Other students had harassed her and called her a liar after they learned that she was the accuser in the case against Joseph Tarnopolski, 18, a senior at the school.
"They all took sides," Sheila Little, a 17-year-old senior, told the Detroit news. "Her friends left her because they said she was lying. It's obvious this pressure had a real impact on her."
Tarnopolski was arrested last month and charged with third-degree criminal assault. After he was released on bond on Oct. 12, he returned to Huron High School.
On Twitter, Tarnopolski had blamed "liars" for his treatment.
"All girls are, are liars and backstabbers! I hate you all. Way to ruin my life. Seriously, now this will be on my record for life!" he tweeted on Sept. 28, according to the News.
H.S., then 16, attended a party in her hometown of Silsbee, Texas, in October 2008. She said she was dragged into a room, thrown onto the floor by several youths and raped by Rakheem Bolton, a star on the school’s football and basketball teams.
Bolton and a teammate were arrested two days later, but were allowed to return to school after a county grand jury declined to indict them. They were later indicted on sexual assault charges, but in the interim came the February 2009 incident on the basketball court.
H.S. joined in leading cheers for the Silsbee High team. But when Bolton went to the foul line, and the cheers included his name, she stepped back, folded her arms and sat down.
When rape allegations are diminished, or made fun of by society and authority figures - that's a world that still sides with the rapists over the survivors. And that, my friends, is what we feminists mean when we talk about rape culture.
And now, for a view of the world as it should be.
