There are many women who do not report rapes and there are many reasons why. These include: fear of social stigma, confusion, and self-blame. However, one reason why they may be fearful is that justice is not always served to those who report their rape. Many people who read or watched the news this week saw how justice let slip through the cracks with this week’s widely publicized Kesha case.
I remember months ago reading that the singer Kesha was suing her producer of many years for allegedly violating her. Though one does not know all of the facts, what we do know is that women do not tend to make up stories about being sexually violated, or at least, the amount of women falsely creating allegations cannot be quantified, according to Bloomberg News.
As a whole, when a woman reports her rape, the media tends to focus on what the woman could have been doing to provoke the attack. How was she dressed? Was she alone? Was she being sexually suggestive? The media time and again does not ask: Why are people raping? What makes rapists want to rape and how do we stop it?
I loved how model and fashion designer Amber Rose shut down a few TV hosts this week who were confused with the concept of consent.”If I want to wear a short skirt or a tank top, and I’m at the club and I’m having fun with my friends and I feel sexy, I’m not DTF,” she says. “I didn’t come here to have sex. I didn’t come here to hook up with nobody. I came out here with my girls and I just feel pretty. I’m not ‘asking for’ nothing.” This idea still seems to perplex many but it is SO IMPORTANT for people to understand!
All in all, I think this case shows that cumulatively, justice does not get served for survivors of sexual violence. I hope that this case is a wake-up call that is is time for people to stick together to understand how sexual violence is not ok and the way we should talk about survivors of a crime should change.
Petite Activist 