<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/51682f1deab8ea6c1400003a-491-368/gang-rape.png?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Gang Rape" width="400" height="300" /></div><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=352843511482063&amp;set=pb.352644484835299.-2207520000.1365713652&amp;type=3&amp;permPage=1">Angel Rehtaeh/Facebook</a>Rehtaeh Parsons was bullied for more than a year before she finally killed herself.</div>Two teenage girls killed themselves this month after photos of their alleged sexual abuse were posted online.
One girl, 17-year-old <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rehtaeh-parsons-hangs-herself-2013-4">Rehtaeh Parsons</a>, was called a slut and bullied after photos of her alleged sexual assault were emailed around the school.
The other, 15-year-old Audrie Pott, posted on Facebook <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/3-teens-arrested-for-sexual-assault-of-15-year-old-teen-who-committed-suicide-2013-4">that her life was “ruined”</a> after pictures of her alleged sexual assault by three boys appeared online.
Parsons and Pott are examples in a growing trend of teen sexual assault that is aggravated by social media exposure.
Teenagers take pictures of gang rapes and post them online to victimize girls again and again, says Dr. Rebecca Campbell, a psychology professor at Michigan State and <a href="http://psychology.msu.edu/vaw/core_faculty/rebecca_campbell/">an expert on sexual violence</a>.
“Sexual assault is a <keyword id="39494" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Crime">crime</keyword> of power and dominance,” Campbell says. “By distributing images of the <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">rape</keyword> through social media, it's a way of asserting dominance and power to hurt the victim over and over again.”
While images posted online could make it easier to convict perpetrators, rapists could also use video tapes or pictures as evidence that a girl consented to sex, Campbell said. Girls wouldn't let somebody take their picture if they weren't consenting to sex, the argument goes.
This kind of humiliation has come up in other recent cases too. In Connecticut, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/nyregion/generational-divide-in-torrington-conn-over-sex-assault-case.html?pagewanted=all">two 13-year-old girls were called “whores”</a> on Twitter for accusing a pair of 18-year-old football players of statutory rape.
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/malik-richmond-2020-interview-2013-3">Last year in Steubenville, Ohio</a>, a 16-year-old girl was mocked as pictures of her being sexually abused were shared over social media.
The impact on all of these victims is brutal.
Parsons, who lived in a Nova Scotia, killed herself more than a year after a gang rape <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rehtaeh-parsons-hangs-herself-2013-4">that left her totally changed</a>, according to her mother. She had to switch schools after her alleged attackers emailed a photo of the assault around in an attempt to “ruin her spirit,” <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angel-Rehtaeh/352644484835299">her mother wrote on Facebook</a>.
“[Blaming the victim] is a traditional problem that's being amplified because it's so easy to share and everyone is connected all of the time,” says <a href="http://www.ntnu.edu/employees/thomas.wold">Thomas Wold</a>, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “All of that information is available — they were Facebook friends, they were partying, they were flirting — [to feed into] the usual strategies for blaming the victim.”
Pott, who lived in California, killed herself a day after a photo of her allegedly being gang raped was posted online. Before she hanged herself, she posted on Facebook that she'd had the “worst day ever.”
In Steubenville, the rape victim found out about her assault when a picture of her passed out and being carried around like a rag doll became viral. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alleged-steubenville-victims-texts-2013-3">“I hate my life</a>,” the girl texted a friend. “Oh my God, please tell me this isn’t true.”
The unnamed girl was ripped to shreds online. One teen tweeted “some people deserve to be peed on” while another called the Steubenville girl “sloppy.”
This kind of character assassination on top of a physical assault is utterly devastating.
“We have tons of stories going way back that the rape victim says that the shame about the rape is worse than the actual rape,” Wold said. “And the assault being shared over social media just adds to the shame.”
While social media makes rape worse for victims, it may also draw attention to crimes that have been ignored in the past.
<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf">Nearly 1 in 5 women</a> in the United States have been raped at some point in their life, including forced and attempted forced penetration and alcohol/drug facilitated penetration, according to a 2010 Center for Disease Control survey. Forty-two percent of female rape victims experienced their first rape before the age of 18.

Social Media Makes Teen Rape More Traumatic Than Ever

An Oregon college student's date rape video made in response to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/malik-richmond-2020-interview-2013-3">the Steubenville, Ohio case</a> is going viral, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/film-student-anti-rape-video-viral-article-1.1299615">The New York Daily News reports.</a>
The video, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZxv5WCWivM">"A Needed Response,</a>" shows exactly how a guy should respond when he encounters a woman who's had too much to drink. It currently has 1.4 million views on YouTube.
"Hey bros, check who passed out on the couch," a young man in the video says. "Guess what I'm going to do to her?" He then covers her with a blanket and puts some coffee on an end table near her. He looks directly at the camera and says, "Real men treat women with respect."
Consent became a major issue in the Steubenville rape case against two high school football players when defense attorneys argued the victim was drunk but still making <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/03/steubenville_rape_trial_will_c.html" target="_blank">"cognitive decisions,"</a> according to the Plain Dealer.
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An Oregon College Student Made This Brilliant Anti-Date Rape Video In Response To Steubenville

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/514d9bac6bb3f7b730000023-553-415/steubenville-rape-malik-richmond.png?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Steubenville Rape Ma’lik Richmond" width="400" height="300" /></div><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/steubenville-partys-18795344">20/20</a>Ma'lik Richmond on 20/20.</div>The Steubenville, Ohio rape case has horrified people throughout the country.
Back in August, a drunk 16-year-old was denigrated while high school football players stood idly by and took pictures they later uploaded onto social media sites. The pictures became national news, including one of the victim being carried by her arms and ankles like a rag doll.
A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steubenville-high-school-rape-case-verdict-2013-3">judge ruled on Sunday</a> that Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, had raped the girl by penetrating her with their fingers (which is rape under Ohio <keyword id="6355470" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Law">law</keyword>).
Before that verdict came down, <a href="http://abc.go.com/watch/2020/SH559026/VDKA0_n96ufiyb/2020-322-steubenville-after-the-partys-over">"20/20" got an exclusive interview</a> with Richmond that finally aired on Friday night. The interview is upsetting. Richmond broke down in tears after the verdict was read on March 17. But in the "20/20" interview, he doesn't seem to understand the gravity of what happened that August night.
The morning after the rape, the victim woke up naked up in the basement of a strange house. 20/20's Elizabeth Vargas asked Richmond how the victim seemed that morning.
"She was fine. The only thing she was really looking for was her phone," Richmond said.
A prosecutor in the case had a different story for "20/20." "Her phone's missing. Her underwear are missing. Her shoes are missing. Her earrings are missing," prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter told "20/20." "She doesn't know where she's at. It's scary."
Later on in the interview, Richmond still seemed adamant that he didn't hurt the victim.
"I realize I was doing wrong by drinking and partying. But I didn't rape anybody. I didn't witness a rape going on," he said. "If I had thought somebody was being raped, I would have stopped it."
After the verdict was actually read in court, Richmond broke down into tears and approached the victim. "I had no intention of doing anything like that," he said. "And I'm sorry to put you guys through this."
It's possible Richmond finally understood he'd done something wrong — or maybe he was crying those tears for himself.
In the "20/20" interview, Richmond did suggest the entire group was acting crazy the evening that teenagers sent around heartless tweets and texts like this one: "She looks dead. LMAO."
"I really just think that everybody had a few drinks in 'em and nobody was thinking," he said. "I think everybody was just out of their minds."

Steubenville Rapist: 'I Think Everybody Was Just Out Of Their Minds'

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/514358ce6bb3f75e47000011-2449-1837/steubenville-high-school-harding-stadium.jpg" border="0" alt="Steubenville high school Harding Stadium" /></div>Reuters/Jason CohnHarding Stadium, home of the Steubenville High School Big Red football team.</td></tr></table><keyword id="1712732" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Steubenville">Steubenville</keyword>, <keyword id="15091" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ohio">Ohio</keyword> may finally slink out of the spotlight, after two of the town's high school football players were <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steubenville-high-school-rape-case-verdict-2013-3">convicted</a> of raping a 16-year-old with their fingers.
Trenton Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, were adjudicated delinquent and could be in a juvenile detention facility until they turn 21.
The <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">rape</keyword> case drew national attention after the accused and their friends joked about the incident and showed a galling sense of impunity over social media. In January Steubenville was forced to launch a website to combat the perception that "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steubenville-officials-launch-website-2013-1">the football team runs this city</a>."

At one point Mays told a friend that coach Reno Saccoccia would <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steubenville-defendants-texts-2013-3">make the charges go away</a>: "I got Reno ... He took care of it and s--- ain't gonna happen, even if they did take it to court."
That's the kind of mindset that develops in a depressed Appalachian town where Big Red Football is the hottest thing around.

Welcome To The Town Where Two Teen Football Stars Thought They Could Get Away With Rape

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/51436c98ecad049b79000010-3266-2449/sheriff-van-patrols-steubenville-high-school.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Sheriff van patrols Steubenville high school " width="400" height="300" /></div>Reuters/Jason CohnA sheriff's SUV patrols Steubenville high school after it was locked down because of a shooting threat made in January.</div>A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steubenville-rape-trial-begins-2013-3">high-profile trial</a> of two popular Ohio high school football players hinges on a flurry of text messages sent after a drunken evening when they allegedly raped a 16-year-old in August.
Steubenville High football players Trenton Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond,16, are accused of subjecting the 16-year-old West Virginia girl to a night of "degradation."
Prosecutors will piece together much of their case from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alleged-steubenville-victims-texts-2013-3">various social media postings</a> since the alleged victim can't remember what happened to her that night.
<a href="http://www.cleveland.com/steubenville-rape-case/index.ssf/2013/03/steubenville_rape_case_text_me.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2#incart_2box">The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports</a> that some of the texts sent from Mays' phone suggest that he thought his coach Reno Saccoccia would protect him from the fallout over rape allegations.
"I got Reno ... He took care of it and s--- ain't gonna happen, even if they did take it to court," the text stated, a state forensics investigator testified.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/us/in-ohio-rape-trial-testimony-on-a-girls-drinking.html">The New York Times reported</a> that Mays also texted “I feel like he took care of it” and that “he was joking about it so I’m not that worried.”
Saccoccia — an <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/steubenville-rape-case/index.ssf/2013/03/steubenville_rape_trial_popula.html">"icon in the community"</a> — declined to discuss the case with the Plain Dealer because he has to testify in the trial.
Steubenville has been portrayed in the media as idolizing its "Big Red" football team. As ABC's "20/20" has reported, "Steubenville is a place where football is more than just a past time; it's a religion. And residents here worship on Friday nights."

High School Football Player Accused Of Rape Told Friend That Coach 'Took Care Of It'

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/514358ce6bb3f75e47000011-2449-1837/steubenville-high-school-harding-stadium.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Steubenville high school Harding Stadium" width="400" height="300" /></div>Reuters/Jason CohnHarding Stadium, home of the Steubenville High School Big Red football team.</div>Two high school football players are on trial in an Ohio town for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/allegations-in-steubenville-rape-case-2013-3">allegedly raping a 16-year-old</a> who was too drunk to consent to sex.
The unnamed victim, who lives across the Ohio River in West Virginia, remembers nothing from the August night two football players allegedly treated her like "a toy."
She, like many in the town and beyond, learned about her alleged degredation from a flurry of social media postings including a photo showing a girl who's reportedly the victim, passed out and being <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/inside-anonymous-hacking-file-steubenville-rape-crew/60502/">carried like a rag doll</a>.
Text messages the accuser sent the day after her alleged assault are utterly heartbreaking.
Here are some of the texts that came from her phone that prosecutor Joann Gibbs read to the court in Steubenville, Ohio, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/us/in-ohio-rape-trial-testimony-on-a-girls-drinking.html">according to The New York Times</a>:
“Who was there who did that to me?” the accuser texted to a friend of one of the defendants. “You couldn’t have told them to stop or anything?”
 “I wasn’t being a slut. They were taking advantage of me,” another text stated.
 “I hate my life,” another text read. “Oh my God, please tell me this isn’t true.”
Most of the prosecution's case will rely on texts being submitted to the court since the alleged victim remembers nothing from that night.
"You will have to piece it together much in the way (the victim) had to piece it together," another prosecutor, Marianne Hemmeter, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/net-us-usa-crime-ohio-idUSBRE92C0VT20130314">reportedly told a judge</a>.

16-Year-Old Steubenville Accuser Sent Heartbreaking Texts After Alleged Rape

The former porn actress Traci Lords is one of Steubenville, <keyword id="15091" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ohio">Ohio</keyword>'s claims to fame, and <a href="http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/14/traci-lords-on-the-steubenville-rape-case-they-treated-her-like-she-was-an-animal-theyre-carrying-her-around-like-shes-a-pig/">she's speaking</a> out on a subject that's dividing the tiny Rust Belt city: <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">rape</keyword>.
Lords told CNN's Piers Morgan she has absolutely no sympathy for the Steubenville High School football players accused of raping a drunk 16-year-old and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/allegations-in-steubenville-rape-case-2013-3">treating her like "a toy."</a>
"They treated her like she was an animal. They're carrying her around like she's a pig," she said, according to the show's blog. "What they did, it's hard for me to even believe that we're talking about children, it's so ugly."
Lords, who's now 44, says she was raped by a 14-year-old boy <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ex-porn-star-lords-raped-steubenville-article-1.1289435">when she was just 10</a>, The New York Daily News has reported. Her mother was allegedly raped in Ohio too.
"I think there's a thickness in that city," she said.
The trial of two popular Steubenville High School football players began on Wednesday. The ordeal has torn apart the town of 18,000 that idolizes its "Big Red" football team.
See a clip of the interview, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ex-porn-star-lords-raped-steubenville-article-1.1289435">courtesy of The Daily News:</a>
<iframe width="420" height="315" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jXzyl300THA"></iframe>

Ex-Porn Star Traci Lords Says She Was Raped As A 10-Year-Old In Steubenville

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5140ec2969bedd286c000029-2700-2035/rtr3exrq.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Steubenville " width="400" height="300" /></div>Reuters/Keith SrakocicTrenton Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond,16,</div>The <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">rape</keyword> trial of two high school football players <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/us/steubenville-rape-case-heads-to-trial.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=1&amp;">started today in a tiny Ohio town</a> that idolizes the sport and the teenage boys who play it.
The Steubenville, <keyword id="15091" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ohio">Ohio</keyword> rape case has captured national attention because of <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/inside-anonymous-hacking-file-steubenville-rape-crew/60502/">highly disturbing photos and video of the alleged assault</a> posted online.
Steubenville is also being portrayed as a town that glorifies its football players so much that it failed to prosecute some players who may have been involved in the alleged rape.
Steubenville High School football players Trenton Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond,16, are accused of driving a drunk 16-year-old girl from party to party in August and treating her <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292671/Girl-16-suffered-degradation-humiliation-violation-raped-star-Ohio-footballers-sobbing-witness-tells-trial.html">"like a toy</a>," a prosecutor told a court today.
The allegations are horrifying and seem to implicate more than just Richmond and Mays. At one party, a Steubenville High baseball player allegedly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/sports/high-school-football-rape-case-unfolds-online-and-divides-steubenville-ohio.html?smid=tw-share&amp;_r=1&amp;pagewanted=all&amp;">dared bystanders to urinate on the girl</a>, The New York Times has reported, citing testimony from Steubenville High athletes given to a court in October. Mays also allegedly penetrated the girl with his fingers while another football player taped him on his phone.
The next day, rumors began flying on Twitter that something very bad at happened that night. One football player posted a photo on Instagram <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/inside-anonymous-hacking-file-steubenville-rape-crew/60502/">showing a passed-out girl</a> being carried by her hands and her legs.
<keyword id="39494" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Crime">Crime</keyword> blogger Alexandria Goddard <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/09/rape_charges_divide_football_t.html">began preserving online messages</a> about the alleged assault because she feared it wouldn't be investigated, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
This was one of the more disturbing Tweets she preserved: "The song of the night is 'Rape Me' by Nirvana."
Mays and Richmond were charged with rape and kidnapping in September, and the allegations against the team continued to play out on social media as trial preparations began.
In January, hactivist group KnightSec released a video showing a football player (not Mays or Richmond) j<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/knightsec-releases-steubenville-rape-video-2013-1">oking about the assault </a>as it was apparently taking place nearby.
"They raped her more than the Duke lacrosse team," he joked.
Days after that video was released, Sheriff Fred Abdalla, who presides over Steubenville, told 1,000 protesters in front of the county's courthouse that the person speaking on that video <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/05/steubenville-rape-protests_n_2416820.html">wouldn't be charged with a </a>crime, Reuters reported.
He drew the protesters' ire by saying "you can't arrest somebody for being stupid."
The same week, the city of 18,000 took the <a href="http://steubenvillefacts.squarespace.com/">unusual step of starting its own website </a>to fight the notion that the "football team runs the city," the city manager told the AP.
Mays and Richmond are being tried in a juvenile court, the Cleveland Plain Dealer Reports, and <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/steubenville-rape-case/index.ssf/2013/03/steubenville_rape_trial_prosec.html">a judge will decide their fate instead of a jury.</a>

Trial Begins For High School Football Rape Case That Shamed An Entire Town

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/528be88269bedd7e64b0fe7c-1200-924/steubenville-rape-trial-protesters-1.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Steubenville rape trial protesters" width="480" />Reuters/Jason CohnProtesters gather outside the Juvenile Court in Steubenville on the first day of the trial. </div></div>The National Research Council (NRC) <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18605">put out a new report Tuesday</a> revealing that <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">rape</keyword> is vastly undercounted in the United States and providing some clues about how the U.S. can more accurately measure sexual assault.
The <keyword id="99225" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Justice-Department">Justice Department</keyword> commissioned the report, which looks at how to measure rape in household surveys done as part of the Bureau of Justice Statistics' <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&amp;iid=245">National Crime Victimization Survey</a> (NCVS). The NRC found that the NCVS vastly under-measured rape in America as compared to a <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/">survey by the</a><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/"> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, which had dramatically different results.
The CDC survey counted 1.2 million victims of rape and attempted rape that year, compared to just about 188,000 counted by the NCVS.
The cause of this disparity may be that the CDC survey asks better questions, as <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/11/national_crime_victimization_survey_a_new_report_finds_that_the_justice.html">Slate's Emily Bazelon points out</a>. The NCVS buries its question about sexual assault among other questions about crime, asking people if they've experienced "any rape, attempted rape or other type of sexual attack." People who have had sex against their will - if a boyfriend had sex with them while they were passed out drunk - might not think of it as "rape."
The CDC apparently accounted for this phenomenon, specifically asking people if others had sex with them when they were "drunk, high, drugged, or passed out and unable to consent." The CDC also asks if others had used physical force or threats to get them to have various kinds of sex.
Because of the stigma associated with rape, it will probably always be reported less than, say, auto theft.
But the CDC may get the most accurate count possible by using neutral language and spelling out exactly what constitutes as a sexual assault.

How The CDC Uncovered The Huge Amount Of Rape In America

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5141db52ecad04bd0300000a-2773-2079/steubenville-2.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Steubenville" width="400" height="300" /></div>Associated Press/Keith SrakocicFrom left, Defense attorney Adam Nemann, his client, defendant Trent Mays, 17, and defendant 16-year-old Ma'lik Richmond </div>Two popular teen football players are on trial for <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">rape</keyword> in a tiny <keyword id="15091" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ohio">Ohio</keyword> town, and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/us/in-ohio-rape-trial-testimony-on-a-girls-drinking.html?partner=rss&amp;emc=rss&amp;smid=tw-nytimes&amp;_r=1&amp;">more disgusting details</a> are emerging about their alleged rape of a drunk 16-year-old.
Steubenville High School football players Trenton Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond,16, are accused of driving the girl from party to party one night in August and "treating her like a toy."
The Steubenville rape trial that began Wednesday has captured national attention because of the flurry of social media posts that followed the alleged assault — including a picture of the <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/inside-anonymous-hacking-file-steubenville-rape-crew/60502/">alleged victim being held by her hands and legs.</a>
During the trial, prosecutors will have to show the girl was too drunk to consent to having sex, and some witnesses have testified she was visibly very intoxicated that night.
At one point, the 16-year-old <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/us/in-ohio-rape-trial-testimony-on-a-girls-drinking.html?partner=rss&amp;emc=rss&amp;smid=tw-nytimes&amp;_r=1&amp;">sat topless in the street</a> next to a pool of her own vomit, a witness testified, according to The New York Times.
The 16-year-old was the drunkest person in the room at one of the parties, that same witness testified. Late in the night, that witness was shown a picture of the alleged victim on her hands and knees while Mays stood beside her and touched her buttocks, the witness testified, according to The Times.
Mays and Richmond are accused of raping the girl with their fingers. Mays also allegedly tried to force his penis into her mouth and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/steubenville-rape-trial-prosecutor-accuser-drunk-consent/story?id=18720098">later masturbated on top of her,</a> ABC News reported.
Pictures that circulated online show "further degradation," prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter said in court Wednesday, according to ABC News. One picture that made the rounds online showed her on her side with what looked like semen on her stomach, Hemmeter said.
The day after the alleged assault, the accuser wasn't sure exactly what happened to her. Hemmeter said <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/net-us-usa-crime-ohio-idUSBRE92C0VT20130314">she'd present evidence</a> pieced together from various online postings that an assault occurred, Reuters reported.
"You will have to piece it together much in the way (the victim) had to piece it together," she told a judge, according to Reuters.
The defense team acknowledges the girl was drunk but argues she was still able to make decisions for herself that night, The New York Times has reported.
Defense lawyer Walter Madison also said the alleged victim rejected her friend's offer to bring her to a different party where she had friends.
“Does that sound like a person who has no idea what’s going on?” Madison said in court, according to The Times.
The pictures and online postings from the alleged assault have cast a harsh spotlight on a struggling Rust Belt town of 18,000 that glorifies its "Big Red" football team.
Only two football players have been prosecuted. But eye witness reports and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/knightsec-releases-steubenville-rape-video-2013-1">social media postings</a> suggest other football players may have taken part in the alleged assault — or stood idly by while they watched it unfold.

Disgusting Details Emerge In Ohio High School Football Rape Case

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/516b35f5eab8ea2c1a000016-1638-1228/audrie-pott.jpg?maxX=400" border="0" alt="audrie pott" width="400" /></div>Audrie Pott Foundation</div>The Daily Beast's <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/14/audrie-pott-suicide-dead-after-inauguration-day.html?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&amp;cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&amp;utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet">Michael Daly points out</a> another heartbreaking detail about the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/3-teens-arrested-for-sexual-assault-of-15-year-old-teen-who-committed-suicide-2013-4">tragic life and death of Audrie Pott,</a> the California teen who committed <keyword id="6356238" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Suicide">suicide</keyword> last September after a group of boys she knew allegedly gang-raped her while she was unconscious and then posted about the attack online.
According to a bio on the family's blog, at age 11, Pott marched in President Barack Obama's 2008 inaugural day parade as a member of the only middle school color guard to participate in the event.
"The temperature was in the teens that day and the kids were not allowed to wear jackets or gloves, they carried on faultlessly and the President’s young daughters waved and cheered loudest for their group as all the other performers were so much older," <a href="http://blog.audriepottfoundation.com/about-audrie/">the post reads.</a>
Four years later, at age 15, Pott hanged herself after posting on Facebook that her life was ruined.
Pott's case picked up national media attention last week, in part for its alarming parallels to last month's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steubenville-high-school-rape-case-verdict-2013-3">Steubenville rape trial,</a> in which two teenage boys were convicted of digitally raping a passed out teenage girl and then posting photos of the assault online.
In Canada, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rehtaeh-parsons-hangs-herself-2013-4">17-year-old Rahtaeh Parsons hanged herself earlier this month</a>, a year after a group of boys allegedly gang-raped her and posted about the attack online.
On Thursday, three teenage boys were arrested by a Northern California sheriff's office on charges of sexual battery in connection to Pott's assault. The investigation is ongoing.
No arrests have been made in the Canadian case.

California Teen Who Killed Herself After Alleged Sexual Assault Marched In Obama's Inaugural Parade

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:481px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5149ee58eab8ead94c000017-1200-924/protester-steubenville-courthouse.jpg?maxX=481&amp;maxY=360" border="0" alt="Protester Steubenville courthouse" width="481" height="360" />Reuters/Jason CohnA protester wearing an Anonymous-style mask poses in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse, where the trial is taking place. </div></div>The hacker group Anonymous has been <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/06/steubenville-hacker/65976/">credited with "helping</a>" a 16-year-old rape victim in Steubenville, Ohio, but <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_levy?currentPage=all">The New Yorker has a new story</a> suggesting "vigilantes" may have done more harm than good.
It's because of Anonymous, and <a href="http://www.xojane.com/author/alexandria-goddard">crime blogger Alexandria Goddard</a>, that most of America knows about the rape of a West Virginia girl by two high school football players.
Teens recorded horrifying images from that night and posted them on social media — including an iconic photo of her being carried by her ankles and hands like a rag doll. Goddard and Anonymous preserved and publicized many of these images.
But <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/ariel_levy/search?contributorName=ariel%20levy">The New Yorker's Ariel Levy</a> suggests "online vigilantes" spread misperceptions about what really happened that night and, even worse, immortalized the 16-year-old's worst nightmare forever online.
That night was awful. There's evidence that Trent Mays, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_levy?currentPage=all">one of two boys</a> who got convicted, masturbated on the victim when she was drunk. Both Mays and Ma'lik Richmond were found guilty of penetrating the girl with their fingers when she was too drunk to consent. Three boys recorded the assault and got immunity in exchange for their testimony.
Because of the swirl of media attention around the case, much of what the public believes is even more horrific and not backed up by evidence, Levy writes. Many people falsely believe dozens of football players watched as the girl was brutally gang raped. The porn star Traci Lords, who's from Steubenville, echoed the misconception <a href="http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/14/traci-lords-on-the-steubenville-rape-case-they-treated-her-like-she-was-an-animal-theyre-carrying-her-around-like-shes-a-pig/">that players urinated on her</a>.
Anonymous and others brought attention to the case to get justice for the 16-year-old victim, but Levy suggests they may have hurt her in the end. 
"What the bloggers did was make sure that five hundred million people saw those pictures of her," Jefferson County, Ohio prosecutor Jane Hanlin told Levy. "I wouldn’t want that picture to be seen by one person." 
Hackers are also indirectly responsible for the media leaking the victim's name because they brought national press to Steubenville. Now that her name is out there, Levy writes,"her identity is linked to the worst experience of her life."

You Searched For "Steubenville Rape Trial" and got 12 results

Social Media Makes Teen Rape More Traumatic Than Ever

Erin Fuchs,Michael Kelley,Gus Lubin

An Oregon College Student Made This Brilliant Anti-Date Rape Video In Response To Steubenville

Rebecca Baird-Remba

Steubenville Rapist: 'I Think Everybody Was Just Out Of Their Minds'

Erin Fuchs

Welcome To The Town Where Two Teen Football Stars Thought They Could Get Away With Rape

Rebecca Baird-Remba,Gus Lubin

High School Football Player Accused Of Rape Told Friend That Coach 'Took Care Of It'

Erin Fuchs

16-Year-Old Steubenville Accuser Sent Heartbreaking Texts After Alleged Rape

Erin Fuchs

Ex-Porn Star Traci Lords Says She Was Raped As A 10-Year-Old In Steubenville

Erin Fuchs

Trial Begins For High School Football Rape Case That Shamed An Entire Town

Erin Fuchs

How The CDC Uncovered The Huge Amount Of Rape In America

Erin Fuchs

Disgusting Details Emerge In Ohio High School Football Rape Case

Erin Fuchs

California Teen Who Killed Herself After Alleged Sexual Assault Marched In Obama's Inaugural Parade

Grace Wyler

New Yorker Writer Slams 'Vigilantes' Who Shamed An Entire Town After A 16-Year-Old's Rape

Erin Fuchs