In Wake Of Texas Gang Rape, Florida Lawmaker Proposes School Dress Code Legislation

Last week, the world learned about the town of Cleveland, Texas, where 18 teenage boys gang-raped an 11-year-old girl and, according to The New York Times, caused the community to rend their garments about how the crime would ruin the lives ... of the rapists. There were many lessons to learn. Lessons like: maybe reporters who cover stories like this shouldn't exclusively focus on the adversity faced by rapists. Or: Maybe everyone in Cleveland, Texas is actually some kind of awful monster?

Here's the lesson that Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo took away from the awful event: the state should step in and regulate the wardrobe of 11-year-old girls! Seriously! This is a thing that is happening in Florida, and in our lives, somehow. Per David Edwards of Raw Story:

"There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed like a 21-year-old prostitute," Passidomo declared.

"And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it's incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn't happen to our students," she added.

What an excellent idea! In Afghanistan, the Taliban required women to wear the full-body chadri in public, and that solved the problem of institutionalized violence against women forever, yay!

Here's Brandon Thorp of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times, responding appropriately:

Whoa! We can debate the merits of the bill a little later, but I think it's incumbent upon us, as sentient mammals, to devote a moment to a collective wince. As a genus, politicians aren't the brightest wicks in the candelabra, but they usually possess sufficient self-awareness to shield the public from the horrorshows of their minds. Blaming the rape of an 11-year-old girl on her parents' sense of fashion -- and to do so out loud -- smacks of rank amateurism. A devastating attack ad will probably result from this slip-up, and unlike most attack ads, it will be richly deserved.

This is where I remind you that Florida is where state lawmakers have twice failed to pass legislation that would make having sex with animals illegal, probably because how else would they make more Florida legislators, right?

RELATED:
Republican lawmaker blames 11-year-old victim of alleged gang rape [Raw Story]

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Comments

[Amber Soofi]

06:49 AM on 04/22/2011

so men get to walk around with their pants halfway below their ass and all their underwear hanging out, in tight pants or bike shorts where I can see their whole package, or even shirtless without getting harassed but when a woman shows a little bit of skin it's an open invitation?

[Stageman]

01:22 AM on 04/19/2011

Dress codes are a start, but school uniforms are a great thing.

[Suzy Coyle]

04:27 PM on 04/07/2011

So I guess if this girl had not worn what she wore that day she would not have been raped? As always blame the victim! If I wear a mini-skirt and I get raped it is NOT because I wore a mini skirt! Wake up world!

[Stageman]

01:31 AM on 04/19/2011

As wrong as this may sound, in today's world, someone may have a statistically higher chance of getting raped because they wore a miniskirt.

[elizlucinda]

07:55 AM on 03/22/2011

I wonder how some people on here would react if a 11 year old male had been sexually assaulted?

[elizlucinda]

07:43 AM on 03/22/2011

While you are at it, perhaps you could teach men that it isn't okay to sexually assault women.

[erinlhart]

01:03 AM on 03/22/2011

I know I've posted this a couple times already, but we really can make a difference! I made a fb page to help everyone take a stand against this sort of mindset:

http://www.facebook.com/nomorepassidomo ,

Within the info section, I've included links to several sources where you can write or call Kathleen. There is also a petition I've linked on the info page, everyone here who takes issue with Passidomo's comments should sign it!

TAKE ACTION!

[elizlucinda]

07:45 AM on 03/22/2011

I have just written to tell Ms. Passidomo how I feel about her comments. Hopefully she will resign but I expect we will get some kind of lame apology............and that will be the end of it

[erinlhart]

07:14 AM on 04/04/2011

yep, we've all received her generic apologies. along with the petition asking her to resign, there will be a demonstration in naples (and as many as we need) until she finds a new day job or learns a little about sex/rape education. thank you for at least taking the time to write her, every little bit helps

[Charles Bryan]

10:40 PM on 03/21/2011

For those who don't know. Some of those men have been having sex with her for MONTHS. This is still wrong, but kids have different set of morals now days.

[elizlucinda]

07:46 AM on 03/22/2011

Come on Charles.....Perhaps you could give us a link for that...

[kjallyn]

10:59 AM on 03/22/2011

So they've been indulging in the ONGOING abuse of a child. Well, that's better.

[Keith Jigleeottee]

03:51 AM on 03/21/2011

So 18 teengers, 18! Rape an 11 year old and we are talking about dress codes?

[erinlhart]

01:17 AM on 03/22/2011

let her know how you feel: http://www.facebook.com/nomorepassidomo

there are instructions on the info page

[UncleDaleFlorida]

11:16 PM on 03/20/2011

Kathleen,kids will be safe when no violence against other kids is allowed. Clothing can't make you safe or unsafe. Rape is an act of violence,bullying is an act of violence. Focus as a legislator on the violence and not the clothing. The only evil in the world is violence.

[elizlucinda]

07:47 AM on 03/22/2011

Perhaps it would be best and add focus if this was called sexual assault......Because that is what this is....an assault of a sexual nature.

[WilliamWalton]

08:40 PM on 03/20/2011

This type of thinking reminds me of that old pro-gun saying: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

I guess the same people that believe this think that: "Rapists don't hurt girls, girls hurt girls."

[Stageman]

01:38 AM on 04/19/2011

Think of a gun as something like a hammer. Without a person wielding it, it's just a hunk of metal.

Rapist hurt people, don't get political, this is a crime.
You belittle this topic with your comment.

[MiamiMama]

08:33 PM on 03/20/2011

If these boys had a sense of morality, how this girl dresses would not have affected their behavior. I thought the republicans wanted less government. They seem to want to pass all kinds of social laws that meet their religious views.

[Belle Starr]

08:27 PM on 03/20/2011

When God confronted Adam for eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam told God that the woman tempted him. God, being a male, bought that excuse and cursed women. If God had been a woman, She would have said, "And if your friends jump off a bridge, are you going to jump too?"

So for these good Christians, God backs them up that it is always the girl's/woman's fault. No wonder that they are such idi0ts.

[HCBurlingame]

03:59 PM on 03/20/2011

Having seen this thought pattern from an older generations perspective and the middle and the youth of today. It is a form of the same thing. I was the victim of rape, the transference that interrupted every waking moment of my nurturing. When a victim believes that society itself can dictate the laws and morals that guide it.
Morals are very different from ethics, morals allow us to stone a victim for being a victim, ethics allow us a connection to the victim and aggressor. Would I want this to happen to me and therefore anyone else? Rape has become a style to some young men, even ones raised well and in good neighborhoods.
I was never ever able to reconcile the events that effected my life with my mother. I did find the truth and the weight of lies taken from your back, can give you wings. We need to look at why this is okay to some people, why those that are victims, regardless of their nature or appearance, don't deserve whats happening. Because it can or will happen to you.

[ThinkAboutItAgain]

05:38 PM on 03/20/2011

HC, God bless you for sharing your story.

Working with teenage boys today, I see a striking common denominator, they have no conscience. I believe that the youth culture of today stresses that it's OK to do what you think you have to, to get what you think you deserve. It's even hard to communicate to them simple principles like: stealing is wrong; drugs are bad; show respect for elders, etc. Anything they want, they believe it's their right to take. It's very likely they many of them will behave much the same when they reach adulthood.

[ThinkAboutItAgain]

03:07 PM on 03/20/2011

If convicted, these boys should do hard time or worse! No problem with that at all. No one deserves to be raped under any circumstances! This girl is 100 PERCENT innocent victim here.

I also believe this article allows the opportunity to discuss a very important subject, the standards of our society and who sets them. My mother always told my sister that females are the standard bearers for society. That males, wanting to impress a female or gain her attention, would most likely try to live up to HER standards.

One of the problems our society faces is the lowering of standards that some females require of a male. If a female doesn't require the standard of a male mate to be respectful of himself and others, drug/addiction free, employed, well-groomed, etc., then a male will most likely do only that which is necessary to gain her attention.

I had relationships in my youth where the only standard was that I call the next day, after sex. Of course, MY lack of standards was ALSO to blame for these "relationships".

Most males will confess that they did whatever they had to do to impress their female mates in the beginning. Of course there are always exceptions, but, I believe that as a general rule, females are the standard bearers.

Let me reiterate, no one deserves to be raped under any circumstances! This girl is 100 PERCENT innocent victim here.

[jd2408]

01:30 PM on 03/20/2011

All schools in my state have a dress code and I think they should, but it has nothing to do with the Texas rape.