school in amarynthos, where schoolchildren had staged a sit-in protest against the government’s education reforms. the parents of the four unnamed schoolboys have also been charged with failing to control their children. a doctor who examined the girl said that she had been bruised but he could not confirm that she had been raped."
the physics teacher sent a letter to 'ta nea' in which he voted for the girl's suspension because he believed that, although she had time to flee to avoid the sexual encounter, she elected to stay.'
the high school principal had similar things to say about the incident and also stated that he didn't tell the girl's mother about the suspension when speaking to her on the phone, because she didn't bring it up.
yeah.
one would have thought that punishment by the school could have at least waited until the police investigation on the matter had been underway.
some members of the small community backed up the boys, saying that the girl was provocative and deserved what she got.
like uncovered meat, perhaps?????
the girl was an immigrant from bulgaria, not a greek national. i wonder what would have happened if the situation had been reversed and a greek girl had been attacked by four immigrant boys? the rage against the perpetrators would have been intense.
"η υποδοχή του περιστατικού από την τοπική κοινωνία και ο τρόπος αξιολόγησης των 'πρωταγωνιστών' του υποδηλώνει μία στάση ανοχής στη βία και μη συνειδητοποίηση της σοβαρότητας του φαινομένου. αυτό οφείλεται κατά κύριο λόγο στις στερεοτυπικές αντιλήψεις της κοινωνίας για το ρόλο της γυναίκας, αλλά και τη θέση της ως οικονομικού μετανάστη, στην ελληνική κοινωνία. οι αντιλήψεις αυτές ευνοούν τη σεξουαλική, αλλά και άλλων μορφών εκμετάλλευση σε βάρος της. η ανατροπή αυτών των απαξιωτικών για τη θέση της γυναίκας αντιλήψεων μπορεί να επιτευχθεί μέσα από την εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία, με δέσμη ειδικών μέτρων και μάλιστα από τα πρώτα σχολικά βήματα. και αυτό επιδιώκει και πρέπει να επιδιώκει η πολιτεία» καταλήγει η ανακοίνωση." - γενική γραμματεία ισότητας
(loose translation: the acceptance of this incident by the local community and its evaluation of the actions of the 'protagonists' illustrate a stance of acceptance of violence, as well as a misunderstanding of the seriousness of the phenomenon. this is mainly due to society's stereotypical perceptions of the role of women, but also of the role of economic immigrants in greek society. these perceptions facilitate sexual and other forms of exploitation against women. these perceptions of the role of women can only be overturned through education and specific measures, especially during the school years. -general secretariat for equality)
meanwhile, many are worried whether this incident will have any effect on their tourist sector businesses.
*EDIT: allegedly
7 pearls of wisdom:
Is this common?
this has caused quite a ruckus so i'm not inclined to say that it's an everyday occurance.. however, it is a fact that the girl and her mother made an issue out of it, visiting the greek orthodox archbishop over the matter, so it might be that it happens often but is not reported.
some more stuff i've learned about this is that one of the reasons the girl was suspended along with the boys is that one boy's parent was a member of the teacher's association which voted for the punishment.
some people tried to rationalize the incident, saying that if they had punished the boys only, then it would have been an indictment of their guilt. but my thinking is that they should have refrained from taking disciplinary action before the matter could be looked into.
another point which angered me is that the girl was not present when this was being voted on, which was against her rights.
Funny thing is, seems like the same thing was happening in the USA during the 1940s. Greece is just caught in a timewarp and eventually will realize their backwardness towards women's rights.
For God's sake, they still go back to their villages to vote like in the Bible...
Hello Greece, (Anyone out there?) We are in the 21st Century!
this was a mixture of sexism and racism. as many have said regarding this incident, if the nationalities were reversed and the victim had been greek and the boys bulgarians, things would've been way different.
I am so disgusted by the way the media are handling this. It's horrible.The only positive thing that is happening now is that more bloggers are trying to get the word out about what is happening here.
yes, dd, it is horrible.. so's what happened to alex and his mother and so much, much more. blogs like yours are very valuable, indeed, and i'm glad to have found 'THIS IS NOT MY COUNTRY'.
you're on the links in my sidebar and in my google reader :)
i wonder if there is news on this... i honestly hope the boys are handled fairly -- they should not be prematurely indicted by us -- the proper authorities will decide on their guilt or innocence. and i hope the girl and her family find peace.
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