Notre Dame Rape Versus The Pennsyltucky Vatican Rape

Watching the Fighting Irish get dismantled by the Tide is not really great television.  Truth be told, after ND loses it would be nice to see the whole athletic department and football staff at Alabama, along with the boosters and the alumni association, be chewed on and chased into the Gulf by about a thousand rabid street curs, but that's probably not gonna happen.  Far more serious is the possible national exposure of the rape culture at Notre Dame.  Dave Zirin was in The Nation this morning with the ugly ND vs. Penn State comparison.  Penn State was about horrible child rape of boys by a man in authority that probably does bring an extra dose of horror to many Americans because of the homosexual aspect.  ND is more mundane; it is rape committed and condoned by men in power, good, heterosexual men who are athletes and powerful educational leaders, just the sort of rape that America loves and is usually believed by assholes to be the fault of the victim.  Melinda Henneberger's story is a fucking nightmare--kudos to Zirin for staying on this ND rape issue--a nightmare of institutional abuse and neglect against young women by people who sure as shit cared more about fucking football than they did about rape and sexual abuse.  The sexual assaults and rapes by Notre Dame football players are not bugs, they are features.  And it is not just a ND problem.  The rape culture is enshrined in America just like apple fucking pie.  Steubenville?  Your town?  Your college?  Notre Dame should be held responsible, and probably be burned to the ground like the Pennsyltucky Vatican, but the rape culture needs to be confronted everywhere else as well.