Another Cliche Rape Story

This story shouldn’t be new to you. I know you’ve read something like this before.

Isn’t it sad that you’ve read and heard many stories like this before? Isn’t it depressing how many people tell the same narrative within a great span of time but they always seem to sound the same? Doesn’t it break your heart? Doesn’t it crush your soul?

There are many girls (and boys) all over the world who were violated – are violated. There may be some who are being violated right now. Too many of them that the ways to tell their story seem to be running out. I’ve never experienced it first hand, but hearing them, reading them, I seem to suffer the same pain they went through, felt the same things that they did, and I tell you, I don’t think it ever gets better for them. For the record, I think society makes it worse.

Rape has been a decade – century – old crime that seems to never cease. We hear stories of infants, toddlers, teenagers, even older women and men being raped and abused, sometimes by their own friends and family members. We hear how much they suffer, and the stories do seem to go viral. But is it truly doing anything? Are the sharing of these stories effective enough to save more women, more people?

We read them everyday. We weep when we hear them, but after that, women are still told to be careful about what they wear. Better to wear jeans and a loose blouse. Don’t show too much skin – it’s too dangerous. Better to be safe than sorry.

Don’t get me wrong, the concern is very much appreciated – appreciated as it is suffocating. It’s suffocating to think that I should be careful for the sins or crimes that others may do to me.

Don’t walk alone in the streets. Make sure to bring your pepper spray, or at least something sharp. I don’t know if the people who remind me of these know how much paranoia consumes me every time the sun disappears from the sky. The ghosts and monsters of my childhood have come to life, and they can be lurking in the shadows.

Don’t drink or party. Well this one I get. But at the end of the day, when cases are filed and complaints are raised, people will still ask you: “Why did you drink too much? Why did you party too hard?” Hardly was there ever a question to the rapist. Actually, intoxication sometimes even becomes their defense. Hilarious.

What good are the stories we tell of their suffering, when after all is done, society reverts back to its dehumanizing ways. Are you telling me that it’s normal for men to rape? Are you telling me that the fault lies with the victim who was helpless rather than the rapist who had an active hand in the situation?

I’m sorry, but if that’s what you’re defending, I don’t think you’re even human.

This story isn’t new. It shouldn’t be new. But I hope it got you thinking of something to do.

#StopRapeCulture