FREE ESSAY ON OUR GUYS BY BERNARD LEFKOWITZ

OUR GUYS BY BERNARD LEFKOWITZ

The novel Our Guys, written by Bernard Lefkowitz, is a very dynamic story about the
heinous actions of a dozen middle-class athletes, from a small New York suburb, against a
defenseless mentally handicapped girl. Lefkowitz describes a brutal gang rape involving a
baseball bat and broomhandle, which took place in this unsuspecting town, by these
upstanding young group of boys, as the town would describe them. Lefkowitz looks at the
incident which took place and then examines the "jock clique" sub-culture that allowed
such atrocities to happen, and spawned the scandal to cover it up. 
The town of Glenridge is at the surface not any different than any other surburban
American town. Like most towns it has its "cliques" and the "jocks" are at the pinnacle
of the town. Idolized by the students and a sourse of pride for the entire town, however
the Glenridge boys were not like most high school athletes. The "Jock clique" formed at a
very early age,and invaded their surroundings taking over where ever they went, whether
it be school, games or around town, protected by the "boys will be boys" attitude held by
the rest of the town.
The boys started showing signs of beligerance as early as elementary school, with a
common ignorance for authority. The group was later easily passed through middle school
to relieve the teachers of another year enduring the "problem" class. Once in high scholl
the boys became the leaders of the school, andpride of the town. In Glenridge sports were
valued higher than academics, turning these young men into heros, and everyone else into
nobodies. There was not anything anyone could do to derail this movement, nor did they
try to.
Glenridges attitude towards women was very outdated. Women were regarded as mothers and
wives, their jobs weere to make the men of the town happy. They were treated as objects
and rarely held positions of authority-there were not any women mentors, therefore
everyone lokked up to their fathers and saw that men were the supreme beings. Most of the
boys did not even have any female influences other than their mothers; infact only two of
the boys involved had sisters, Bryan Grober and Phil Grant. Thes boys were raised in
dressing rooms by males and taught to respect the institute and brotherhood of a team.
That if they respected their sacred bond they could do anything. Nothing was more
important than the team or eachother.
The Jocks of Glenridge were very much protected by the town and their parents. When the
boys caused destruction or resorted to delinquency, money would simply change hands with
out involving the law or the media. Everything was always taken care of and kept very low
profile. 
The parents of these "jocks" were also very respected within the community and refused to
believe their children had any sort of problems. When Kevin Scherzer's problems were
brought to the attention of his parents they simply denied the existence of a problem and
dismissed the situation. When the school wanted to take disciplinary actions against
Kevin, the Scherzer's would not allow it. 
The parents played a major role in the deliquency of these young men, however they were
not alone. The other students acceptance and adoration of the "jocks" behavior is as much
to blame as anything else that led up to this behavior exhibited by the "jocks". The
"little mothers"( as they were referred as) were treated with disrespect and as sexual
objects. They would repeatedly engage in acts of voyeurism. They would also willingly
fellate any member of this group, and some would even go so far as "making a train" or
other acts of group sex with "our guys". Many of these girls were referred to as "trained
seals" and were proud of their titles.(p. 147) There was never any complaints made and as
the boys got older the more deviant they became.
The Leslie Faber rape took place in the Scherzer's basementon the afternoon of March 1,
1989. During the trial the defence attorneys did everything they could to try and potray
that Leslie faber was a willing participant and actually enjoyed, if not the acts
performed, her inclusion to the "cool group". The defence portrayed Leslie as a
"Lolita"(p. 362) and that her seduction was to great for the boys reject. They even
mentioned the fact that "we're talking about sixteen year-old boys with hard-ons, what
weree they supposed to do when faced with overt female sexuality?" (p. 212)
Leslie's personal life was dragged through the mud for the entirety of the trial, leaving
the jury to decide whether she had the capacity to refuse sexual advances and demands.
Leslie's entire life history and character were put on trial, eventhough none the sexual
histories of any of the defendants was ever discussed. The defendants character was never
was put to scrutiny, nor was their records of sexual deviance and general lewd conduct
ever introduced at trial. It seems the everyone involved felt more inclined to protect a
bunch of gang rapists, rather than a seventeen year old mentally handi-capped girl. The
community even stuck behind its hometown heros showing overwhelming support for the jocks
and condemned the Faber's and their cause.
Through out the trial the defence council openly manipulated Leslie every way they could
have. They attempted to confuse her and make her contradict herself, hoping perhaps, to
make it seem as though she was making the story up. Their efforts however, only made the
prosecutions case stronger by showing how vulnerable and eager to please Leslie really
was. Through the entirety of her testimony, Leslie trade sides and versions of her story
to suit whom she wanted to please. This allowed the jury to see the real Leslie, her true
personality, moreover the jury was able to definitively conclude that she was unable to
refuse the sexual advancements of the defendants.
The prosecution in this case did a superb job trying this case. Theere case faced a
trmendous amount of adversity. The lack of physical evidence and support from the
community, along with the fact it took three weeks to even be reported. This case was a
turning point for the community of Glen Ridge. Finally the "jocks" had been given
consequences and Leslie Faber's rights had been made the priority over the towns
reputation and that of its citizens.
This story exposed an age old sub culture and gave it attention. This time it was a group
of tightly knit high school athletes, within a tightly knit town. Lefkowitz looked beyond
the surface to find out what was at the root of the problem. He found that these boys
were a product of there environment, and that sociologically speaking, men will do just
about anything so long as they feel they are protected by a team mentality. He draws a
paralell between masculinity violence and deragatory demeaning attitudes towards women.
Lefkowitz clearly accomplishes his goal of exposing not only what this group did, but
also by sending a warning to others about the consequences of allowing athletes to do as
they please. However he does not do a good job of being non-partisan. He leads his
readers to believe the only group of people who would do such things are "jocks". This
bias is not true. The newspapers report that University fraternities, and secret
societies are as likely, if not more likely, to commit these very same acts. He also
leads the reader to believe that all athletes and athletic teams are similar. The
impression he leaves about the majority of teams and their members is prejudicial and
unfair. It is very unfortunate and disheartening that members of a community that were so
highly reguarded, would commit such acts. It is even more disturbing to hear about the
scenario leading up to the rape, and the community which produced these troubled young
men. It is more important to look at why the events took place rather than who committed
them, because ultimately the only innocent person involved is the victim, a mentally
handicapped young girl, named Lesli Faber.
This book shows that the community is to blame when tragedies like these occur, and that
if it happened in Glen ridge, what is to stop it from happening in our own back yard by
"our guys"?