US TOO!
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."
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
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