Hello ...
I'm going to let my Blog "take a twist" for a few ...
I find myself thinking and thinking about things that to me, seem important for the World to know. Here I am, unknown to you, talking back at CNN, MSNBC, Facebook, Twitter and Print. It's like a little "comment box" comes up and scrolls across media with my commentary, frustration and disdain.
So, yea, you thought this first one out of the gate would be political. Well, not so fast. Although I've wasted countless hours worrying about everything I cannot change about the Presidential Primaries, it's not the "thing."
This is.
In the News ...
Outrage for Stanford Swimmer who "sexually assaulted" an unconscious young Woman behind a dumpster. Father writes letter that Son should not have his life ruined for "20 minutes of action." Son gets 6 months and probation.
Well, first of all, Four Fuckers are better than one. Shame on the Rapist, Shame on his Father, Shame on the Judge and last but not least, Shame on Society.
Yes, Society.
You heard me right. Here we are again, A "Stanford Athlete" makes the news and the victim of his crime is victimized over and over so that we, Society, can revel in our higher level of consciousness and righteousness.
Please.
Where's the outrage for the forgotten? The countless Women who are raped, molested and assaulted daily. The Women who are shamed over and over for being dressed a certain way, "knowing" her attacker, drinking alcohol or not adding up to what "we think" is an acceptable existence. Can a prostitute or a girl who ends up in porn be raped?
Yes, Every day.
Today I'd like to tell you what happens to me when I run into said "outrage" at every turn of the Internet. I think about that "20 minutes of action" and I feel in every bone of my body how diminishing that statement is compared to the life altering reality of being a victim of rape.
As Americans, we are outraged by Rape Cultures in the World. What about our Rape Culture? The one that says a Woman, just by virtue of being a Woman, that little girl twirling her tutu, skipping to get to you faster, that smile, the way she moves with pure innocence is an object to be penetrated.
Her.
Me, you, someone you know. No one you know. The faceless, the nameless, the invisible impairment that girls and Women live with, alone. Absolutely alone.
But, this case is different?
Yes, you are right. Different in that the young Woman was unconscious and therefore vulnerable at the highest level. Different that it happened behind a dumpster, giving the visual connotation that she was "trash." So many reasons to be outraged. But what about all the other vulnerable Women who are raped? Where is the outrage for them?
Take the case of a Woman with a brain injury as a result of a gun shot. An injury that left her without an eye, any short-term memory or judgment. She's at a Christmas Eve Party at the Nursing Facility where she lives. No one realizes she's missing. Did she walk off or did someone lure her away ...
Where is she?
Meanwhile, Two employees slip away for a smoke break and they hear commotion in a room that has been unoccupied. They think, "I wonder who's in there" thinking it's two employees who had slipped away for a sex break.
A Woman walks out, clothes disheveled, confused. A male nurse shortly follows while zipping up his pants and looking side to side down the hall to see if the "coast is clear." They wait, they watch and they directly report the incident to their Supervisor.
The Woman is taken to the hospital and a rape kit is performed. Semen is found and DNA testing is available. It was not performed. Instead, the Defense Attorney for the Rapist argued that "she could have had sex with anyone" and that "she is not a credible witness."
Not Credible?
Did you mean not capable of giving consent or being a witness? Surely that's what you meant. Never mind, you didn't. You actually meant that this Woman was not important enough to protect. She was invisible, she was unknown, her attack wasn't "viral" material. The case fits within the range of acceptable "rape."
Unacceptable.
After almost two years, a DNA test linking him to the semen, another sexual incident linked to the rapist in a nursing facility surfaced that had been covered up by the State of Washington Nursing Board and many plea bargains later, the State of Washington sentenced the Male Nurse Fuck to Four Fucking years in Prison.
That was November 18, 2005. That was my Sister Sandy's and my Birthday. I know that, because we were in the Courtroom. We were there watching our Mom stand before the Judge, her voice quivering and holding a picture of my older Sister, Debbie who had died a month earlier from Liver Disease. The Liver Disease that she had contracted through rape from the Fuck who knowingly had Hepatitis C. and apparently no use for a condom. The Fuck in the orange jump suit before us.
Often I am asked how Debbie died. I usually answer with "it's complicated." It is complicated. Most people can't wrap their brain around the double tragedy of my Sister being shot in the head by one Fuck at age 25 and then being murdered 27 years later by another Fuck who "shot her" with his penis and infected her with his disease. A disease she suffered with for over a year and until her last breath. All from "20 minutes of Action."
For Debbie, Today you're not invisible and you always mattered ...
