When one woman got some small measure of justice in court, and the man admitted to activities that confirmed he was a rapist, those records were kept from the public, the woman presurred to settle out of court, the press ditched the story, and the powerful man was able to go on to rape over 40 women.
When women again began reporting on this rape years later, older and more secure in a society that is less sexist and beginning to rebel against rape culture and fight for the rights of rape victims, the first women to report were told by the public that their word was not strong enough evidence to be believed. It's only one woman, they said, she is lying for money. Even though there is no money to be had from saying a rape occurred many years ago, and there certainly isnt any positive /attention to be had when people are calling you a liar and worse. Whenever a rape victim stands up for herself, men and even women come crawling out of the internet woodwork to call her names and harass her. Not that it's only online; in real life, women have been driven to suicide by angry mobs after taking their rapist to court, even when there is enough evidence including an actual photo or video of the rape that the rapists actually are convicted. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/rehtaeh-parsons/)
Of course, when rapists are convicted, even the rapists of children are too often given a slap on the wrist. We read about people who raped children being freed after a handful of years - such as the rapist who was recently dating "Honey Boo Boo"'s mother, the rapists who live in "Miracle Village" (http://www.vice.com/read/inside-miracle-village-379), the judge who reduced a TODDLER rapist's sentence because he "didnt intend to harm" a TODDLER when he RAPED A TODDLER (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/07/kevin-rojano-child-rapist-sentence-reduced_n_7019762.html), the prosecutor who called a ELEVEN year old gang rape victim a "spider" and blamed her for being assaulted by GROW MEN (http://jezebel.com/5964064/lawyer-says-11-year-old-gang-rape-victim-was-a-spider-luring-men-into-web), the young teen mocked online for being a rape victim: (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/jul/17/jadapose-online-ridiculing-rape-victims-sickening-trend), the Stuebenville case in which an entire community harassed the victim and protected the rapists, all while documenting the rape, then the proven rapists got less than two years in jail and the adults complicit got a slap on the wrist (http://www.newstatesman.com/laurie-penny/2013/03/steubenville-rape-cultures-abu-ghraib-moment); then of course there's rapsts like Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and Stephen Collins, the latter a confessed rapist, who are beloved while their victims are attacked. Then there are men who raped women or other men who walk free, like Mike Tyson, a brutal rapist who was offered a TV show after release. People just don't care much about protecting people from rape. Drug dealers get longer sentences. Homosexuals get more social condemnation.
Through all this, men are gathering online to express fear that women are demanding consent; of course, this fear for them is twisted into a fear of "false" rape accusations; many rapists don't truly understand what consent even is. Many men even believe that being married to a woman, or having had a relationship with her once, or a woman being drunk or unconcious or seen as promiscuous, entitles a man to force her into sexual activities. This isn't something that evil Social Justice Feminasties invented, it's something that is well documented by science, such as case study interviews with rapists, and law enforcement like the FBI.
Large recent rape study: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/9/half-of-men-report-using-violence-and-a-quarter-perpetrate-rape-according-to-un-survey
Stats collected from FBI etc: https://www.rainn.org/statistics
Yet as more women are finding the courage and the social support to fight more forcefully against rape culture, many men are reacting by simply calling women liars. Nevermind the data.
As more women came out to support each other and bravely tell the world that they are survivors of rape, people continued to defend Cosby, saying that all these women and the various witnesses that also came forward, and of course all the journalists and lawyers involved with the accusations and legal case, must all be working together in an elaborate conspiracy to destroy one man for no real reason. Because it makes a lot more sense that 60 or so people would work together flawlessly on a seemingly pointless conspiracy. It makes no sense when you break it down. Does the man really even have enough money to go around to this cabal? Why wouldn't the Evil Conspiracy keep their numbers smaller to get a bigger share and ensure secrecy? Why out him when threatening to out him - er, I mean falsely accuse him - is a better way to get money; why would he give people money AFTER they already have spoken against him, when the statue of limitations is up?
Speaking of which - a man recently killed a known child rapist (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/courtroom-applauds-n-man-admits-killing-molester-article-1.2262471) because he was unable, after many years, to prevent the man from raping. The judge lowered the charges and the jury applauded the man. Yet online, the rapist has his defenders, who again believe that the multiple adult survivors of this abuse coming forward today to suppor the survivor who killed the child rapist are all in on some grand conspiracy together - because a man killing his old scout leader for no reason and making up a lie about rape, and somehow getting other people to have his back while in police custody, makes more sense than a man wanting to get revenge and protect kids from a rapist.
People will go to all sorts of insane lengths to excuse and protect rapists. And it needs to stop. Becuase ANYONE can be a victim and the only way to protect ourselves is by making the world safer for victims to come forward and less safe for rapists to walk free.
The majority of rape victims never report. Of those that do, the majority of rapists never spend a day in jail, nevermind getting a serious sentence of more than a few months.
Police have turned away rape victims by blaming them or denying that they were raped, or even prosecuting them (http://www.vice.com/read/i-was-rapedand-then-the-police-told-me-i-made-it-up) and then covering up their mistake. Police have also, of course, tortured and raped and murdered people.
Police, judges and other people tell sex workers they cannot be raped (http://ethicsalarms.com/2013/11/02/can-a-prostitute-be-raped/) because apparently being a sex worker means your body is public property in their view, to be tortued as much as anyone wishes, because being a sex worker (which is often not even a choice, some women, girls, and boys and men are sex slaves) makes you subhuman in some way to their eyes.
People make a joke about men being raped in prison (women are also raped in prison, often by guards, and they dont deserve it for things like being a drug addict), people think men cant be raped by women.
Tens of thousands of rape kits have gone untested. For decades. Meaning police ARENT EVEN INVESTIGATING rapes when victims come forward. http://www.endthebacklog.org/backlog/what-backlog
Society blames and shames rape victims and denies the realities of rape.
What can you do? Properly educate yourself. Talk to your loved ones, especially young teens and pre-teens, about consent. Stand up for rape victims when others say ignorant things. Vote for politicians who will support victims. Get in touch with your local police and pressure them to support victims. Donate or volunteer for rape crisis organizations. Attend a Slut Walk or other protest in support of reforms. Write you respresentatives and demand change, support change in your social life, online, in your workplace. And keep educating yourself throughout.
What we need is a social change. We need people to be educated about consent and rape. We need police and the general public to be supportive towards rape victims. We need rapes adequately investigated and prosecuted. We need to end the statute of limitations and increase sentencing and sentences so that rapists are kept away from the general public. We as a society need to decide that rape is a serious crime and do something about it. And that starts by not pretending the problem does not exist. We need to start believing victims instead of automatically condemning them. We need people to be able to trust us with their pain, and we need to help protect those people - and in doing so, we can protect ourselves and our children.
Need help?
Call 800.656.HOPE (4673) to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. (via RAINN)
edit: I was thinking a bit more about the racial aspect of the Cosby case in particular. I won't go too much into it, but I would like to say that (1) black men are certainly more likely to be seen a predatory (see my open letter to Dylann Roof), and more likely to be punished for rape. White men like Bill Clinton (who, yes, was accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault) are more likely to get away with it. (2) Of the very, very, VERY rare instances of actual false rape accusations, black men have disproportionately been victims (ie lynching), although in some of those cases a rape had actually occurred, the lynching victim just didn't get a fair trial and may not have been the actual rapist; in some cases, consensual sex may have been misconstrued as rape by white men (not by the female in question) with proprietary attitudes towards women. This is also true of most unjust rape accusations that are later exonerated - a stranger rape did occur, but the wrong offender was imprisoned. (3) Black women deserve to be protected from rape. Black women were systematically raped by white men, but they have also been raped by black men, and some of Cosby's victims were women of color, so while it is certainly racist that Cosby gets more negative press than men like Woody Allen, it is also racist to presume that the women of color are not victims of rape deserving of protection.
Edit: I would like to add that in Cosby's own words, in his own deposition, he said no woman had asked him for money. All they asked was for an apology. He refused.
No comments:
Post a Comment