A Peculiar Kind of Protection

There is a peculiar kind of protection afforded to some perpetrators of sexual assault like some athletes/law/legal/faith/public figures and others, who I will refer to as ‘famous’ people. I am not going to give space here to name-names for these individuals, nor will I go into detail about them, rather focus more on how society tends to dismiss the behavior of ‘famous’ individuals. Besides, most of us know who they are and if you don’t, you may not have been paying attention. What unfortunately, is not unusual in some of these ‘famous’ cases of rape, is discovering that investigations of sexual assault by ‘famous’ people, is sometimes so minimal that it requires communities crying out for investigation of the investigation for any real justice to occur for the victims.

There is a peculiar kind of protection of ‘famous’ people and this too, is a part of “Rape Culture.” Rape culture as defined by the Oxford Dictionary as being, “a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.” This rape culture is often found in male-dominated society. We hear it trivialized as “boys will be boys” comments across society, or we hear it in comments like those made by our current President, Donald Trump, where he uttered in conversation with another male celebrity prior to being elected, as it relates to women, that, “You can grab them by the p____, and when you are a star they let you do it. You can do anything.” This reported rape culture communication was accepted by millions of Americans as being, “Just [men’s] locker-room talk”, and it was largely dismissed by millions of voters as demonstrated by their vote to elect President Trump.

The other peculiar kind of protection afforded to perpetrators, is the dismissal or unbelief of victims who report sexual assault. According to the NATIONAL SEXUAL VIOLENCE RESOURCE CENTER, “Most of sexual assaults, an [astonishing] estimated 63 percent, are never reported to the police (Rennison, 2002). Eph. The prevalence of false reporting cases of sexual violence is low (Lisak, Gardinier, Nicksa, & Cote, 2010), yet when survivors come forward, many face scrutiny or encounter barriers [or accused of making false reports.] Eph. For example, when an assault is reported, survivors may feel that their victimization has been redefined and even distorted by those who investigate, process, and categorize cases. “

As a civilized society, America, it is time that we stopped dismissing rape culture in all its forms, including rewarding perpetrators of sexual assault or those using rape culture communication, by givng them a pass, minimizing investigations, and accusing victims of making false statements. We must believe victims, because they have the right to be believed after finding their own strength to come forward and to report sexual assault.

www.alicebelcher.com - Alice L Belcher, Author of the Certification Family Violence Advocate Cohort, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.