Trauma is a word that seems to slip through our fingers and out of our lips whenever it seems convenient. You take a WGS class, someone opens up about the events in their life and you have the word dangling in front of you, but you still don't know what to do with it. Do you reach back and examine your own memories of past mental or physical traumas that you have endured? Perhaps you are one of the lucky ones and the world of sobering statistics have spared you. 60% of American adults have reported experiences of trauma or abuse within their lifetime. (recognizetrauma.org). According to LISTEN, one in four women will be sexually assaulted within their lifetime. Only 16% of rapes are reported. Rape doesn't discriminate. Sexually violence doesn't discriminate.
So why am I writing such a somber article? Because I just pulled the idea of out my head and decided to bum you out? After going to the Women's March on Washington last Saturday, (an article about that later) and after stumbling upon Lady Gaga's emotional track "Till it Happens to You," I decided that now was a better time than ever to report on such an issue.
Although the video just focuses on women and their struggles with rape, attempted rape and sexual assault, it's important to realize that men can also be a target of rape. Raping of male soldiers from enemy lines is used to break a man down and show that they are weak, women are raped in front of their children; it's used as a war tactic. Rape has now become a weapon of war, especially during the modern era. It is used to not only to humiliate men, but to show the country that they are trying to defeat that they can easily take down any type of enemy.
Unfortunately, all of us can be the victim of a sexual crime. Women, men, children, the mentally disabled, the elderly... No one is safe when it comes to a crime like this. Also, unfortunately, there are some stigmas that come with being a rape and sexual assault survivor. Since I've already mentioned Lady Gaga and her song, I think I'll just run with it. I think we need to understand the lines that state, "'Til it happens to you, you won't know/It won't be real/No it won't be real/Won't know how it feels." I think that's something to ponder. Please to do not stigmatize rape victims and how they feel. Because you will never know how they feel.
