Linklog

[tinyjo]

Two links from my friends page which caught my eye.

First, No pity. No shame. No silence. Personally I've never been a victim of violence, sexual or otherwise, which makes me very lucky. I still found the post very affecting and I want to support the idea of bringing the scope of this into the light. I've seen a few people on my friends list make this declaration and I want to bear witness.

Secondly, and completely unrelatedly, http://www.electoral-vote.com/, which is a predictor of the electoral college results, based on polls in all the states. I thought the graph of how the votes are shifting was particularly interesting - I noticed that the democrats actually took a dip after Farenheit 911 came out.

Third and last, a rant by swisstone about the King Arthur film and Arthurian scholarship generally. I do plan to see the film but the historical Arthur? Come off it!

Comments

In degrees of separation

[applez.livejournal.com]

This is probably the 3rd or 4th rape I've heard of, and perhaps the 8th or 12th sexually-related assault tale I've heard, most closely associated to me.

I would like to think that these sorts of experiences are still in the minority for women as a whole, but I worry how prevalent it all is...whether ranging from the grope to the rape.

Re: In degrees of separation

[t--m--i.livejournal.com]

I served on the jury for a rape trial earlier this year, and I believe a significant factor in the low conviction rate is that many people do not, at some level, believe it happens (particularly when the victim knows the attacker). It's related to the "it can't happen to me" syndrome - there's an essentially unreasonable part of human psychological makeup that flatly denies Bad Things Happen in the face of the evidence.

The more victims who speak up the more this denial is challenged: the first time someone tells you they've been raped, it might be hard to take in, but not the third or fourth time. Once the denial stops then it becomes possible not only to handle the aftermath better, but also to educate people to recognize dangerous situations so that they can evade predators. The public thinks theft is real enough. They take measures to protect their property. If someone is accused of theft, jurors take a realistic view of any defence on the lines of "but I really thought they gave it to me!".
Roll on the day when theft of personal sexual privacy in any way is treated the same!