An allegation of rape or other sexual assault is a very serious business, and can lead to a stigma being attached to both the alleged victim and attacker.
Which means the fact that people are starting to use YouTube as well as social networks such as MySpace and Facebook to make these kinds of allegations very worrying indeed.
Turning To YouTube For Help
CNN reports that a 16 year old girl called Crystal turned to the site after finding out that the man she was accusing would not be brought to trial for the crime. So instead, she made a video and uploaded it to the site.
The video starts with her stating:
“Hi, my name is Crystal. … I need some help. I didn’t want to do it this way, but it’s the only way I know that’s going to work, that someone out there in the world is gonna listen to me.”
Potential For Disaster
While I’m all for people being able to express themselves, and YouTube is a prime example of somewhere to do exactly that, this could lead to peoples names being dragged through the mud around the world.
Crystal was merely using YouTube as a sort of counselling service after being left to feel as though no-one was listening, but what happens if someone names an alleged rapist on camera in front of a potential audience of millions?
