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I wish more people would realize how grievous rape, sexual assault, and, at the roots of it all, rape culture is.
I have spent a large part of the past six months watching movies, documentaries and reading books detailing experiences of survivors and how often they were
I have spent a large part of the past six months watching movies, documentaries and reading books detailing experiences of survivors and how often they were
disbelieved. Even children. Worse, parents, friends, and institutions of power thought children would lie about things like this. I am ashamed of the world as it is because even though some of the ladies I have watched tell their story gets closure, there are countless more out
there who choose/ or are forced not to come out because of disbelief and how society still associates shame with survivors rather than the rapist and molester.
It makes me angry seeing these people suffer but scares the shit out of me because someone around me, a classmate, a
It makes me angry seeing these people suffer but scares the shit out of me because someone around me, a classmate, a
friend, a family member, maybe going through sexual abuse. Maybe gaslighted into silence. Maybe disbelieved and called a devil. That these happen to young girls and women is crazy and it becomes shittier when we realize that institutions we trust to bring these men to book
are scared far more about PR damage than saving these girls and women and future girls and women from danger.
This thread is spurred in a heat of the moment by watching At The Heart Of Gold about Larry Nassar's sexual abuses and child molestations.
These things don't go away
This thread is spurred in a heat of the moment by watching At The Heart Of Gold about Larry Nassar's sexual abuses and child molestations.
These things don't go away
because we pray them to or keep them under wraps. They start to really go away when we talk about them. When we listen. When we come together as a society and say, No more. If girls and women report these cases and they are buried, how do you get proof? If they come out 20 years
later when it suddenly makes sense to them, how do you expect them to tell you a logical story. The burden of proof should be on the rapist. Alleged, maybe. But children are not devils. Young girls who go wild about cartoons are definitely not seeking to ruin an adult.
If we will go through this stage of society and cut down this huge tree, we must gather around the tree and listen to the heart cries of these women who have been told for long that they are overreacting. "that the pastor touching a private part during deliverance is normal"
"that a priest jerking off the young boy is just not possible. he's too nice." "that her teacher couldn't have done this."
I have burned through some quantity of material to find out to know that history repeats itself. that institutions pay rapists to leave quietly(huge payouts
I have burned through some quantity of material to find out to know that history repeats itself. that institutions pay rapists to leave quietly(huge payouts
that there's not a one-time rapist or sexual molester. It starts but never ends with one.
My pledge is to start by believing. Maybe this will revoke a culture where silence is the best medicine. Maybe it would mean that I would be caught in the rain in underwears when one woman
My pledge is to start by believing. Maybe this will revoke a culture where silence is the best medicine. Maybe it would mean that I would be caught in the rain in underwears when one woman
lies or reverses her testimony because of the unwarranted media and social pressure. Maybe it would mean that it would hit home. Maybe it would mean that I have joined the women who hate men and want to pull down celebrities. BUT I'D START BY BELIEVING.
I hope you do too.
I hope you do too.
I don't know any solution. Don't live these experiences. Don't ask for publicity. Just asking you to do the right thing. Don't silence women and girls. Listen. Conduct INDEPENDENT investigations. PLEASE.
You cannot pay for this to go away. This is someone's life and innocence
You cannot pay for this to go away. This is someone's life and innocence
snatched away. Let's do better. Maybe start asking the girls and women around us if things like this happen. Maybe their stories will break us and make us feel stupid and helpless but they have gone through more. And voicing it out in words makes it harder.
I hope this makes you angry. I know this is not watertight and I am definitely high on emotions right now but please let's do better. If our systems are built for silence, we will never get proof. The policeman will not lodge in a statement. A doctor will not do the tests needed.
Do we teach girls and women how to behave after getting raped to ensure you get the proof you need? Do we drag them dirty, soaked, and soiled in mud to the doctor's office cos the evidence is important? Do we subject them to media who care more about fast-selling headlines?
Or do we stand up as a community and say no more? No more bro code. No more adult believing adult. No more preserving the institution's heritage and legacy. Do we build a community where institutions hold erring sexual abusers accountable with the full extent of the law?
DO WE START BY BELIEVING?
