In light of today’s watershed moment in Congress today practically confirming Brett Kavanaugh as the next Supreme Court Rapist…………oops, Freudian slip………..Supreme Court Justice, I wanted to take a few minutes and just speak from the heart, no PDF this week.
According to statistics from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives. According to statistics from Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.
There’s nothing funny about rape or sexual assault. Incidents such as these can scar people for life, as we witnessed last week with the Senate testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, one of Kavanaugh’s victims. The decision today to confirm him unfortunately will do damage irreparably to the 200,000 victims who are raped and sexually assaulted annually. Today shows women who have been afraid to tell their story (in Dr. Ford’s case, over 35 years) that they will not be believed. Power causes rape, and power will deny you if you tell – that’s what I’ve taken away from these confirmation hearings. How ironic it is that this man is confirmed by a woman, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and even more ironic that he’s confirmed in October, which is recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Too many women feel shame over incidents where they’ve been the victim of such a cowardice attack, and many are never really the same afterwards, resulting in abnormal behaviors, and in some sad instances, suicide. I want to say to women who are victims, you should not feel ashamed. The emotions that you feel in the aftermath can be overwhelming, I’m sure, so I’d like to dedicate this post to anyone who is or has been victimized. You are believed, and you need not suffer in silence anymore.
I’m enclosing some links below that will help you get counseling, seek assistance, and some of them have 24/7 hotlines that you can call for advice, help, and additional services. I would say more, but I think I’m still numb from today’s decision in the Senate. I thought we as a nation were better than this.
Once again, I was wrong.
National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN)
11 More Organizations (article)
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