Anonymous asked: Good morning. Do you happen to know of how to find places that will help women who are being abused, other than a shelter? I've had enough and I want to leave I'm just not sure how and I know I can't do it on my own.
TRIGGER WARNING: Talk of abuse
Here’s a link to RAINN’s Get Help section - they have both phone and online help lines in addition to a counseling center locator. I’m sure someone over there will be able to walk you through this process.
You’re very brave.
TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE - Legacy.
I want to shit on a kitten every time somebody says something about how they’re sad about Joe Paterno’s legacy being tainted.
Are you kidding me. Ok so he “may have been” (was) involved in covering up the molestation of Black boys, children, and I’m seeing people expressing displeasure about this soiling his good name. People who haven’t said a word about the victims beyond an obligatory ‘well that’s just awful’.
Well fuck Joe Paterno, fuck his legacy, and fuck you if you’re more concerned about the legacy of a dead man who even “may have” allowed the molestation of children than you are about the children who were molested and are still alive and have to live in the shadow of Joe Fucking Paterno’s legacy.
How about you take down his statue and replace it with, oh I dunno, an actual apology or something that might work as a reminder that tremendous evil was done, washed out, and forgotten.
But, we’ll find, a famous dead white man’s legacy is more important.
And students don’t riot over child molestation.
Reason #111: What Jerry Sandusky tells us
morereasonsyoushouldntfuckkids:
[trigger warning: child sexual abuse, rape culture, victim blaming]
Though Friday night’s verdict prompted cheers outside the courtroom, inside, the mother of Victim 6 did not claim victory.
“Nobody wins. We’ve all lost,” she said before hugging her son.
[CNN]
I have a lot of feelings about this case. I don’t know how to properly articulate some of them.
This case is one of, if not the most, infamous case of child sexual abuse and child rape in my lifetime. It’s a story that is too horrible to believe. But this kind of thing happens every day— maybe not on the same scale, but with horrifying frequency in our world.
Penn State tells us a lot about rape culture. It tells us a lot about abuse culture. As I’ve said in the past, these things do not happen in a political and cultural vacuum; they happen because the moral and social fabric of an entire society is built in such a way that it can fail people— not just once, but over and over again. It takes a village. There were many times in my life when an adult armed with the right knowledge might have seen through what was happening to me. There were times, later on as a teenager, when I was very direct, but no one did anything. I wrote down that I wanted to kill myself and I showed it to a teacher. I asked for a social worker. I received multiple truancy letters. It takes a village.
So as I think about this case, and the people who suffered so much for years and years at the hands of Jerry Sandusky, I can only imagine how many times the world failed them. I cannot understand the agony of publicly revealing your story for prime time news pundits to pick apart. I cannot comprehend the frustration and pain involved in taking the witness stand and having your story criticized and attacked.
I read the grand jury report many months ago. It was terrifying. I had to stop halfway through because I felt myself getting physically ill. But I remember the testimony of the janitor who saw Sandusky abusing a boy— he said that the memory of that haunted and disturbed him more than the years he spent fighting in Vietnam. That is the gravity of what we are dealing with here.
But despite this desire to call Jerry Sandusky a monster, we have to remember that he is a person, and that people— people whom we think are “good”— can do monstrous things. Jerry Sandusky had many people testify to his “good character”. It takes a village. Joe Paterno let child rape happen, and instead of riots and outrage against him, he had riots in his name. It takes a village. And some of us still refuse to believe that even a priest, a “man of god”, can abuse a boy.
It takes a village.
Even now, I am starting to see the jokes about prison rape. It’s a sign of where we still are— we see rape as something that can sometimes be a punishment, instead of as one of the worst possible acts in human existence. We still believe that rape is something that can be doled out to those “deserving” of it, instead of as something that every single person in the world has the right to not have happen to them. We still believe that a person we don’t like deserves to have images of their rape and murder publicly broadcast, and that people who do good things can’t possibly be child rapists or child rapist enablers
This is the culture we are in— one that has variable beliefs on rape and sexual abuse, many of which contradict one another. It’s not okay to hurt little boys, but what if this case was about 45 counts of rape against women? What if some of those women were promiscuous or had other “deviant” sexuality? What if these boys were men when they were hurt? What if some of these boys, now adults, were convicted criminals? Gay? Transgender? Undocumented? Mentally disabled? Fat? What if they were some combination of all of these? The more “deviant” and “bad” we see a person, the more likely it is that their story is not taken seriously. That we cannot, with 100% certainty, say that Jerry Sandusky in another world would be convicted had his victims not been among one of the most believable, sympathetic groups in our culture— children— says a lot about where we are. And as we know, even little boys have trouble being believed.
In 90 days, Jerry Sandusky will be sentenced, probably with life in prison. But there are still other Jerry Sanduskys out there, and they have entire villages, entire cities of people behind them, actively ignoring abuse, or subtly covering it up. Some of these people— both the abusers and the abuse enablers— could be our neighbors, our cops, our teachers, or our siblings. There are still Joe Paternos out there, knowingly allowing rape and getting away with it. This is not an aberration in our culture— it is a pattern that is systematically ignored and even encouraged.
The end of Jerry Sandusky is not the end of the many millions of other stories out there.
Perfect commentary on a horrific case. NPR has been triggering the fuck out of me lately with all of the Sandusky coverage. The knowing complicity of so many people combined with the institutional enabling is beyond disturbing. Those poor boys. In a sense, their lives ended with that abuse. What is left for them now? I hope there is a lot of emotional and professional support for them.
I hope that the attention this story received paves a way for more accountability. I hope people start paying more attention and have the courage to protect the abused.
dear glee:
Once again, and much to my dismay, we have to talk about what happened last night. I have two big problems with what you did with Choke; I have a problem with your narrative, and I have a problem with how you presented it. And the thing is, Glee, the topic of abuse and assault is one that is very close to my heart, so in addition to having problems with what you’ve done, I am also furious in a way I rarely find myself after watching television. In fact, the last time I remember feeling this way is when I watched your horrific butchering of what could have been a very powerful lesbian storyline; something to keep in mind, no? Maybe you should change the name of your show to Rage, since god knows it would be more fitting vis a vis the emotion I so often find myself feeling when I turn you off.
So, first and foremost: you know what, Glee, you’ve got a lot of fucking nerve to use the idea that domestic violence needs to be taken more seriously (which it does) to frame an episode of your show that uses abuse as a fucking plot device. That is just….god, that is really pushing the hypocrisy envelope, even for you guys. And you know what I get it, I really do, I get that you’ve decided that you’re the Great White Hope of television or whatever, I get that you’ve decided you’re the Heralds of Change. I bet you patted yourselves on the back when you finished this one; I bet you went home and felt real good about you. And that’s great, except that what you should have been feeling was ashamed of yourselves.
This is really important. I mean Glee does a lot of stupid shit (more and more lately, it seems) but they really, really fucked up with this. Like while watching this episode I was sitting there going “Really? Are you really doing this, Glee? Like…do you think this is even a remotely appropriate way to handle this topic?”
Ten bucks says they never ever bring it up on the show again, either. Just like how they’ve never brought up Santana’s outing, or Karkofsky’s attempted suicide, or anything else that isn’t fucking finchel or klaine.
Is the military labeling rape survivors as “crazy” to get rid of them?
Last year, 3,191 military sexual assaults were reported and the Pentagon estimates the actual number was about 19,000.
They’re sweeping the problem under the rug may be by labeling the survivors as “crazy” and booting them from military.
Servicewomen come forward after being assaulted, their complaints are ignored, and then they’re diagnosed with a personality disorder and discharged.
From 2001 to 2010, the military discharged more than 31,000 service members because of personality disorder–and a disproportionate number of them were women.
A personality disorder is a long-standing mental health problem but none of the women profiled in the article had such a history.
And since the military considers a personality disorder to be a pre-existing condition, victims don’t get veterans benefits for it as they would if it were a “service-related disability.” They also lose their education benefits under the GI Bill. So basically, women who served in the military, were assaulted by their fellow soldiers, betrayed again by a military hierarchy that ignored the crime, are now being told that they’re out of a job and can’t even get help for the trauma they’ve suffered because they were crazy all along.
The Pervocracy: Consent Culture
Ways You Can Work Toward The Creation Of a Consent Culture
1. Don’t rape people. It does bear saying. And I don’t just mean “don’t put on a ski mask and jump on strangers in dark alleys” rape, either. Don’t have sex with someone who is not unambiguously, enthusiastically, and continually consenting. Don’t have sex with someone who says “I guess so” or “okay, fine” (unless they are grinning lasciviously as they say this). Don’t convince someone to have sex. If they don’t want you, really want you from the bottom of their heart and/or groin, respect that.
2. When someone doesn’t want to have sex with you and so you don’t, talk about it. Share that you’re bummed but also that you take pride in your ability to take it gracefully.
When you didn’t want to have sex with someone and so they stopped, talk about it. Share that despite the awkwardness you’re glad they took it gracefully.
These are tough things to discuss (in part because they sound kind of Captain Obvious, like, no shit it was nice of you not to rape someone), but they’re important narratives to put out there. Others’ stories shape our ideas about sex, and hearing stories that fall outside the “have sex or you’re a failure” mindset are important in changing those ideas.
3. When someone tells you about pressuring or tricking someone into sex (and you’re in a situation where it’s safe to do so), call them the hell out on it. ”That’s not cool. It doesn’t sound like he/she wanted it.” You don’t have to use the R word, you don’t have to tell them they should be arrested, you don’t have to call them a rapist piece of shit—you just have to make it clear they’re not getting any goddamn high fives. When you hear someone bragging about sex like it was a prank they pulled on their partner, bring the mood in the room the hell down.
You can do this with fictional stories, too. You don’t even have to be no-fun then. ”Wow, you guys, ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ is totally a date rape song.” Without requiring a rant or a buzzkill, it just quietly plants the idea that no, that is not a “totally legit way to get sex” song.
4. When you see something that looks abusive or nonconsensual going on, don’t turn your back. At least be a witness—just the presence of another person can be someone’s biggest guarantee of safety. Stepping in and checking if everything’s okay is even better.
(Source: seriouslyamerica)
[TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE] Absolutely Bee: My thoughts on the "Penn State Scandal"
So I’m sitting here not sure about how to write this one.
The child sex abuse scandal at Penn State is absolutely atrocious. I know there are many many people that are justifiably irrate about what happened, how long it happened, how many people knew it had happened and did nothing, etc. There is nothing ‘okay’ about the situation and just writing about it makes my palms sweaty, my throat tighten, and my stomach ache. And I have to write about it.
The thing is, I was sexually abused when I was a small child. The abuse happened over approximately 4 years, starting at an age when I shouldn’t even be able to recall memories, but I do. My experience was pretty standard; there was a family ‘friend’ who was trusted, not only by my parents but by the entire community and in the end, he should not have been trusted at all.
All I can think about right now when I see stuff about victims is that we MUST learn something from this. We can’t just sit around and talk about how mad we are that this could happen or write on Facebook about who should/shouldn’t get fired. We have to somehow use this situation to put us in a better position to not allow this to happen again. Ever. I am no expert, but I have survived abuse… so here are my thoughts:
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING HAPPENING BETWEEN AN ADULT AND A CHILD THAT LEAVES YOU FEELING SUSPICIOUS, UNCOMFORTABLE, CREEPY, ETC., SAY SOMETHING… TO THE ADULT. IMMEDIATELY.
Behavior between an adult and a child that appears inapporpriate, most likely IS inappropriate. I would bet in most cases, the child knows it is inappropriate too. And the child probably wants it to stop, but doesn’t know how to make it stop. You do. So do it. Put yourself out there, speak up, and stay with the child until the situation is resolved.
I know it might be intimidating to approach the situation, particularly if you are alone and witnessing the behavior. However, the situation is no more intimidating for you than it is for the child.
If you are concerned that the behavior is not what it appears to be and you are worried about insulting the adult, ask yourself the following:
* Is there EVER a reason for an adult and child to be alone in a questionable situation?
* Would you want your child in this situation?
* Which is worse, insulting the feelings of an adult or scarring a child for life?
Now, I’m not saying everyone should be going around pointing fingers at others and making allegations of molestation. Obviously, use your head and your good judgement. Approach the situation carefully and tactfully. But NEVER EVER put the adult’s career, wealth, or community standing above the rights of that child.
IF YOU WITNESS CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND DO NOTHING ABOUT IT, YOU WILL BE 100% GUILTY OF INFLICTING LIFE-LONG INJURIES ON THAT CHILD.
I can say from experience, that young kids know that any sort of abuse is “wrong.” It is not supposed to happen. For a young child, the only way to make sense of the situation is to internalize it and assume it is happening because of something they did. Obviously, that line of thinking is so completely wrong, but it is just what happens in the mind of the child. I grew up with unclear memories of my abuse. However, as long as I can remember I felt there was something “dirty” or “wrong” about me. I hated myself (I remember writing, “I HATE ME” on a ruler in 3rd grade) but knew I wasn’t supposed to feel that way, so I then hated myself more for feeling that way… and so goes the cycle of just another thing wrong with me. IF you do nothing to stop a sex offender from hurting a child you are essentially telling that child, “Yep. You are not worth it to me to step out of my comfort zone and say something.” YOU will be doing the damage too.
FOLLOW-UP WITH THE AUTHORITIES AND PUT IT ALL IN WRITING!
I read the Grand Jury Report from the Sandusky case last night. Soooooo many people “can’t remember,” “don’t recall,” are “unsure” about what was said exactly and when. That is crap. Completely stinky crap. If you find yourself in the terrible position of witnessing a child being abused, I’m sorry, but you need to take responsibility. Make a report in writing, keep a copy for your records, and follow-up with the authorities on what is happening. If they aren’t giving you information, follow-up with someone else. Write down who you spoke with and when.
Definitely worth going and reading in its entirety. There has been too much focus on the football aspect of this tragedy. This piece puts things in correct persepcitve: this is about the victims.
(Source: seriouslyamerica)
[trigger warning: child sexual abuse]
I’ve seen Christians try to argue that it is somehow so utterly psychologically devastating for a child to know about sexuality from a young age. Let me tell you what’s devastating – what’s devastating is being terrified everyday of your life. What’s devastating is curling up on the floor sobbing because your mother is about to leave you with your brothers and you can’t tell her why you’re so afraid. What’s devastating is listening day in and day out to your sermons on purity, to the way you decide that thinking on only good and happy thoughts is the measure of a quality Christian.
What’s far more devastating than any child who is aware of their own body and aware of what bodies can do is being unaware and at the hands of those who know how to take advantage of that. And I put this on the shoulders of my father, my brother, but also my mother, and also my church, and also all of conservative Christianity. All of you have contributed to this.”Trigger warning for childhood sexual abuse on this post. And ugh, it was hard to write, and my emotions got in the way of articulating this well.
(via toranseisstrong)
Survivor Vocabulary #3: No
A word that has to be relearned after someone has made its value meaningless. Without the ability to say No to people, many survivors end up in awkward or tense situations, eventually causing them to resent other people and themselves. Sometimes the path to No can be reached by simply starting with, “yes, but…”
No is absolutely essential to taking back your life.
[TW: Rape culture, violence, misogyny] I am so fucking tired of people in the media using rape and misogyny for lulz and everyone else defending it as ‘just a joke’ or ‘part of the art’ or whatever else.
Whether it’s the rape filled lyrics of this Tyler the Creator guy, or that asshole Frankie Boyle and his ‘Katie Price goes out with a muscular dude to stop her developmentally disabled child from raping her’ “joke”, it’s all the same. Raping, beating, and murdering women is hilarious. If you got a problem with it, it’s because you ‘can’t take a joke’ or ‘don’t get the irony’.
We’ve got programs like South Park saying that Indiana Jones was ‘raped’ and showing actual rape scenes just because the creators didn’t like the new movie. We’ve got Family Guy’s “Peter gets ‘raped’ by his doctor but actually it’s a prostate exam” episode that mocks how survivors act post-rape. There’s a song called Date Rape by Sublime that is just vile (seriously, search the lyrics at your peril) that apparently is meant to be anti-rape but seriously. It’s just fucked up.
Maybe I don’t wanna get the joke. Maybe I don’t wanna see the ‘art’ in saying shit like “Beat your bitch in her mouth just for talkin’ shit”. Maybe I don’t wanna be the kind of person who thinks rape and misogyny and violence against women is something that is totes cool to make light of or use for some attempt to seem edgy by some jackass ‘comedian’ or some asshole musician. You can write edgy, important songs without the domestic abuse lyrics and you can make awesome jokes without using rape. It’s not that hard. What is hard is living as a survivor in a world where if I turn on the radio or the TV, there’s a much to high chance of hearing my experience made fun of or used as a punchline.
(Source: campdracula5eva)
