Advocacy

When I saw the headline, “Divorced Before Puberty,” I assumed it would link to some kind of tabloid piece on a too-young married couple who were already divorced, commenting on something like the high divorce rate or teen pregnancy rate in America. Instead, I found an opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof, telling the story of a brave young girl in Yemen who was forced to marry a 30-year-old man when she was only 10. The girl was forced to drop out of school and suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. The girl took a taxi to see a judge, divorced her husband, made her way to America and penned a best-selling memoir. At age 12, she is supporting her family and is a beacon of hope and inspiration for other child-brides in Yemen.

The Olympic Games seem like the perfect place to tell tales of dreams that have come true. The media grabs onto Cinderella stories, seeking that inspirational angle that can be found in athletes who weren’t expected to win. Stories of athletes who had previously fallen and, against all odds, rose to the top during the games, grab headlines. These are the stories of hope and triumph which people cling to and celebrate. However, there was one story that took place off the ice that really caught my eye. Hannah Teter, 2006 Torino gold medalist and 2010 Vancouver silver medalist in the women’s halfpipe, is a philanthropist who donates entire paychecks to people in need.

Blaming the victim for a crime that has been committed against them is the most redundant mistake we have ever made as a civilization. Time and time again, people are made social pariahs for admitting publicly that someone hurt them, raped them, or robbed them. Well, you shouldn’t have worn that. You shouldn’t have walked down that alley. You brought this on yourself.