Quote: (12-23-2014 01:44 PM)kmhour Wrote:
Why have we narrowed our collective understanding of what happened to Jackie, or to other survivors of rape, to the confines of legal doctrine or verifiable facts? Since when did we become so staunchly wed to the notion of provable wrongs that we've forgotten our humanity in the face of nightmarish horror? Why do we revert to the reductionist logic of the justice system, or the tired media trope of "he said/she said," when we are confronted with suffering we can't fathom?
"Why have we narrowed our understanding... to verifiable facts"
Gee. Let's think about that one for a second.
"...confronted with suffering we can't fathom?"
It's time someone said the unspeakable. Rape is not "suffering we can't fathom."
It's a horrific act, for sure. But this writer has a lot of audacity making like she knows what we can and can't "fathom" when it comes to suffering.
The idea that rape is the worst human act in history needs to be dismantled. I'd like to start that process here.
Let's not pretend for a second rape is not worse than:
* Torture
* Child abuse
* Child neglect
* Starving an elderly person to death
* Wrongful imprisonment in solitary
* Getting your limbs blown off in war
* Watching a loved one get murdered
* Any other evil act that has a sustained effect on a victim
If most of us had the choice to deal with a violent sexual assault or permanently getting one arm blown off, we'd choose the sexual assault -- and I bet that would be true for most all women too.
Having to deal with the after-effects of trauma day-to-day AND the memory of that trauma is far worse than simply living with a memory of it.
The views that women like this have about rape aren't really about rape itself. They're about seeing women as super-special beings who are above men's station: their trauma is worse simply because they're women and we can never know their suffering, just as we never knew Christ's suffering.
I'm willing to concede women are different than men and some of that might be true. But if I concede that, don't tell me these same women should be in any position of power in this society. Anyone capable of "suffering we can't fathom" should be accorded special protection away from society, not placed in the belly of the beast.