Article written by

2 Responses

  1. Theresa
    Theresa September 5, 2012 at 2:02 pm | | Reply

    I fully admit that my run-ins with the law are limited to speeding tickets, traffic incidents, and that one time when I got caught shoplifting. On all of those occasions, I was treated with respect, even though I was usually in the wrong. And I have, thankfully, never been in a situation to report an assault against my person, sexual or otherwise.

    However, my take-away from this post, and the one that is linked, is a sense of unease- of dread, even. Never before have I been so uncertain of the response I would get from the police if I did need to report an incident. Living in Memphis, a city where the crime rate is three or more times the national average, would my case be handled professionally, or would I hear “What were you doing in that neighborhood, anyway?”

    As I said before, this is a situation and process of which I am mostly ignorant. However, I feel that the only thing worse than the pain and fear felt in the wake of a sexual assault is the realization that the police, whom we have been told since childhood are there to help and protect us, will not only do effectively nothing to catch the person who assaulted you, but will also compound your fear and pain with humiliation by placing the blame on the victim rather than where it belongs.

    If there is anything positive to be gained from such an outrageous situation as this one, it is to remind us that the police are not infallible, benevolent angels, they are human. They are men and women with many of the same deeply-ingrained biases and prejudices held by so many people in our country. This does not excuse the appalling, frustrating attitudes shown by these officers, but identifying the problem is the first step in fixing it, and I sincerely hope that one day I will be given cause to restore my faith in “America’s finest.”

  2. unladylikemusings
    unladylikemusings September 25, 2012 at 7:43 am | | Reply

    I am so sorry that this happened to you. I work with survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. All too often I hear that they weren’t taken seriously when they tried to tell someone, whether it be the law, or their friends and family. And even though I hear stories like this on a daily basis they still make me angry. You are right, it is not your fault. That man, and men like him, are responsible for their own actions. Period.

Please comment politely with a regular pseudonym or real name.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: