Did the horrific gang rape detailed in a recent Rolling Stone article take place as reported? Some in the media are beginning to question the account of “Jackie,” a student at the University of Virginia who says she was raped by seven men as part of a fraternity initiation.
Richard Bradley, a former editor at George magazine who was taken in by Stephen Glass (the former journalist who became infamous for fabricating stories), wrote on Nov. 24 that he has since grown necessarily skeptical of articles corroborating his “pre-existing biases.”
“Remember: One must be most critical about stories that play into existing biases,” Bradley wrote on his personal website. “And this story nourishes a lot of them: biases against fraternities, against men, against the South; biases about the naivete of young women, especially Southern women; pre-existing beliefs about the prevalence — indeed, the existence — of rape culture; extant suspicions about the hostility of university bureaucracies to sexual assault complaints that can produce unflattering publicity.”
Bradley then examined the story of Jackie through his unique viewpoint – “of a magazine editor who has seen fakes before.”
Bradley first discussed his discomfort with basing a story around an unnamed source, with corroborating evidence from other unnamed sources — in this case, Jackie’s friends who, according to the Rolling Stone story, were more concerned with Greek life than human life and who discouraged her from seeking medical attention. This discouragement came despite Jackie apparently being covered in blood with a bruised face from her horrific rape. These “friends” — Jackie mentions one as a “former” friend — also complained that she was “still upset” about the horrific incident shortly after it took place.
Bradley also mentioned the allegation that Jackie knew two of her attackers, yet they aren’t named in the article and its author, Sabrina Rubin Erdley, doesn’t appear to have attempted to contact them.
The actual rape allegation also leaves several unanswered questions for Bradley, namely, that “gang rape is a rite of passage for young men to become fraternity ‘brothers.’ ”
Bradley insisted on noting in nearly every paragraph of his critique that the story could most certainly be true, but that being critical is still necessary.
“Nothing in this story is impossible; it’s important to note that. It could have happened,” Bradley wrote. “But to believe it beyond a doubt, without a question mark — as virtually all the people who’ve read the article seem to — requires a lot of leaps of faith. It requires you to indulge your pre-existing biases.”
Paul Farhi of the Washington Post also brought up some interesting questions in his article about Erdley. Wanting to write an article about campus sexual assault “at an elite university,” Erdley interviewed students across the country until she found the perfect story in U.Va.’s Jackie.
Farhi wrote that it was “remarkable” no one else had reported Jackie’s story, even though “a few dozen people” were involved.
Farhi wrote that Erdely “spent weeks corroborating details of Jackie’s account, including such minutiae as her work as a lifeguard.” Erdely said she believed Jackie, though it was “impossible to know for certain” what really happened. Still, Erdely believes Jackie “described an experience that was incredibly traumatic to her.”
But Erdely wouldn’t say if she knows the names of the men who attacked Jackie or if she contacted “Drew” — the man who she said led her to the party where she was raped.
Erdley said she made an agreement with Jackie not to disclose such information because the U.Va. student “is very fearful of these men, in particular Drew. … She now considers herself an empty shell. So when it comes down to identifying them, she has a very hard time with that.”
Farhi also noted the lack of “according to Jackie” or “allegedly” qualifiers in Erdley’s account of the rape, which Erdley admits to but claims it’s clear from the way she wrote the article that the incident is being told by Jackie.
Reason Magazine’s Robby Soave added that there were some parts of Jackie’s narrative that were “perplexing,” including injuries described that “would have required immediate medical attention.”
When I first wrote about this story, I found it baffling that the woman in charge of U.Va.’s Sexual Misconduct Board was so apathetic toward an allegation of a brutal gang rape. That question still stands.
I had some lingering questions about the account, namely some clarifying details about how Jackie was able to recognize someone in a supposedly “pitch black” room and whether Jackie would cooperate with police now that the story has become so public. Erdley did not respond to a Washington Examiner request for information and U.Va. never returned a request seeking to confirm that a student even came to the administration with a story about gang rape.
But as Richard Bradley pointed out, questions do not equal untruth. The only people who know for sure what happened in that fraternity room two years ago are Jackie and Drew, and the seven men who allegedly raped her and the other man who was egging them on and possibly her friends at the time. But none of them are talking.
