A question for people who respond to calls for PIC abolition with, “what about the rapist?”

What about how we currently respond to rape is working for you?

A vast majority of sexual assault survivors don’t report to the police. And of the small amount that do, many say reporting to the police was so traumatizing that it stopped them from seeking ANY further help.

Abolition is for survivors, not in spite of us.

Most rapists face neither punishment or accountability for the harm they cause. Rapists are our friends, family, and loved ones. Holding them accountable starts with those close to them—it starts with supporting survivors and centering their needs no matter who harmed them.

Too many current resources for survivors are tied up in police. Compensation funds that can lessen the long lasting impacts of violence ($$ for counseling, safety measures, lost wages, medical care) require victims to “cooperate” with police.

The world abolitionist building is FOR survivors. An abolitionist future wouldn’t silence survivors or make seeking support a process as traumatizing as the assault, like it is now.

In an abolitionist future, survivors would be cared for and supported by their community.

Frankly, cops don’t care about sexual assault survivors. Policing is about protecting property and upholding white supremacy.

“What about the rapist?” overlooks that our current system harms survivors and leaves us with crumbs as resources.

Tweaking a system here and there that was never meant to support survivors—especially BIPOC, poor, unhoused, and LGBTQ survivors—will get us no where.

We have to build a whole new world designed to meet the needs of all survivors—that’s abolition work.