The Case Of Johnny Torres

The Napa Valley Register recently published an article on the hearing for the expulsion of Napa High School football player Johnny Torres. Torres, accused of, “dragging another player through the locker room and helping hold him down while the victim was groped and penetrated by other players,” was not described in the article as a rapist, nor as someone participating in the sexual assault of another individual, but instead, became the all-too familiar character of the goody-goody athlete with not a spot on his record. What is also very apparent in the article is the clear tip-toeing around what Torres and other players have been accused of, which as far as we can tell from the Register’s cryptic concealment, is gang rape. This behavior by both Torres’s family, who requested that the expulsion hearing be made public, and by the media, which in the case of the Register seems to be garnering sympathy for Torres and pulling attention from the heinous

Turner was sentenced to a mere 6 months in prison, and then was released after three months. This is the kind of society we live in, and the Register’s apologism and obscuration is simply a symptom of this. On the evening prior to International Women’s Day, it is important to note that even though Torres’s victim was not a woman, it is precisely the same atmosphere of victim blaming and apologism that allows those like Turner to walk free while countless violent and revolting violent and sexual crimes are committed against women and non-men. Rape culture and patriarchy are omnipresent in the capitalist white supremacist society, manifesting itself in violent acts such as these daily as well as in harassment and oppression of women and non-men. There are likely many other victims of this hazing behavior, and it is likely we will never hear their