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NanaCat

(1,390 posts)
12. Please don't speak to how any survivor
Thu Mar 14, 2024, 06:29 AM
Mar 14

Has dealt with rape. None of us respond the same way.
I probably had PTSD about it for 5-10 years. After that, it receded far into the back of my mind. I hardly ever think of it anymore, haven't for over three decades now, and rarely find anything triggering about it. Not never by any means, but rarely. I'm well aware that my experience definitely isn't the norm, but it's still how I experienced it. So I'm not paralyzed with grief or doubts or self-recriminations or any of the myriad post-rape effects that others experience.

However...

I'm one of the 6% who ran the gauntlet to get a conviction. I reported it, and made myself heard. I stuck with an admittedly grueling process, and got justice. Maybe not the best justice (I won't go into the details here), but a guilty verdict all the same. Instead of coming out of it feeling like a victim, I came out feeling empowered for standing up for myself and getting that conviction. It wasn't winning, really, but it wasn't losing, either. That may have helped me process it and move on more quickly.

I realize not everyone feels like they can endure what I did to land on my feet on the other side. I can assure everyone it was not easy at all, that I probably had a bit of luck in the judicial process, but the point is that if our culture maybe gave rape survivors the support they need rather than hateful judgments and blaming them for their own assaults, if it were easier to report it and get through the legal gauntlet, if convictions were the norm and not the exception, then maybe more survivors would come out of it the way I did.

It's at least worth a try, because nothing else has worked.

I wonder if she was really raped, or just lied about it like she does everything else. Meadowoak Mar 14 #1
My thoughts exactly PCIntern Mar 14 #2
It's possible she lied, but it's also improbable. no_hypocrisy Mar 14 #3
as a woman I never want to doubt a rape victim but agingdem Mar 14 #5
It's theoretically possible, but extremely unlikely she'd make up THAT lie Bucky Mar 14 #8
Trust me...the lion's share of people do not lie about being sexually violated. TSExile Mar 14 #19
Well... Mike Nelson Mar 14 #4
I think it's likely she was actually raped, but is now learning to exploit it. Earth-shine Mar 14 #6
That was my take Redleg Mar 14 #15
Was her rapist caught and criminally charged? tetedur Mar 14 #7
She never even reported it to police. NanaCat Mar 14 #9
Wow. That is amazingly hypocritical. tetedur Mar 14 #11
I've concluded, from many years of NanaCat Mar 14 #13
That's what they pay him for. JHB Mar 14 #16
Resolution of dissonance. She wants to be VP. The trash is in Carroll. She's pretty low down Walleye Mar 14 #10
Please don't speak to how any survivor NanaCat Mar 14 #12
I appreciate your insight to this Redleg Mar 14 #14
You can bet that Mace had her response already prepared. Goodheart Mar 14 #17
Some thoughts... TSExile Mar 14 #18
Hi my name is Nancy Mace. I'm a rape victim and I want you to vote for a convicted sex offender Donald Trump LetMyPeopleVote Mar 14 #20
She sure isn't appearing to want to avoid the "damage" of public notoriety by picking this fight lindysalsagal Mar 14 #21
Exactly, that's why I question her veracity. Meadowoak Mar 14 #23
Let's assume she was raped. returnee Mar 14 #22
I wish the likes of Mace and Britt would wake up. TSExile Mar 14 #24
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