I remember when I first heard about Jameis Winston. I had walked over to my friend’s apartment for lunch, and he was enthralled with a football game and a fresh new quarterback who he explained was “the best” and “a natural leader.” This was backed up by charming stories from the press about his second grade journal, in which he had taken notes about what traits make up great leaders and great quarterbacks. Jameis Winston had dreamed of being the star quarterback since he was a child.
Winston quickly disappeared from my consciousness, up until this Monday night. That same friend that had once told me how much he admired Winston was watching the BCS Championship game - between FSU (Winston’s team, for the few who don’t know), and Auburn. To my surprise, I discovered that my friend was rooting for Auburn, despite all the hype around Winston, who also just secured the Heisman trophy. “He allegedly raped a girl at his school and got away with it.” That was, of course, all it took for me to begin researching what may or may not have occurred between Winston and this female, and what it meant for his football career - if anything. I tried to stay level headed and create meaningful conclusions about the matter, but my rage only continued to grow as I read on.
Before things get ugly, I should say that I enjoy the romanticism of sports (I even wrote an essay on baseball and my irrational love for the game), but I am disgusted by the American tendency to glorify athletes to a degree at which the athlete himself (less so, herself) - and their fans - lose sight of what is important and tend to have an unhealthy view of their own self and the world around them.
I am writing to discuss a horrifying intersection of rape, abuse, and sports [fandom] that is likely not unique to this case alone, but made timely by Jameis Winston’s recent Heisman award and the BCS Championship. He is surely feeling more regal than ever these days, made more profound by those around him, but I can’t imagine a surer way to negate one’s dignity and honor than by violating another human being and subsequently avoiding all responsibility.
The details:
On December 7th, 2012, a young woman accused Jameis Winston of raping her. “Larry Brown Sports” chimes in with a bit of commentary: “Remember, Winston was not a star athlete at the time the charge was filed” (I wonder what Larry Brown is implying with that remark, by the way). As the case unfolded, Winston’s teammates stood up to defend him, insisting that the sex was consensual. Esteemed commentator Larry Brown chimes in again: “She claims she did not have much of a memory of what happened. She claims she tried to kick Winston off of her. She claims that her arms were pinned down. Obviously that’s a huge difference from what Casher and Darby stated in their affidavits.” Thank you, Larry Brown for such astute observations and implicit weaving of your opinion (I won’t waste time now on the deliberate use of the word “claim” and it’s implications). Winston’s DNA was found on the young woman, and she was discovered to be bruised and allegedly “hit on the head” the night of the incident.
Here’s just one of the more shocking, disturbing features of this story: When local Tallahassee police officers spoke with the violated young woman, they “recommended” that she drop charges -- on the grounds that Tallahassee is such a big football town that she would be on the receiving end of too much abuse from people in the area (how ironic, that they would concern themselves with her potential abuse). Clearly, Tallahassee has some truly thoughtful law enforcement.
This case was dropped for insufficient evidence. But recently, the case has re-surfaced and received more attention because of Winston’s recent nomination for the Heisman (and despite the controversy, the case against his nomination was dropped shortly before the award was handed out) and the BCS Championship. In addition, the victim’s lawyer - Patricia Carroll - recently called for the case to be investigated further, given less-than-judicial circumstances surrounding the situation. Carroll explains, “This was an investigation into a rape victim, not an investigation into a rape suspect.” Sound familiar? That’s how every rape case goes. Carroll also reminded that the lead detective for the case got a search warrant for the accuser’s cellphone records and social media accounts within the first few days of the investigation -- but investigators refused to gather the same information from Winston and his two friends who were with him at the time of the alleged sex assault.
There’s more, though, and this is where I think we have to re-evaluate our priorities in a big way. Many FSU fans, proving themselves of little to no dignity, disregarded the accusations against Winston entirely, choosing to honor his success as an athlete rather than his actions as a human being and more so, as a leader. One female fan even made her own shirt, stating, “I [heart] Jameis, Consensually.” Fans all over Twitter made obscene comments about how Jameis would surely “rape Auburn just like he raped that girl.” And there’s a lot more where that came from (results yielded by a simple Twitter search for “#JameisWinston”).
Some fans even went so far as to equate Winston’s acquittal with one of his major successes for the year:
The bottom line
I’m not an investigative reporter. I’m not a lawyer. I’m not an expert on rape cases. But there’s no arguing that we have lost sight of priorities when we are more than willing to look the other way when a rape case - confirmed or not confirmed - is on the table. This post isn’t about whether or not rape occurred on December 7th, 2012. The point is: We should be ashamed for looking the other way when a rape case is in question, all in the name of football.
Winston was hailed as a hero by fans on Monday night. He “drove the team to victory” and will likely be remembered as a “great leader.” Fans will celebrate this victory for a long time, and I can only hope that no rapes occurred in Tallahassee on Monday night, that no young women are taken advantage of in light of celebrations and the consumption of alcohol.
Never, under any circumstance, should an athlete’s local “glory” surpass the weight and seriousness of a rape accusation. Shame on the fans that set their dignity aside for football, shame on us for allowing a rape culture to permeate to a point where it’s overlooked so casually and blatantly, and shame on you, Jameis Winston.
