The Wounded Warrior: Some Effects of Male Sexual Abuse/Rape
For most men the idea of being a victim is extremely hard to handle. Boys are raised to believe that they should be able to defend themselves against all odds, or that he should be willing to risk his life or severe injury to protect his pride and self-respect.
How many movies or TV shows depict the hero prepared to fight a group of huge guys over an insult or name-calling? Surely then, men are supposed to fight to the death over something like unwanted sexual advances…right?
These beliefs about “manliness” and “masculinity” are deeply ingrained in many men and lead to intense feelings of guilt, shame and inadequacy for the male survivor of sexual abuse.
Some male survivors even question whether they deserved to be sexually abused because, as they think that they failed to defend themselves. Male survivors see their assault as a loss of manhood and feel disgusted with themselves for not “fighting back.” These feelings are normal but the thoughts attached to them are not true. Remind yourself that you did what seemed best at the time to survive—there’s nothing un-masculine about that.
Today, April 3, is SlutWalk’s 1 year Anniversary! Join us in marking April 3 an International Day Against Victim-Blaming!
In the last year, we have seen amazing international collective action fighting against victim-blaming and fighting for respect and support of all survivors of sexual violence. In recognition of these efforts and many other ongoing actions, we mark April 3rd, 2012 as the first International Day Against Victim-Blaming.
We invite you to join an online day of action for the International Day Against Victim-Blaming. Start conversations, take a stand, and take up space on April 3rd to fight for our right to live free of violence and victim-blaming. Join us in our mission to spread the word that those who experience sexual violence are never the ones at fault.
(Psst—an easy way to take action today is by changing your profile picture on Facebook or Tumblr! You can change it to the one above and make a post to let everyone know why you care about this Day Against Victim-Blaming.)
"Why A Rape Case Doesn't Get Prosecuted"
“Why A Rape Case Doesn’t Get Prosecuted” by Anna North at Jezebel.
… county attorneys can be reluctant to prosecute rape cases in which the victim has mental illness, due to concerns that the jury won’t see the victim as credible.
This is the society we live in.
Source: aaabbbbbbiiieee
Gloria Steinem: ‘This generation of women is more feminist than we ever were’ | The National Post
by Alex Strachan, The National Post - Aug 10, 2011
…Isn’t it ironic, Steinem was asked, that what she fought so hard for has been rejected by the generation that came later?
Steinem was candid in her reply, and perhaps surprising.
“No,” she said simply. “This generation of young women is actually much more feminist than we ever were. If you look at the public opinion polls, they’re actually much more supportive of all the issues of equality. And my question to the young woman who is dressing as you describe is: Is she doing it because she wants to? Is she body-proud? Is she sexuality-proud? Because then, I say, great”
….
“If you look at any social movement — if you think of the suffragists, abolitionists and other movements, they had to last about 100 years to be really absorbed into a culture. And we’re 40 years into this. So I don’t know how to break it to you, but we have, like, 60 years to go”
…
“We have to be careful not to have terminal gratitude, as I think of it,” she said. “We need to be always looking forward. Nothing in inexorable. Nothing. It depends on what you and I do every day, all of us here, every day. It depends on the language we use with each other. It depends on whether we tell each other our salaries, to find out who’s not getting paid. All these movements are inextricably connected.”
…
Source: julietburgess
Thank you, SlutWalk
** Trigger-Warnung **
“July 31 marks the one-year anniversary of the night I was raped. On August 6, I will be participating in Slutwalk when it comes to Philly. They could not have picked a better date. I find it ironic that the very word that kept me from getting any help that night a year ago is now the very same word that is saving me.
I know that Slutwalk has many critics, and in a way I think that most of it may stem from simple ignorance. I don’t mean this as an insult, but rather that until someone is in the situation of rape, they simply can never understand.”
[Weiterlesen…]
Source: slutwalkberlin
