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Sexual Assault Quotes

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Sexual Assault Quotes

“Over time and with a lot of healing work, the hard days will become fewer. But there will still be some, and sometimes they will sneak up on you. Bad days do not mean you have gone backward in your healing. Being able to recognize that you’re having a hard day, identifying the trigger, and knowing what tools might help you get through the hard day are all wins. Give yourself permission to take a break, breathe, and make yourself your top priority.”

HealingTraumaSurvivorSexual AssaultSexual Violence
Book:We Are the Evidence: A Handbook for Finding Your Way After Sexual Assault
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“No matter how your body and brain responded, what happened wasn’t your fault. If you fought with everything you had but were still overpowered, that’s not your fault. If you tried to run away but couldn’t, that’s not your fault. If fighting or fleeing didn’t seem like safe options, that’s not your fault. If your automatic survival response was to comply and attempt to please, that’s not your fault.”

HealingTraumaPtsdSexual AssaultFight Or Flight ResponseTrauma Responses
Book:We Are the Evidence: A Handbook for Finding Your Way After Sexual Assault
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“Some called it a witch hunt, said she’s after him. I ask, starting when. Mark the day. Trace it back. I can almost guarantee that after the assault she tried to live her life. Ask her what she did the next day and she’d say, well, I went to work. She didn’t pick up a pitchfork, hire a lawyer. She made her bed, buttoned up her shirt, took shower after shower. She tried to believe she was unchanged, to move on until her legs gave out. Every woman who spoke out did so because she hit a point where she could no longer live another day in the life she tried to build. So she turned, slowly, back around to face it. Society thinks we live to come after him. When in fact, we live to live. That’s it. He upended that life, and we tried to keep going, but couldn’t. Each time a survivor resurfaced, people were quick to say what does she want, why did it take her so long, why now, why not then, why not faster. But damage does not stick to deadlines. If she emerges, why don’t we ask her how it was possible she lived with that hurt for so long, ask who taught her to never uncover it.”

PainSocietyVictimTraumaSurvivorRapeSexual AssaultKnow My NameChanel Miller
Book:Know My Name
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“I draw a line down the middle of a chalkboard, sketching a male symbol on one side and a female symbol on the other. Then I ask just the men: What steps do you guys take, on a daily basis, to prevent yourselves from being sexually assaulted? At first there is a kind of awkward silence as the men try to figure out if they've been asked a trick question. The silence gives way to a smattering of nervous laughter. Occasionally, a young a guy will raise his hand and say, 'I stay out of prison.' This is typically followed by another moment of laughter, before someone finally raises his hand and soberly states, 'Nothing. I don't think about it.' Then I ask women the same question. What steps do you take on a daily basis to prevent yourselves from being sexually assaulted? Women throughout the audience immediately start raising their hands. As the men sit in stunned silence, the women recount safety precautions they take as part of their daily routine. Here are some of their answers: Hold my keys as a potential weapon. Look in the back seat of the car before getting in. Carry a cell phone. Don't go jogging at night. Lock all the windows when I sleep, even on hot summer nights. Be careful not to drink too much. Don't put my drink down and come back to it; make sure I see it being poured. Own a big dog. Carry Mace or pepper spray. Have an unlisted phone number. Have a man's voice on my answering machine. Park in well-lit areas. Don't use parking garages. Don't get on elevators with only one man, or with a group of men. Vary my route home from work. Watch what I wear. Don't use highway rest areas. Use a home alarm system. Don't wear headphones when jogging. Avoid forests or wooded areas, even in the daytime. Don't take a first-floor apartment. Go out in groups. Own a firearm. Meet men on first dates in public places. Make sure to have a car or cab fare. Don't make eye contact with men on the street. Make assertive eye contact with men on the street.”

FeminismSexismRapeSexual AssaultMachoRape CultureGender Bias
Book:The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help
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“Similarly, there is a limit to how far you can go in anti-violence work without rejecting the principal institutions of masculine domination. In reaction to spates of accusations from enlisted women of sexual assault and harassment perpetrated by their male peers and officers, the US military has engaged trainers, including Katz, to conduct gender violence prevention and bystander intervention. Like the prevention of child abuse through the promotion of authoritarian fatherhood, anti-violence training with men whose job is to kill people - the epitome of toxic masculinity - is any oxymoron. These military projects also carry a strong whiff of Othering: soldiers should be respectful of "our" women, and even refrain from raping "enemy" women and girls, but it's okay to kill their fathers, brothers, or husbands and, if necessary, to blow up their homes and cities. These efforts are not working. Biannual Pentagon surveys show a stead increase in sexual assaults and harassment in military academies. "This isn't a blip, a #MeToo bump, or some accident," averred California Democrat Jackie Spier at a February 2019 House subcommittee hearing. "It's a clear illustration of a destructive trend and systemic problem.”

FeminismSexual AbuseRapeViolence Against WomenSexual AssaultRape CultureSexual Harassment
Book:The Feminist and the Sex Offender: Confronting Harm, Ending State Violence
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“...Women should not feel pressured or obligated to share their story in a public forum unless they are ready. At times, the American anti-rape movement has suggested that survivors must "break the silence" or that they otherwise have political obligations to pursue justice for rape victims. Given that many Native women have chosen silence as a true means to survival, the choice not to speak out must be honored as much as the choice to speak out.”

FeminismRapeSexual AssaultIndigenous Feminism
Author:Sarah Deer
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“Moving away from studies, what of real world feedback? In West Germany, rape rates have slightly declined since 1973, when pornography became widely available; meanwhile, other violent crime has increased. In Japan, where pornography depicting violence is widely available, rape is much lower per capita than in the United States, where violence in porn is restricted.”

FeminismRapeViolence Against WomenSexual AssaultSex Positive FeminismPro PornPro Pornography
Book:XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography
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“If men felt empowered to talk about sex with their partner, especially before any sexual relationship has occurred, many harmful situations could perhaps be avoided. Many men see talking about sex as embarrassing, awkward or feminine. To avoid our boys becoming men who harm women, we need to encourage them to talk openly about sex and their feelings towards it. We need to encourage them to want to talk about sex with women, to see it as a part of the process of love and relationships, instead of leaving communication as solely the burden of the feminine partner to take on. Consent doesn't have to necessarily be sexy, but it should have to be talked about in an open and understanding way.”

SexSexual AssaultRape CultureRape Survivor
Book:The Way We Survive: Notes on Rape Culture
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“In 1996 Dorothy Mackey wrote an Op-ed piece, “Violence from comrades a fact of life for military women.” ABC News 20/ 20 did a segment on rape in the military. By November four women came forward at Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Maryland, about a pattern of rape by drill sergeants. In 1997 the military finds three black drill sergeants to scapegoat. They were sent to prison and this left the commanding generals and colonels untouched to retire quietly. The Army appointed a panel to investigate sexual harassment. One of the panelists was the sergeant Major of the Army, Eugene McKinney. On hearing his nomination, former associates and one officer came forward with charges of sexual coercion and misconduct. In 1998 he was acquitted of all charges after women spoke (of how they were being stigmatized, their careers stopped, and their characters questioned. A Congressional panel studied military investigative practices. In 1998, the Court of Appeals ruled against Dorothy Mackay. She had been outspoken on media and highly visible. There is an old Arabic saying “When the hen crows cut off her head.”“This court finds that Col. Milam and Lt. Col. Elmore were acting in the scope of their duties” in 1991-1992 when Capt. Mackey alleged they harassed, intimidated and assaulted her. A legislative remedy was asked for and she appealed to the Supreme Court. Of course the Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 1999, as it always has under the feres doctrine. Her case was cited to block the suit of one of the Aberdeen survivors as well!”

LawUnited StatesMilitaryRacismArmyCourtCongressSexismLegislationSupreme CourtRapeSoldiersSexual AssaultAir ForceAbuse Of PowerRape CultureColonelsSexual HarassmentCoverupComradesAbuse Of AuthorityMilitary Sexual AssaultFeres DoctrineFeresWomen In The Military
Book:Conduct Unbecoming: Rape, Torture, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Military Commanders
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“FORGET FERES DOCTRINE And the military has immunity! Yes! The feres doctrine! It states “the Government is not liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries to servicemen where injuries arise out of or are in the course of activity incident to service” (U.S. Supreme Court 1950). Federal law and our Supreme Court shield acts of rape and sexual brutality in the military as proven by its subsequent ruling on a 2001 case that denied a plaintiffs right to file a civil suit against her accusers. Yet when women report the crime, it is handled internally Commanders are given the discretion to resolve complaints. The report may not go beyond his office. Many times he's part of the problem or a sympathizer with the offender. This certainly was my case! Our Supreme Court ruled as recently as 2001 that rape is an injury incident to the course of activity in the service! THE HEINOUS CRIME OF RAPE IS ACCEPTABLE AND CONDONED BY OUR SUPREME COURT! WOMEN ARE FAIR GAME FOR RAPE AND HARRASSMENT, ACCORDING TO OUR SUPREME COURT! CONGRESS IS NO BETTER! NO LAWS ARE PASSED TO PROTECT US IN THE MILITARY AGAINST THE STATUTE OF LIMITATION FOR THE FELONY OF RAPE!”

GovernmentLawUnited StatesMilitaryRacismArmyCourtCongressEqualitySexismLegislationSupreme CourtRapeSoldiersSexual AssaultAir ForceAbuse Of PowerRape CultureColonelsFelonySexual HarassmentCoverupComradesHarrassmentAbuse Of AuthorityMilitary Sexual AssaultFeres DoctrineFeresWomen In The MilitaryFederealStatute Of Limitations
Book:Conduct Unbecoming: Rape, Torture, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Military Commanders
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“I just want to know if you think I should.” “I think it would cause you severe stress,” Ruby says. “I’d worry the symptoms you described would become even more intense to the point where it would be difficult for you to function.” “But I’m talking on a moral level. Because isn’t it supposed to be worth all the stress? That’s what people keep saying, that you need to speak out no matter the cost.” “No,” she says firmly. “That’s wrong. It’s a dangerous amount of pressure to put on someone dealing with trauma.” “Then why do they keep saying it? Because it’s not just this journalist. It’s every woman who comes forward. But if someone doesn’t want to come forward and tell the world every bad thing that’s happened to her, then she’s what? Weak? Selfish?” I throw up my hand, wave it away. “The whole thing is bullshit. I fucking hate it.”

AbuseAssaultPtsdSexual AbuseSexual AssaultMetoo
Book:My Dark Vanessa
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“What could it be? What kind of power could have brought out such a smile from Eunhyung’s heart that had become the wreckage? Sprouts keep shooting from the ground, even if you step on them again and again. I wonder if that sort of power is the source of our strength. Just like that... if you pushed through that moment’s crisis like that... would you be here with us right now Eunhyung?”

DeathSuicideAssaultSexual AssaultAftermathSuicide AttemptManhwaKorean Quote
Author:Sooyeon Won
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“I always wondered why survivors understood other survivors so well. Why, even if the details of our attacks vary, survivors can lock eyes and get it without having to explain. Perhaps it is not the particulars of the assault itself that we have in common, but the moment after; the first time you are left alone. Something slipping out of you. Where did I go. What was taken. It is terror swallowed inside silence. An unclipping from the world where up was up and down was down.”

AssaultSexual Assault
Book:Know My Name
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“Most women are all too familiar with men like Calvin Smith. Men whose sense of prerogative renders them deaf when women say, "No thanks," "Not interested," or even "Fuck off, creep.”

CultureWomenFeminismCommunicationBehaviorMen And WomenGenderSexualitySexismMisogynyAssaultWomen S RightsSexual AbuseRapeDisrespectSaying NoPersonal ExperiencesGender RolesHarassmentSexual AssaultSurvivorsRape CultureVictimsWomen And MenSexual ViolenceVerbal AbusePersonal SpaceRapistsWomen S IssuesPredatorsMisogynistProblems In The WorldStreet HarassmentNot ListeningPersonal ExperienceCatcallingPredatory BehaviorProblems Of TodayPersonal AutonomyMen S BehaviorProblems With SocietyProblems With MenAssaultsAssailantsWomen S Experiences
Book:Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
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“Treating Abuse Today (Tat), 3(4), pp. 26-33 Freyd: I see what you're saying but people in psychology don't have a uniform agreement on this issue of the depth of -- I guess the term that was used at the conference was -- "robust repression." TAT: Well, Pamela, there's a whole lot of evidence that people dissociate traumatic things. What's interesting to me is how the concept of "dissociation" is side-stepped in favor of "repression." I don't think it's as much about repression as it is about traumatic amnesia and dissociation. That has been documented in a variety of trauma survivors. Army psychiatrists in the Second World War, for instance, documented that following battles, many soldiers had amnesia for the battles. Often, the memories wouldn't break through until much later when they were in psychotherapy. Freyd: But I think I mentioned Dr. Loren Pankratz. He is a psychologist who was studying veterans for post-traumatic stress in a Veterans Administration Hospital in Portland. They found some people who were admitted to Veteran's hospitals for postrraumatic stress in Vietnam who didn't serve in Vietnam. They found at least one patient who was being treated who wasn't even a veteran. Without external validation, we just can't know -- TAT: -- Well, we have external validation in some of our cases. Freyd: In this field you're going to find people who have all levels of belief, understanding, experience with the area of repression. As I said before it's not an area in which there's any kind of uniform agreement in the field. The full notion of repression has a meaning within a psychoanalytic framework and it's got a meaning to people in everyday use and everyday language. What there is evidence for is that any kind of memory is reconstructed and reinterpreted. It has not been shown to be anything else. Memories are reconstructed and reinterpreted from fragments. Some memories are true and some memories are confabulated and some are downright false. TAT: It is certainly possible for in offender to dissociate a memory. It's possible that some of the people who call you could have done or witnessed some of the things they've been accused of -- maybe in an alcoholic black-out or in a dissociative state -- and truly not remember. I think that's very possible. Freyd: I would say that virtually anything is possible. But when the stories include murdering babies and breeding babies and some of the rather bizarre things that come up, it's mighty puzzling. TAT: I've treated adults with dissociative disorders who were both victimized and victimizers. I've seen previously repressed memories of my clients' earlier sexual offenses coming back to them in therapy. You guys seem to be saying, be skeptical if the person claims to have forgotten previously, especially if it is about something horrible. Should we be equally skeptical if someone says "I'm remembering that I perpetrated and I didn't remember before. It's been repressed for years and now it's surfacing because of therapy." I ask you, should we have the same degree of skepticism for this type of delayed-memory that you have for the other kind? Freyd: Does that happen? TAT: Oh, yes. A lot.”

AbuseWorld War IiPtsdSexual AbuseRapeRepressionWorld War 2SoldiersDissociationPsychotherapyAmnesiaSexual AssaultSurvivorsRepressedIncestInterviewVictimsPseudoscienceAbusersPerpetratorsSociety DenialWorld War TwoVeteransChild RapePost Traumatic Stress DisorderRepressed MemoriesDissociative AmnesiaFalse MemoriesDissociative DisordersPedophiliaScamPosttraumatic Stress DisorderFalse MemoryRecovered MemoriesFalse Memory Syndrome FoundationFalse Memory SyndromeRepressed MemoryFmsfAbuse DeniersDenial Of AbusePseudo ScienceDenial Of Child AbuseForgotten MemoriesPost Traumatic StressTraumatic MemoriesPseudoscientificPerpetratorPamela FreydVictim PerpetratorsDenial Of IncestAnti ScienceConfabulationTraumatic AmnesiaDissociateDissociated AmnesiaDissociated StateSexual Offense
Author:David L. Calof
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“If a woman, teen, or girl says No, Stop, I Changed My Mind, I Can’t do This, or I’m Just Not Ready… Believe Her! No, she doesn’t REALLY want it. No, she’s NOT playing hard to get. No, she’s NOT just a tease. No, she didn’t ASK for it. Sexual violence is NOT okay no matter how much you try to rationalize it. Don’t be a predator! Have some self-control and RESPECT her decision. Forcing yourself on a person is sexual assault, period!”

Sexual AbuseFemale EmpowermentAbuse SurvivorsStephanie LahartStephanie Lahart QuotesSexual AssaultSexual ViolenceAbusive RelationshipAbused WomenMe Too
Author:Stephanie Lahart
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“Sibling abuse is underreported and it goes under the radar. The concern with sibling rivalry is when it turns into sibling abuse. The core root of sibling abuse is the intent to harm and control the other sibling.”

ManipulationBullyingPtsdSexual AssaultDysfunctional FamilyPsychological AbuseSibling RivalryTrauma RecoverySibling AbuseToxic Siblings
Book:Soul Rescue: How to Break Free From Narcissistic Abuse & Heal Trauma
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“Child neglect and abuse is a hidden epidemic. The topic is taboo. Surviving abusive relationships, especially in the family unit, is complicated. Oftentimes, victims of child abuse, sexual assaults, domestic violence, and narcissistic abuse don’t report it. During my extensive research, I discovered that most children don’t disclose their sexual abuse, until late in life. On the website, Child USA, they share about delayed disclosure. “Most child victims of sexual assault disclose, if they disclose at all, during adulthood, with a median age of 48 and an average age of 52.”

TraumaChild AbuseSexual AssaultNarcissistic AbuseDisclosurePsychological AbuseToxic ShameSilenced
Book:Soul Rescue: How to Break Free From Narcissistic Abuse & Heal Trauma
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“Incest, rape and abuse is rampant everywhere, even in our churches, but society is silent. It is a silent epidemic. One in three women will experience a sexual assault in her lifetime and one in six males, yet we don't speak of it, even in our churches!”

SilenceAbuseSecretsChild AbuseSexual AbuseRapeSexual AssaultIncestEpidemic
Book:Conduct Unbecoming: Rape, Torture, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Military Commanders
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“And there’s one other matter I must raise. The epidemic of domestic sexual violence that lacerates the soul of South Africa is mirrored in the pattern of grotesque raping in areas of outright conflict from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in areas of contested electoral turbulence from Kenya to Zimbabwe. Inevitably, a certain percentage of the rapes transmits the AIDS virus. We don’t know how high that percentage is. We know only that women are subjected to the most dreadful double jeopardy. The point must also be made that there’s no such thing as the enjoyment of good health for women who live in constant fear of rape. Countless strong women survive the sexual assaults that occur in the millions every year, but every rape leaves a scar; no one ever fully heals. This business of discrimination against and oppression of women is the world’s most poisonous curse. Nowhere is it felt with greater catastrophic force than in the AIDS pandemic. This audience knows the statistics full well: you’ve chronicled them, you’ve measured them, the epidemiologists amongst you have disaggregated them. What has to happen, with one unified voice, is that the scientific community tells the political community that it must understand one incontrovertible fact of health: bringing an end to sexual violence is a vital component in bringing an end to AIDS. The brave groups of women who dare to speak up on the ground, in country after country, should not have to wage this fight in despairing and lonely isolation. They should hear the voices of scientific thunder. You understand the connections between violence against women and vulnerability to the virus. No one can challenge your understanding. Use it, I beg you, use it.”

ViolenceHealthAidsDiscriminationOppressionIsolationSexismSouth AfricaMisogynyAfricaUnited NationsDomestic ViolenceSexual AbuseRapeHivViolence Against WomenKenyaSexual AssaultRape CultureZimbabweSudanDarfurMarital RapeDemocratic Republic Of The Congo
Author:Stephen Lewis
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“Let us once again be clear: if we oppose violence, then we must oppose all forms of policing. If we oppose violence, then we must call for an end to war, an end to occupation. We must oppose sexual assault, and prisons as institutions that wield it as a strategic tool. If we abhor violence to bodies, families, and communities, then we should abhor all these systems and call for their immediate abolition. As Ta-Nehisi Coates said so perfectly in his Atlantic piece "Nonviolence as Compliance," "When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con." In Support of Baltimore; or, Smashing Police Cars Is Logical Political Strategy”

ViolenceSexual AssaultBaltimoreAnti RacismPolicingPrisonsTaking Sides
Author:Benji Hart
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“Healing generational trauma takes courage and strength. It’s common for dysfunctional families to deny their abuse. They silence victims and dump toxic shame onto them. Complicit families keep abuse alive from generation to generation, until one brave survivor boldly ends the cycle of abuse.”

NarcissistSexual AssaultPsychological AbuseHealing TraumaIntergenerational TraumaCptsdToxic ShameFamily Abuse
Book:Soul Rescue: How to Break Free From Narcissistic Abuse & Heal Trauma
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“Memory repression thrives in shame, secrecy, and shock. The shame and degradation experienced during sexual assault is profound, especially for children who have no concept of what is happening to them or why. Sexual abuse is so bizarre and horrible that the frightened child feels compelled to bury the event deep inside his or her mind.”

ShameSexual AbuseRepressionChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultRepressed MemoriesDissociative AmnesiaForgetting The PastForgetting The Pain
Book:Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse
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“Since most sexual abuse begins well before puberty, preventive education, if it is to have any effect at all, should begin early in grade school. Ideally, information on sexual abuse should be integrated into a general curriculum of sex education. In those communities where the experiment has been tried, it has been shown conclusively that children can learn what they most need to know about sexual abuse, without becoming unduly frightened or developing generally negative sexual attitudes. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, for example, the Hennepin County Attorney's office developed an education program on sexual assault for elementary school children. The program was presented to all age groups in four different schools, some eight hundred children in all. The presentation opened with a performance by a children’s theater group, illustrating the difference between affectionate touching, and exploitative touching. The children’s responses to the skits indicated that they understood the distinction very well indeed. Following the presentation, about one child in six disclosed a sexual experience with an adult, ranging from an encounter with an exhibitionist to involvement in incest. Most of the children, both boys and girls, had not told anyone prior to the classroom discussion. In addition to basic information on sexual relations and sexual assault, children need to know that they have the right to their own bodily integity.”

Sexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultIncestRape CultureSex EducationChild RapeChild Sexual Abuse PreventionRape PreventionSexual Abuse PreventionSexual Violance
Book:Father-Daughter Incest
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“I should meet many people who do not know anyone personally who has been raped or molested as a child. But I can't remember seeing a newspaper without a rape or molestation charge in it somewhere, and when I ask groups how many people know someone personally with a history of molestation, almost always, every hand in the room goes up.”

AwarenessCrimeSexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultVictimsChild RapePedophiliaPedophilesMolestationChild MolestationChild Molestors
Book:Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders
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“In all the interviews I have done, I cannot remember one offender who did not admit privately to more victims than those for whom he had been caught. On the contrary, most offenders had been charged with and/or convicted of from one to three victims. In the interviews I have done, they have admitted to roughly 10 to 1,250 victims. What was truly frightening was that all the offenders had been reported before by children, and the reports had been ignored.”

AwarenessCrimeCriminalsGuiltySexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultOffendersSociety DenialChild RapePedophiliaPedophilesMolestationConvictedCrime ReportingSex OffenderRape Statistics
Book:Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders
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“He pulled my skirt up. I began to worry. Everyone knew he had broken in girls before and I didn't want it to happen to me. I said, 'No. Get off, please.' He pulled me down the alley and pushed me to the ground. As I lay on my back worrying about my new blue coat, he pushed his fingers up between my legs — and rammed himself into me. I was crying. His lips were pressed against mine but I was motionless, like a small corpse. He grunted and I knew it was over. He got up, I just lay there on the ground, my tights round my ankles. The clock was striking twelve. As he walked away, he turned and said, 'I've always wanted to do it to you. I like your mouth'. When I got in, my mum said, 'Tracey, what's wrong with you?' I showed her my coat, the dirt and the stains, and told her 'I'm not a virgin any more.' She didn't call the police or make any fuss. She just washed my coat and everything carried on as normal, as though nothing had happened. But for me, my childhood was over, I had become conscious of my physicality, aware of my presence and open to the ugly truths of the world. At the age of thirteen, I realised that there was a danger in innocence and beauty, and I could not live with both. (describing childhood rape)”

FearHorrorPoliceHopelessRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultSociety DenialChild RapePedophileProtecting Pedophile
Book:Strangeland
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“Like Jocelyn, Survivors often think: * That’s just the way I am * I’m not lovable, that’s why I keep having disastrous relationships * I’m not very clever, that’s why I didn’t do well at school * I’m a loner * I’m a weak person * I’m not very nice * I was a difficult child Many survivors find it difficult to accept that being sexually abused as a child can continue to affect them many years later. It may seem too fantastic, or too frightening an idea to believe. David Finkelhor, an American researcher, has tried to explain how sexual abuse affects a child and leads to long-term problems. He suggests four ways in which childhood sexual abuse causes problems: 1 Traumatic Sexualization 2 Stigmatization 3 Betrayal 4 Powerlessness”

AbuseSurvivorChild AbuseChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultChildhood AbuseChild RapePedophileDavid Finkelhor
Book:Breaking Free: A Self-Help Guide for Adults Who Were Sexually Abused As Children
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“In the specific case of the use of the term “false memory” to describe errors in details in laboratory tasks (e.g., in word-learning tasks), the media and public are set up all too easily to interpret such research as relevant to “false memories” of abuse because the term is used in the public domain to refer to contested memories of abuse. Because the term “false memory” is inextricably tied in the public to a social movement that questions the veracity of memories for childhood sexual abuse, the use of the term in scientific research that evaluates memory errors for details (not whole events) must be evaluated in this light." From: What's in a Name for Memory Errors? Implications and Ethical Issues Arising From the Use of the Term “False Memory” for Errors in Memory for Details, Journal: Ethics & Behavior 14(3) pages 201-233, 2004”

MediaMemoryTraumaDenialChild AbuseBiasSexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultMisinformationSociety DenialMedia ManipulationChild RapeRepressed MemoriesFalse MemoriesFalse MemoryRecovered MemoriesFalse Memory Syndrome FoundationFmsfDenial Of AbuseMedia Lies
Author:Jennifer J. Freyd
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“We propose that use of the term “false memory” to describe errors in memory for details directly contributes to removing the social context of abuse from research on memory for trauma. As the term “false memories” has increasingly been used to describe errors in details, the scientific weight of the term has increased. In turn, we see that the term “false memories” is treated as a construct supported by scientific fact, whereas other terms associated with questions about the veracity of abuse memories have been treated as suspect. For example, “recovered memories” often appears in quotations, whereas “false memories” does not (Campbell, 2003).The quotation marks suggest that one term is questioned, whereas the other is accepted as fact. Accepting “false memories” of abuse as fact reflects the subtle assimilation of the term into the cognitive literature, where the term is used increasingly to describe intrusions of semantically related words into lists of related words. The term, rooted in the controversy over the accuracy of abuse memories recalled during psychotherapy (Schacter, 1999), implies generalization of errors in details to memory for abuse—experienced largely by women and children (Campbell, 2003)." from: What's in a Name for Memory Errors? Implications and Ethical Issues Arising From the Use of the Term “False Memory” for Errors in Memory for Details, Journal: Ethics & Behavior”

MediaMemoryTraumaDenialChild AbuseBiasSexual AbuseRapeChild Sexual AbuseSexual AssaultMisinformationSociety DenialMedia ManipulationChild RapeRepressed MemoriesFalse MemoriesFalse MemoryRecovered MemoriesFalse Memory Syndrome FoundationFmsfDenial Of AbuseMedia Lies
Author:Jennifer J. Freyd
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“Deconstructed, I find its bits and pieces everywhere around me in the architecture of my social world. I find components of its violence in the sexism of your comments. I find it in the way you touch me without asking. I find it in the way you call that girl a whore. I find its bits and pieces of violence, the building blocks of sexual assault, in the psyches and vocabularies of my boyfriend, my professors, and my friends.”

FeminismSexismSexual AssaultRape CultureMetooStreet HarassmentCatcalling
Author:Alice Minium
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“For it is the silent men, far more than the loud mouthy men on Warwick Boulevard, who make this possible. It is the silent men at 711, the silent men at the YMCA, the silent men next to us in cars, the silent men lying next to us in our bedrooms, the silent men we call our best friends, our boyfriends, and our fathers. It is the silent men, not the loud ones- who permit foulmouthed men to chew me up and spit me out as I walk down the street. It is the silent men who could have stopped this, but who didn’t care to, because they were busy. It is the silent men who said 'Yes' to violence, and who, in their complicit silence, insisted that my world would be impenetrably loud.”

FeminismSexismSexual AssaultRape CultureMetooStreet HarassmentCatcalling
Author:Alice Minium
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