Posts tagged i hope it's okay but i feel very proud of you right now
Posts tagged i hope it's okay but i feel very proud of you right now
[TW rape] Today’s psych class was about PTSD as a result of rape, and rape culture. Despite my pounding heart and shaking shoulders, I actually contributed to the discussion. A lot! I was surprising myself, and my classmates were surprising me: for the most part, they were agreeing with the things that I said. And then… from the back of the room… I heard someone say: “Well, if a girl is wearing a really slutty outfit, then she is ASKING FOR male attention, and then is gonna complain when she gets too much of it?” My mind went blank for about a second… and then the next thing I knew, before I could stop myself, I was yelling. After years of staying quiet and defeated when confronted with this sort of thing, I was yelling. I steadied my voice and faced him and asked him what constituted an outfit being ‘slutty’ and who gets to decide what one should wear and why is it okay to blame a victim of such horrible violence and why do you think everything a woman does is for ‘male attention’ and even if it was why is it okay to do things when she doesn’t want it anymore and if she was asking for it why couldn’t he and does he really think that men are animals who can’t control themselves?
He answered: I wasn’t trying to start a fight.
Listen. You were trying to ‘start a fight’ the moment you announced to a room full of people - any number of whom might be rape survivors - that some of them were asking for it.
Today, I broke out of my cocoon of silence. I feel like myself again for the first time in a long time. I’m beginning to replace my sorrow, emptiness, and defeat with something a little more useful: rage.
And it feels fucking great.
(Source: bitch--craft)
