On rape culture discussions...

[Skidmore]

78. I want to respond to michigandem58 and apologize to you for using your post

Last edited Thu May 9, 2013, 07:28 AM - Edit history (1)

to tack my response on but his/her post is hidden so I can't directly respond there. I do want to make a more public response than a PM.

First of all, michigandem58, your response was the very discounting I was speaking of and is part of that rape culture. What makes someone an "expert" on rape and its effects in your estimation? Studying about it? Is academic study the only way for people to gain expertise? I submit that every man, woman, and child who has been raped fully understands rape culture and its impact, from the violent act that was the source of whatever trauma they have experienced to the laws that are sometimes not applied to give them justice or a sense of safety by removing the perpetrator to those in society who discount their experiences the way in which you just did.

As for your snarky snappy repartee that "it was just one incident," I will remain polite, but I felt like vomiting when I read that. Without having one bit of actual knowledge (your claim to expertise), you discounted a protracted period of hellish treatment for me from the time I was about 4 years old until I was in my early teens. Multiple assaults that were not addressed at anytime by the legal system or the health care system or the community at large. The very discounting you just did is part of shaming and blaming that occurs. Even one incident makes a difference in a person's life, let alone years of such incidents. This is rape culture. The hypersexualization of popular culture combined with indifference and a willingness to turn a blind eye and to discount. If people like me do not have expertise, who does? And you, I daresay, are part of the rape culture too.