The Seriousness of Sexual Attacks and dangers from the minority
Janet Kuypers
So I have been listening to HLN News a few afternoons ago, and I heard a woman discussing the resent story of a woman at Hofstra University who was gang raped. I didn’t catch the beginning of the story, but Jane Velez-Mitchell (of HLN) wanted to focus on this story, because it seems that over the initial reports of acquaintance rape from years ago, women’s issues have been swept under the rug, And although I had yet to hear details of this story, and I don’t like hearing that stories like this still exist, I felt relieved that this topic may get the attention it deserves once again.
I worked as an acquaintance rape workshop facilitator for years, and even designed flyers and newspaper magazine advertisements to heighten people’s awareness on the subject in the 1990s. I listened to women tell stories of how they were recently raped and needed assistance. And as I informed friends of my work, I would hear more stories from people I knew about their own previous survival after an acquaintance rape attack.
I say survival, because calling someone who has been raped a “victim” seems too trying. And you have to emotionally be a survivor to withstand the aftereffects of an acquaintance rap, especially when society on many levels makes the “victim” feel like it was their behavior that led to this act.
So although it has been years since I have done direct work with acquaintance rape survivors, I know too well the trauma women go through. I know the statistics, in that one in three women are raped (by someone they knew or a stranger) before they are 21. So yes, I would hope that is this is still a problem, something is being done to shed some light on this issue.
And I listened to this talk group with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN, and Jane received letters commending her for bringing this topic into the spotlight (she even read one email from a female cop who mentioned that she even became a cop to help protect women who couldn’t protect themselves). Even though hearing a story like this gang rap (of five men on one woman and for men were already in custody) is discomforting, I suppose for someone like me, it is comforting to hear that crimes like this may be brought to people’s attention again.
I told my husband about this story’s existence that evening, and I looked for more news on this story in the newspapers the next day. I saw nothing about it in the USA Today or the Wall Street Journal.
No luck.
So I went to the Internet, and found only one brand new story from AP, and found the headline “NY college student investigated for gang rape hoax” (