Girl, 14, Sues MySpace after alleged Sexual Assault

Northstarmom · 06-20-2006, 12:16 PM

Talk about shifting the responsibility, but I'd bet that it's the girl's parents, not the girl, who decided to sue over this. IJMO, they'd be better off campaigning to help teens be more aware of safety issues, and to help parents' be more involved in kids' Internet use.

"AUSTIN, Texas - A 14-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by another user of MySpace.com sued the social networking Web site Monday, claiming it does not take sufficient steps to protect underage members.

The girl says a 19-year-old man lied in his profile about being a senior on a football team to gain her trust and phone number.

Pete Solis was arrested in May on a charge of sexual assault of a child. He could not immediately be reached Monday evening."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13437619/

ariesathena · 06-20-2006, 12:43 PM

Quote:

The girl says a 19-year-old man lied in his profile about being a senior on a football team to gain her trust and phone number.

Because she was completely unaware that people lie about who they are on the internet?

Agree, NSM. It is, however, very tough for parents to acknowledge that something that horrible happened to their kid - that has got to be one of the worst things a parent can go through. Even more difficult when it happened, in part, from one's own negligence.

bluebayou · 06-20-2006, 01:06 PM

unfortunately, the article doesn't indicate if the sex was consensual; if he was a year younger, say 18, and a football captain, would there be any claim?

DRJ4 · 06-20-2006, 01:08 PM

Agreed x 3.

ldmom06 · 06-20-2006, 01:11 PM

More details:

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories...eh.70db76.html

I don't understand why parents don't get it. This girl could have just as easily been raped by a 17 year old senior who was a member of a football team. The internet is no way to assess the character of a person. Parents need to meet the people with whom their children are associating...have them over, check them out.

bluebayou · 06-20-2006, 02:10 PM

ldmom:

actually, I do get it (I think). On a different cc thread, I was one of the (only?) parents that suggested that kids NOT be allowed to use MySpace, period, for all the safety reasons inherent in it.

acc_bound · 06-20-2006, 02:51 PM

I could be wrong (I don't use MySpace), but aren't profiles of kids 14 and under private? Did she lie about her age?

zoosermom · 06-20-2006, 03:01 PM

Did he assault her by jumping through the computer? If her parents knew where their daughter was, what she was doing, and with whom this couldn't have happened. It's not Myspace's fault.

zoosermom · 06-20-2006, 03:02 PM

THey're private but you can "friend" and invite anyone and everyone and pass it around.

mladyd · 06-20-2006, 03:25 PM

There is nothing wrong with myspace. However, like all things, parents need to determine the intelligence/maturity levels of their children before letting them get into situations both on and off the internet.

In another time, in another place, this is the girl who would have been assaulted after crashing a party made up of an older crowd, or agreeing to a blind hook up with a friend of a friend, or going behind the movie theater with a cute boy she met in the lobby. Kids make bad decisions and kids lie about things, universal truths.

I repeat, there is nothing wrong with myspace. But as a parent I have watched very closely everything my kids have done online. Nothing online is private, so everything is available for me to see.

fendergirl · 06-20-2006, 07:05 PM

there is nothing wrong with myspace. myspace did not tell the girl to give her phone number and contact information out to anyone on the internet. Especially to a senior football player when she's only 14? That's her own doing. he may of lied, however it wouldn't of happened had she not been naive enough to give out her own personal information in the first place..

citygirlsmom · 06-20-2006, 08:46 PM

he picked her up from school, and didn't they do a movie

to blame myspace is absord, the parents are feeling like )%*# so they want to blame someone else cause their daughter probably lied to them, and was attacked.

She got into that car on her own....I am really angry she was raped, but to blame anyone but the guy who did the assualt is absurd

ldmom06 · 06-21-2006, 12:31 AM

bluebayou-

When I was referring to parents who don't get it, I was referring the victim's parent not any poster here on CC.

StPlayrXtreme · 06-21-2006, 04:19 PM

People have to stop blaming the internet for their stupidity.

First of all....the guy didn't lie about his age. He said he was a high school senior, high school seniors are typically anywhere from 17-19. So, he apparently lied about being the captain of the football team.

The girl knew she was dealing with a guy between 17-19, as a 14 year old. If it was really a problem that he lied about being captain of a football team, she could have easily looked up who the captain of the football team really was.

So, the guy lied about being football captain, and he was either a high school senior, or one year out of school. The girl knew that the guy was older than her and continued talking to him anyway.....sounds like the girl's fault to me. She's lucky she didn't end up talking to some 40 year old sex offender.

Yes, it's wrong that she was raped...(does "sexual assult" necessarily mean she was raped?), but she made some really stupid decisions.

doubleplay · 06-21-2006, 04:30 PM

Here's something that is scary for me- what about when your son turns 18? I mean, he's a senior in hs, or a frosh at college, and still in close contact with girls that are 16 and 17. So if there's any kind of physical contact, guess whose going under the jail?
We had a situation recently where a young lady (16) was in pursuit of my son (18). He wasn't really interested in her as a serious girlfriend, although she made it clear that she was willing to have a good time with him. Had he taken her up on her invitation (hopefully he didn't- I don't think so but I'm sure it would be hard for a hormonally driven 18 yr old to say no), and then blew her off, she could cause some serious damage. Stuff like that scares me to death.