• The city of Richmond, California, is struggling to deal with the horrific gang rape of a 15-year-old girl, which allegedly had up to 20 witnesses, outside a homecoming dance. For some in Richmond, this means blaming the victim and criticizing the “snitches” who put seven of the alleged rapists in jail. [NY Times]
• A study of 13,000 high school students found girls who play team sports are less likely to smoke, be depressed, and use marijuana. Unfortunately, it also says boys who play team sports are more likely to behave violently and binge drink. [ABC News]

A sixth person has been arrested in the the gang rape of 15-year-old girl in California . Police say the rape occurred during a homecoming dance, allegedly while as many as 20 people watched. [ABC News]

A judge upheld a restraining order on a new law which would’ve required details about Oklahoma women who’ve had an abortion to be posted online. Anti-choicers had hoped the law would go into effect on November 1. [Tulsa World]

Great post by Sadie at Jezebel about “Secret Keeper Girls,” a Christian organization for tween girls which, among other things cares about promoting modesty and purity in fashion. Sadie agrees that less-slutty clothes for young girls would make conservatives and feminists happy, but wishes Secret Keeper Girls wasn’t so gung-ho about sexual purity. [Jezebel]

A 15-year-old girl was gang raped, beaten and robbed by as many as seven people after a homecoming dance at Richmond High School in Richmond, CA. Police say the girl left the dance and was invited by a friend to join a group drinking in a court yard near the school, where she consumed “a large amount of alcohol.” After being sexually assaulted, she was left semi-conscious near a picnic table and eventually found by someone who alerted the police. A 19-year-old and a 15-year-old have both been arrested, but cops say five others may have been involved. [MSNBC]—This incident would be sad enough if it hadn’t happened just last week at a school dance in the U.K., too.

 

Earlier this week we were upset to hear an 18-year-old woman at Hofstra University on Long Island had allegedly been gang-raped by five men in a dorm bathroom. Each day, we read increasingly troubling newspaper reports describing how the student had gone back to a dorm room with one of the alleged rapists who took her phone at a frat party. There, she said, five men took her to a stall in the men’s bathroom, tied her up with rope and gang-raped her.

But guess what? Apparently, it’s not true. Today the District Attorney for Nassau County on Long Island reported that the accuser, whom she called “very troubled,” told police the sex was consensual. When the young woman was told the incident may have been caught on video tape, she admitted she’d lied.