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."
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”
“Rape. A crime where most of the accused (men) are really innocent.”
One accused innocent is too many, but MOST are innocent??
Please...
To everyone else it says "Avoid me unless you want to engage in a nice, pleasant conversation about rape."
*********************
I would guess that the response of most would be avoidance, if only because of what this shirt conveys about the wearer's mental state.
She may have only come to "understand" that she was raped after being indoctrinated into whackjjob feminism. Depending on how deep into left-wing feminism you get, rape can be defined as consensual sex that the woman later regrets. I once dated a hard-core feminist who showed me some truly frightening materials that explained how even if a woman believes that sex is consensual at the time; if she later comes to believe that she was unfairly coerced into the act (read: seduced), then that is rape and the man should be sent to prison. The most left-wing feminists essentially believe that men should be sent to prison solely on the word of any woman that regrets a sexual encounter for any reason.
That is hilarious!
BINGO
Yes. It suggests that they aren't just damaged...they're ruined. Why would you want some stranger's first impression of you to be that you're the raped girl?
(ummm she must have liked it because she is advertising)
You were in this creep's company A SECOND TIME? Are you for real?
Maybe she didn’t understand because she was 5 years old when the rape occurred.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.