TIME Magazine and the Process of Revictimization
The simple act of featuring both Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh within the same pages shows how unwilling society is to dismantle r/pe culture. This essay contains mentions of r/pe, sexual assault, PTSD, and alcoholism This week TIME released their
Brett Kavanaugh’s Nomination is a Hellscape For Survivors of Sexual Assault
The men who commit sexual assault are humanized and given the benefit of the doubt over and over again, while the victims of rape are abused, doxed, and accused of lying. Over the past few weeks, I have started and then
#ChurchToo: Spiritual Leaders are Abusing Their Power and Abusing Us
Religion is not infallible, and it continually creates space for its leaders to abuse the power that religious interpretations unquestioningly afford them.
[TW/CW: This essay contains discussion of sexual violence, including molestation.] My mom once scolded me for swatting the pastor’s wife’s hand away from my head. She had been intrigued by my intricate braids and lifted her hand to touch them. As she began running her fingers along the length of my hair, I cringed. I don't like to be touched, and this has been true about me for as long as I can remember. I especially don't like to be touched without warning, without my consent, and this is reasonable. My body has an involuntary response to it, like a jolt shooting through me. My cheeks get hot and the skin on my neck begins to crawl. I did not want to be touched by the pastor's wife in that moment, so I used my body to push hers away. I didn't understand the look that came over my mom's face; or rather, I understood what it was, but not why it was there. She was horrified and I was confused. “Don't do that,” she whispered to me through tight lips after when we were no longer in earshot. “It's rude.” I couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. A few years before that, one of my uncles made me stand in front of him in his house and repeat the words, “Jesus is my boyfriend.” This was his way of telling me that I was not allowed to have a boyfriend and he tried to use the name of Jesus and the weight that it carried to scare me into staying “pure.” God and Jesus were the only male figures I was allowed to be intimate with. Believe me, I know how fucking weird this sounds. Even hearing it as a child, I was put off by it. This was a conversation that he had initiated and engaged me in, even though I had expressed absolutely no desire to have a boyfriend, or girlfriend for that matter. When I graduated college, I moved back in with my mom for a while. At this point, I had already left the church and denounced religion, but I didn't have the confidence to tell her. And so, I went to church with her. One Sunday afternoon, she came to me speaking in a hushed tone. The pastor’s wife had told her that they had planned to give me a graduation gift in front of the congregation that day, but they simply could not bring themselves to honor me and my accomplishments because they disapproved of the shirt I was wearing, i.e. my breasts made them uncomfortable.SUPPORT WEAR YOUR VOICE: JOIN US ON PATREON
Why It’s Important That We Hold Asia Argento Accountable
Argento shows us that people are capable of being abusive and abused, and her accuser, Jimmy Bennett, also deserves justice. TW: This essay contains mention and descriptions of statutory r/pe In a report published on Sunday, the New York Times reveals that