Alex Connor
Mrs. Burris
AP English III- 3
11/16/14
Our Guys Assignment
Summary
On March 1, 1989, Leslie Faber (a pseudonym for the victim’s real name) left her house as usual to go shoot some hoops at Cartaret Park. After a couple of hours, she was approached by a large group of popular guys from the perfect little town they lived in, Glen Ridge. Known collectively as the Jocks, they had always ignored Leslie because she retarded, which meant she was too different from them for her to be their friend. Being retarded, she craved their friendship and their attention, so when junior football and wrestling star Chris Archer approached her, inviting her over to the home of the Scherzer twins, Kyle and Kevin, she readily accepted. When she and Chris reached the basement, which had been the site of many infamous parties, they were greeted by about twelve other Jocks. Chris led Leslie over to the couch where Bryant Grober was already sitting. After a couple minutes, Grober asked Leslie to perform oral sex for him, and began taking off his pants and undressing her. Only two or three Jocks left at this point, not saying a word to protect Leslie, who was protesting. When that was over, Kevin Scherzer and Chris decided what they were getting was not enough. They grabbed a broomstick and a full-sized baseball bat, and Kyle proceeded to cover them each with a plastic bag coated in Vaseline. Chris and Kevin then proceeded to insert the broomstick into Leslie who claimed to them that it hurt, but never asked them to stop. When they got bored of this, the baseball bat went into Leslie. Leslie said it hurt and that she did not like it very much at all. After it was over, she left and went home, returning much later than when her adoptive mother had told her to. She would not offer up any of what had just happened, until days later to her swim coach. After that, it was a domino effect, with her coach telling a school administrator and the school administrator alerting Glen Ridge High School where the Jocks attended. Still none of the students came forward about the rumors they were hearing of this alleged rape. That was when senior Charlie Figueroa finally said something to a teacher. But that was not until April. From there, the case was handed over to the law. Many Ridgers, people who lived in Glen Ridge, sympathized with the alleged rapists- Kevin and Kyle Scherzer, Peter Quigley, Chris and Paul Archer, Richie Corcoran, and Bryant Grober, and blamed everything on the female. This was a very masculine society that had a very degrading view of women, and these boys in particular felt as though they could treat their female peers however degradingly they wanted. They did not grow up with strong females in their life. They were isolated to their little group of Jock buddies their entire adolescent life. When the case went to trial three years later, only Chris Archer, Kevin and Kyle Scherzer, and Bryant Grober were found guilty, and all four received, to the eyes of some, very minimal punishment for what they did. Chris, Kevin, and Kyle were all found guilty of second-degree conspiracy, and first-degree aggravated sexual assault. They were sentenced to a maximum of fifteen years in prison, but it was later reduced to seven years. Bryant Grober was given probation and community service.

Quotes (Documentation based on the location in the book I was on given by my Kindle)
“It was the men whom the boys performed for; it was the men they tried to impress with their competitiveness and aggressiveness and controlled daring” (Lefkowitz 894).
“The psychologist did not say that when youngsters were trying to persuade a disabled child to eat dog [poop] and mud maybe it was they who had problems, not Leslie” (Lefkowitz 980).
“School principal Buonomo emphasized the need for students to put this distasteful matter behind them. In his view, apparently, the main problem was the sensational media coverage of Glen Ridge, not the alleged rape of a retarded