Posted on 04/07/2008 2:38:33 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
SEATTLE -- You just might run into someone wearing a T-shirt that says "I was raped."
The phrase is printed across a new shirt sold online from a Seattle-based organization founded by a local rape survivor.
Heather Corrina's Web site Scarleteen.com offers teens "sex ed for the real world." The site offers detailed information on a wide array of topics having to do with sexuality in an attempt to educate teens and young adults and to encourage open, ongoing conversation.
The t-shirt campaign is a part of the "I was raped" project which also includes a documentary. The project, for which Corrina teamed up with feminist writer Jennifer Baumgardner, aims to highlight the prevalence of rape and to help victims break their silence.
Corrina says when she was raped years ago, she didn't even understand exactly what had happened.
"And to even have had that language to know what to call it or to know it had happened to somebody else would have made a tremendous difference for me in terms of not feeling like it was something I should be ashamed of," she said.
She hopes the site and the T-shirt will let other rape victims know they are not alone.
"I suspect that there might be a day I wear that T-shirt on the bus where a woman next to me, who I have never met before, says 'I was, too,'" she wrote in a statement on her Web site.
But Lucy Berliner, director of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault, isn't so sure that's all that will happen.
"You have to think about the consequences and it's not likely to happen that you've got everyone who's been raped wearing a t-shirt saying 'I've been raped,'" she said.
Berliner hesitated to say victims should wear their pain on their sleeve. The T-shirt, she said, fills her head with questions.
"What is this person looking for? Are they trying to get a reaction? Are they trying to see what I think?" she said.
When asked why she chose such a strong message, Corrina said it's more for the benefit of the person wearing the shirt rather than for those who see it.
"Because we think there are a lot of women who need it," she said. "It's certainly not for everybody. Everybody's feelings processes a little bit different."
Corrina admits that such a heavy message carries the possibility of backfiring.
"Oh, I think absolutely. You could wear this and be met with scorn and embarrassment."
That's what Berliner fears. Experts say rape victims may think they're ready to make a bold statement until they don't get the reaction they were hoping for.
Even if a rape victim wears the shirt for her own personal benefit, she will inevitably have to face the reactions to its strong message. Experts say the wrong reaction can scar the victim in devastating ways for years and years.
"So while I agree with the idea behind it, I would worry about whether someone was ready to take what came with it," she said. "It's definitely going to open up conversation."
This is warped on sooo many levels.
The first one that comes to my mind, is that while the person who has been assaulted shouldn’t be ashamed for something that was not her fault, to put this on a t-shirt seems to be displaying pride in it.
Other articles....
Jennifer Baumgardner's "Rape" T-ShirtAssociated Content, CO - 1 hour agoJennifer Baumgardner, she of the "I Had an Abortion" T-Shirt of 2004, has decided to expand her expertise to include "I Was Raped" as a current T-Shirt. ...
'I Was Raped' Shirt Another Fashion Misdemeanor by Shocking Designer Associated Content
Victim or Survivor? "I was Raped" Associated Content
Jennifer Baumgardner Designs I Was Raped T-Shirt TransWorldNews (press release), GA - 10 minutes ago Jennifer Baumgardner is responsible for designing the controversial T-shirt that reads I Had An Abortion and now she is responsible for another T-Shirt ...
"I was raped" t-shirt causing controversy Tampa Bay's 10, FL - 18 hours ago Seattle, Washington - A t-shirt that is for sale online is causing some serious controversy. The shirt reads, "I was raped". The creator says it is a way to ...
Message on shirt: 'I was raped' KOMO
Local site sells fashion statement about rape Seattle Post Intelligencer
I think the GOP in Maryland should purchase the t-shirts for taxpayers here in Maryland. It’s feeling more and more like that here as the demoncrats are lustily raising taxes on anything they can tax.
Even if, as seems to be the case, the words are displayed in tiny text on a card inside a imposing-looking safe?
It says to me "I was raped and I'm tired of feeling shame about it."
T
F
That's a reasonable interpretation.
Folks wear shirts indicating: attendance at or graduation from a university, their affection for a particular professional sports team, current or prior military service, current or prior employment with a particular company, participation in some sport, the fact of having visited or lived in some area or attraction ...
All of these, they wear because they take pride in the affiliation.
So ...
When I was living in Ann Arbor during the early 1980’s some women’s group got it in their heads to spray-paint “A Woman Was Raped Here” on the ground in various locations, in order to heighten awareness of the crime. While in the beginning they may have tried to be accurate, after they realized that the message wasn’t getting out (women are not usually raped in well-travelled areas), they started spray-painting it everywhere. It became a joke.
She can do a whole new line:
I’m a rapist.
I’m a pedophile.
I have two Daddys
Beat me. Please.
My whip is longer than yours.
In thru the backdoor.
No, don’t stop.
Remember when people overcame hardships and adversity and got on with their lives? Now it becomes their identity. It makes you wonder what their lives were like before they encountered the tragic event that defines them.
A lot of men will be seen wearing those T-shirts. ;-)
How is this possible ? Drugged ? Or imagined ?
Rape. A crime where the "victim" gets to hide behind an anonymous wall of secrecy and point the finger of scorn at an innocent man.
Rape. A crime where most of the accused (men) are really innocent.
Rape. It ought to be a law that all rapes be reported openly to the publicand that the media must publish their names.
(Just a couple of thoughts, here....)
And the boyfriend can wear the companion T-shirt:
“I’m with Raped”
Great idea. I’m going to print up T-shirts with the caption: “I’m a taxpayer”.
Actually conservatives could immediately co-opt this message by making a dark gray t shirt with a few silver coins and a single $1 bill in the picture.
Then put the date April 15th underneath it.
"I was raped"
Oh. Apparently not.
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