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I Was Once that Girl
January 7, 2017 - 11:45am
!!!
I Was Once that Girl
Twenty years ago, I was a young woman trying to live a sexually free life, only to become broken.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/01/04/Once-That-Girl/
Thanks for that NR. All too common a story yet well worth the read. My daughter works at the Sexual Assault Centre of london, and toils at this particular rockface daily.
Powerful story. What bothers me most about it is the hint (and yes, I read the disclaimer) that there is any link between wanting that freedom and the sexual assault which happened. It is terrible that women have to be far more wary than men, and are targetted far more. None of that changes the fact that no one is responsible for sexual assault but the rapist.
We probably never will live in that ideal world, but it doesn't change the fact that everyone who wants to should have that freedom without fear.
I don't mean this as a criticism of the author; I admire her honesty. But I am angry and saddeden that because of someone's cruelty and violation, she presumably considers herself no longer what she once was. And that she internalized it as punishment even though she did nothing wrong
And angry because I can't think of any women I know who haven't experienced some kind of assault like this on their freedom..
Perhaps a registry of violent men needs to be set up that women could refer to before they go out with strangers.
Yes of course a registry could be and probably would be abused however that would be small potatoes, and a small price to pay, compared to the extent of men's violence against women.
"It is better that ten innocent persons suffer than that one guilty person should escape" -- paraphrasing Blackstone.
I don't think a registry of people who have not committed crimes would work.
On the other hand, the flip side of this culture of rape is the big deal made over the freedom not of those who cannot walk free at night, or express themselves without fear, but those who are accused of violence, and claim they didn't know, or thought they had consent, or that it was taken the wrong way, or that everyone does it, or that you have to prove it.
(not directed at you, Magoo, because in terms of the law I agree with you).
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