where i stand is pretty clear, i think, after a long history of railing against the man... but not everyone knows what i know, or can get up in my heart and see the full conviction of my knowledge, and that's fine.
but if you are thinking about believing his statement, if you are skeptical of the claims against him, i'm gonna need you to be really up to date of information surrounding sexual assault and reporting and so on. so i'm giving you a zillion bits of info. super fun, right? here we go:
* the statistics
if you don't know a survivor of sexual assault it is almost certainly because no one has told you, not because they don't exist in your circles.
* rate of sexual assault tends to remain fairly consistent, but reports to police have declined steadily since 1993
so why aren't women reporting?
* fear and shame, concern about the attitude of both police and the courts
* fear of revictimization in the legal process
and why on earth might ladies not feel like the police or other powers-that-be or the world are on their side?
* "One of the safety tips was for women not to dress like ‘sluts.’" says a police man to a group of university students in toronto
* "“Nobody comes out of the Ched Evans rape case with any credit – not the victim who’d drunk so much she could barely stand, nor the two footballers who had sex with her in the most sordid of circumstances.”" says a bbc host
* "...a judge ruled that what the defendant did was technically rape, but it wasn't rape-rape because the fact that woman was all gussied up in heels and fancy clothes meant that "sex was in the air.""
* there is video of a woman beaten to unconsciousness by her partner, and she still gets blamed and shamed
* "...these are the harms we persistently lack the (legal) language to describe, the experiences to which our laws, our campus policies, our media and our Title IX activism are ceaselessly unresponsive." on dating violence.
* "It appears a growing number of young girls are not only being sexually assaulted on campus, but have come to think of it as a normal part of their educational experience." said in 2008
* "The trauma of the rape and ongoing bullying caused depression and suicidal thoughts."
quick break. how 'bout some puppies?
on we go.
* people think 'survivor privilege' is a thing
* people think 'rape culture' is NOT a thing
* talking about anything that is well loved (like a radio icon, say, or video games, perhaps) can cause an outpouring of hate and abuse that is not only appalling, but also terrifying and damaging
* like, say, you speak up about being afraid of an aggressive anti-woman movement, and immediately are targeted by that movement
* like, say, if your attacker plays football
* and again, with the football
* rape apologia is especially present when Famous Men are involved
break.
here's a pile of kittens.
okay, back at it. here's a fun little thread:
* "A police officer in Detroit is charged with sexually assaulting a woman who called 911 during a domestic violence incident."
* "A San Jose police officer is accused of raping a woman who called 911 following a domestic violence incident."
* "A police officer in Baltimore, Maryland is accused of raping a woman he was supposed to be helping after a traffic accident."
* "Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Ken Holtzclaw was released from jail Friday as he faces charges for allegedly sexually assaulting 7 different African American women while he was on duty. Among the claims against him are forcible rape, burglary, and felonious stalking."
* "Two Los Angeles Police Department officers are under investigation for allegedly preying on women over a period of five years, luring them into an unmarked car and forcing them to perform sex acts, according to court records."
* "The officers were found to have violated police procedure by returning to the apartment of a drunk woman they escorted home, and Moreno went so far as to admit he cuddled with her while she wore only a bra."
* "...a Manhattan jury made up of highly educated professionals refused to convict Officer Michael Pena of rape for a startling reason — the victim could not recall the color of a car parked by the courtyard where she was forced to her knees, sources told The Daily News Thursday.“If she doesn’t remember these details, how does she know she was penetrated,” one of the holdouts reportedly said, according to sources."
i could do this all day. for many days. the examples are endless.
so i don't wanna hear 'why don't they just go to the police' re: ghomeshi's victims. okeedokes? until you have read through each and every one of these links in their entirety, and maybe followed some of the links IN the links, leading to even more examples and more examples and more.... until then? i will not tolerate even the smallest hint of victim-blaming from my friends and acquaintances.
now here's a slow loris.
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