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
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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.
US TOO!
On account of mental instability.
Conservatives should wear this shirt after the election!!
*********************
I'm sorry, but this is incomprehensible to me.
Also,
If I have 2 black eye, it’s because I didn’t shut up!
Probably to raise our awareness of the leftist dogma that all men are rapists.
I dunno.....it would seem to me if there was a feeling that I had to convey and get across to others, this would be the one that I would HAVE to have a very strong feeling about. If you can imagine this from a male’s point of view, to advertise the corresponding crime (I was ‘buggered’ up the a$$ in jail, lockup, etc.) it would really take some damn guts and determination - there’s embarassment, shame, privacy and justice, all balled up into one pile. I don’t see it as sick; I see it as a desperate need to convey the sense of pure violation experience and a need to stop it.
It’s like letting the rapist have the rest of your life.
My son bought a pink t-shirt on campus that said “I Love Boobies”
It was a fund raiser for breast cancer....
Where can I get that shirt?
Good point! After reading post #3, it seems like the creator is a useful idiot. She wants to be a perpetual victim. Constantly looking for sympathy. Something else, she seems to think that rape is about sex. It’s not, it is a form of violence.
I agree. That tshirt says to me “I was raped and want everyone to know it and I’m a victim”
She shouldn’t be ashamed, however, it seems like she’s proud of it.
You see where the problem lies (pun intended)?
I thought this was going to be about a Bill Clinton rally.
I have to more or less agree with you... maybe this is just the best way for some people to deal with it. I think that any woman who would wear a t-shirt like that is really really brave, and probably doing a heck of a lot to raise awareness of the issue.
It’s all about the victim culture. The display is about her pride is being morally superior to the rest of the people who don’t have her victim status.
www.cracksmokingshirts.com
You hit the nail on the head. We live in a society of "victims". To the Left, if you are not a victim or someone or something, your life has no meaning.
But what is the reader supposed to DO about it? Just say "ah, gee, that's too bad"...? It seems a bit artificial as some kind of proud announcement of survival. Sure, surviving a rape and not subsequently losing control of one's whole life may be something that indicates a strength of character. But to then need to announce it to everyone you meet... well... it'll certainly be awkward.
Seems like it is merely a way to force other people you don't know to be uneasy in your presence. It sets the agenda for what you want them to think about. Forces it. It's an aggressive and pushy, almost arrogant attitude.
If something like that ever happened to me, whether or not I ever become at ease enough to discuss it with people, I'm pretty sure it's not the first thing I would want people to know about me.
Print the IRS logo onto iron-on transfer paper, with the print, for 1/3 the cost.
You posted an awful lot. Let me respond.
1. Welcome to Free Republic.
2. I am sorry for the ordeal you went through. As a man I will never know the intensity a woman feels after a rape. Men can be raped also, but I'm told women deal with it harder.
3. My angry attitude???? Sorry, I'm not angry. I don't have an axe to grind. I have no experience in any of the nasty aspects of rape. But I do know that false accusations of rape account for about 1 out of 3 reported cases.
And drugs and/or alcohol are usually involved. As they were in your case. Bad decision lead to rape.
4. Why is rape the only crime where the accuser get anonymity? Studies show that women are empowered only if they come forward. They are able to deal with the guilt and shame.
“didn’t even understand what happened”
then a feminist started talking to her, and saying that her decision to have sex wasn’t really her decision, or that all heterosexual sex is rape, or some such.
Feminists have so distorted the definition that real, violent sexual violations get lumped in with these cases of non-rape being redefined as real rape.
Here’s another one.
Show a tax collector with a huge bag of money taken from a guy who has but a few coins in his hand.
Caption it: “What Democrats mean by “change” - it’ll be all you have left”
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