Here we go again.
No, seriously, here we go again. Around and around with the same dehumanizing issue of sexual assault pertaining to women, specifically rape. We aren't ignorant (though sometimes we choose to be) about these issues. We've seen it all over the news, time and time again, a new woman, a new assailant. Sometimes there is closure in the form of a long jail sentence, or a sense of justice, knowing that that person cannot harm another. Sometimes there isn't though, and sometimes isn't a good enough percentage.
Odds are, you know someone that has been sexually assaulted. A survey done by the New York Times states that, "Nearly one in five women surveyed said they had been raped or had experienced an attempted rape at some point." That could be your best friend, your sister, your mother, or your daughter that has to experience such a traumatic, life-changing event. Though, if it isn't, we are usually desensitized to the victim and we tend to write it off, no harm no foul if it isn't someone you know, right?
Wrong. This is your community. Your band of sisters throughout the world who are fighting a battle based on "too little clothing" and "too much drinking." It is always the woman who is teasing, whose "no" means yes and whose silence is ignored. A woman showing skin is "asking for it", a woman "drinking too much" should have known better, and a woman, being a woman, well, that's just our burden to carry. Just being a woman isn't consent enough, but unfortunately, people think it is just another fact we have to face in life, another inequality, another subservient standard placed on us women.
Rape isn't anyone's fault but the rapist's and we shouldn't blame either gender, men or women, for the the thoughts or actions that pertain to a single person. Men shouldn't be labeled as rapists or sexual predators because another man has done it. Attacking a gender will not solve the issue but gender unity will.
By being a woman, you will both be victimized and prosecuted to an extreme. But what people don't understand is, out of these traumatic events, a fragile victim, nor a villain who "shamed their precious baby boy" (um Brock Turner anyone) is the product. The product is a warrior and protector, a leader and a savior and, best of all, and undeniably strong woman. A woman who will spend her whole life proving to people that an act of someone else does not define her or make her weak, but strengthens the resolve for a life well lived.
This article is dedicated to all the women who have been sexually assaulted in any form or extremity. You didn't choose it, but it happened and now you stand strong for the sisters, mothers, and best friends that it will also happen to. This for you, so you know you have a community of believers battling and backing you.
"We are women, hear us roar."
