Attention, New York Daily News: 7-Year-Olds Don't "Have Sex"

Caught this New York Daily News headline in my RSS feed over the weekend about the Nixzmary Brown case (a little girl in NYC who died at the hands of her parents' torture) and immediately felt physically ill:

Uh, excuse me? Seven-year-old girls don't "have sex" with grown-ups. They're sexually abused by grownups. They're raped by grownups. But "have sex"? No.

You don't have to be the loved one of a little tyke to be sick to your stomach about news stories that are worded like this. Let's call a rape a rape.

One might say it was the News' source -- the jailhouse snitch -- who phrased it "having sex," but then why doesn't the Daily News' story have quotes in the headline? (At least in this other story, they call it "sex abuse.")

For more information on how sexual assault is covered in the media, Take Back the News does some excellent work on the subject.

Comments

[FCN]

Once again Jess is using her brain - and on a weekend no less!!!

Good call Wakeman, way to stick it to the press who so commonly like to shock and awe with the headlines/news.

[3fingerbrown]

A lazy, uninformed post by Wakeman.

No media outlet in NY has done more thorough and sensitive reporting on this story than the News team has. Yeah, the editor and copy editor screwed up by not putting quotation marks around the offending phrase, but for the record here's the story's lead, and a journalism-textbook good job it is, as it appeared in the Saturday edition:

Nixzmary Brown's mom admitted she helped kill the second-grader because she caught her husband sexually abusing her, a jailhouse snitch said in bombshell testimony.

"She was angry at her child because she was having oral sex with her husband," the informant testified behind closed doors, under a cloak of anonymity.

The secret witness took the stand Wednesday but her monstrous allegation wasn't revealed until Friday.

[SkimaskBob]

good catch - keep 'em honest.

[moodyring]

Thank you. There is something sick about a society that classifies something like this as "having sex".

I've dated a couple guys who've told me that while being young (as in, 7 or 8), their 20-something or 30-something babysitters had sex with them. What even shrugged after mentioning it and said, "I don't know what she saw in me." I said, "She's a sick f-ck who molested you. It was sex. She raped you."

This disturbing trend of categorizing rape as sex seems to make it seem not as unacceptable. I'm glad you called NYDN on their shit.

[Elis]

Yeah, right, imply that the victem wasn't really a victem, and deserved what she got. Even though she was just a kid.

[dadw5boys]

I agree!

But with all the medications in our drinking water who know what the furture will hold.
Those GROWTH ENHANCING DRUGS IN FOOD AND WATER will take thier toll on the human race.

[Nommo]

The NY Daily News is a rag that one shouldn't even line a birdcage with. I know that rag to be capable of
real stupidity, but this is beyond the pale, all. Far gone.

[SaraWhitman]

this makes me sick.

this makes me sad.

and no, jess, no seven year old has sex.

ever.

[enocko]

True post. Journalists really do screw up all the time, and we need everyone (including their peers) keeping them honest.

[lynnn]

Thanks, I just don't know what to say about this. ; ( makes me very sad.

[GnitenGoodLk]

As if what happened to this poor baby wasn't enough, the Daily News abuses her further.

Shameful. Thank you for calling them on it.

[kellygrrrl]

Thanks Jessica!

Seems really sad that this needs to be pointed out. Anyone who thinks a 7 or 12 y/o is "having sex" with an adult is in severe denial of the reality of the rampant abuse of children all over the world.

[tomcj]

Thank you Ms Wakeman! And keep fighting for justice. That is an inexcusable headline.