Gruesome details continue to emerge on the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in India last month revealing the brutality she suffered at the hands of her attackers. According to Delhi police, the most violent of all the attackers, a juvenile, ripped out her intestines with his bare hands.

The attack on the woman enraged many Indians and led to widespread protests, intensifying the debate over the way the country handles sexual assaults and the treatment of women in Indian society.

But what of rape culture on American soil?

Nearly 1 in 5 women in this country surveyed said they had been raped or experienced an attempted rape at some point, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.

Last summer on August 11th a 16-year-old girl became the latest statistic when she was allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by Steubenville, Ohio high-school football players Trent Mays and Malik Richmond and others self-identified as the "rape crew". The scandal surrounding a suspected cover up to save the football team's reputation has been followed closely by Anonymous, a hacking collective committed to revealing the truth about the case.

And according to The Atlantic Wire, a site called Local Leaks has rounded up leaks, anonymous tips through Anonymous, and previously undisclosed documents, all for the purpose of what it says is a project "giving a voice to the victim of this horrible crime, and unraveling this conspiracy of silence designed to protect a group of these high school football players." 

The response to the attack in Ohio does not match the outcry displayed in the mass protests in India. In fact, many Steubenville residents still doubt and blame the victim. But the The Steubenville Files and those involved are doing their part to refocus the spotlight on rape culture in our own backyard, including upcoming rallies like Saturday's Occupy Steubenville organized by Anonymous.

 

Follow Executive Producer Chima Simone on Twitter.