When I first entered into this field I was constantly shocked by the way people perceived and treated victims of sexual abuse, assault and trafficking…in fact it was one of the factors that drove me to seek for sustainable solutions and work for change. However sad as it may sound there is little that shocks me these days and despite all the progresses we have made as a community I find we are still extremely lacking in our understanding of the needs of victims. Victims identification, rights and services, while improved, remain extremely underfunded and awareness to the issues while reported on to a much larger extent than previous years, still need to become more and more mainstream.
Regardless of the exterior shell that I have developed over the years, my passion is still fueled by compassion and often guided by that of my heart and there are some stories that shake me…often they shake me as they become more or less the ‘straw on the camels back’. One such area that does continually leave me infuriated is that of any type of blame and shame of a victim of abuse and thus re-victimization is one area I work diligently to address through the work of my own newly established anti-trafficking organization, Bridge to Freedom Foundation. When I speak about sex trafficking I am often a broken record stating”did you know that the average age of entry into (forced) sex trafficking is 11-14 years old?” Then I like to sit back and see the non-verbal reactions and then wait for the societal excuses and blame to come spilling out from many. Such as; “well you mean prostitutes”, or things like ” Kids start so much younger these days.”…all which in some way shape or form place a level of blame, if not all the blame, on that of the victim….a victim, who we stated was a child. No child wakes up and dreams of life working in the sex industry or any sexual assault and abuse.
Once such case that got my nerves rattled recently was a March 8th article by James C. McKinley Jr., “Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town.“, in the New York Times. In the article McKinley, was reporting on the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in an abandoned trailer house by what is believed to be as many as 18 men. The suspects in the case ranged in age from that of mere middle school students to a 27-year-old man. What had myself, and many others, appalled this time was how McKinely appalling used wording and statements which placed blame upon the victim blaming sentiments, much of which came from members of the local Texas community where the girls rape had occurred. Statements by McKinley were insinuating that in some way the young girl had it coming;
“They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.”
Even more shocking were statements that alluded in anyway that the attackers/rapists were going in some way victimized themselves and would now additional suffrage and trauma due to the girls age. McKinley’s concern in this case seemed to be mile away from that of the victim, a child, and the impact the attack will have on her. McKinley quoted Sheila Harrison as saying;
“These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”
This overt concern for the attackers of a young girl is outrageous when so little focus seems to be placed on the lifetime of victimization and trauma the young girl is now left to face.
Sexual abuse/assault and sex trafficking of children never leaves the mental psyche of a child, they cannot be wiped away with time. While the flashes and nightmares of abuse may lessen with time, there are marks of abuse the will always remain and they affect all who are around a survivor of abuse, for the abuse of a child shapes the future of adulthood. Thankfully the community came together in protest as many came under attack from bloggers and other community members, which then led to Change.org’s online petition demanding The New York Times issue a published apology for their coverage of this incident and publish an editorial from a victim’s rights expert on how victim blaming in the media contributes to the prevalence of sexual assault. The Times responded with a letter to the editor about the article in Thursday’s paper, and has since responded.
“Neighbors’ comments about the girl, which we reported in the story, seemed to reflect concern about what they saw as a lack of supervision that may have left her at risk…
As for residents’ references to the accused having to “live with this for the rest of their lives,” those are views we found in our reporting. They are not our reporter’s reactions, but the reactions of disbelief by townspeople over the news of a mass assault on a defenseless 11-year-old.
Regardless of the statement the judgment of the Times to print the statements in the first place shows a lack of awareness and education to the issues.
1 in 4 American girls/women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, and many of these women and girls live in fear of speaking up about their attacks and victimization, let alone coming forward to press criminal charges against their attackers or Pimps/traffickers. Much of this fear has been sprouted as we have allowed ourselves to become a culture of blame. Our society now looks at victims and often places blame for being raped, abused or trafficked, rather than blaming the attacker or pimp. This a culture is only inhibiting survivors from coming forward, highlighting how extensive this problem is with the limited is more concerned with how being held accountable for rape will impact the perpetrator than for the well being of the victim. We now find ourselves living in a society that has mainstreamed a culture of over sexualization.
No matter where you stand on the debate of the commercial sex industry and pornography, children are not willing participants to sex, or sexual advances, nor are children ever anything less than innocent victims. The images of child porn are never truly recovered, the are left to float in the virtual world and continue to victimize. The pain and scars of sexual abuse may fade in time, but they never go away, the trauma they leave behind often stays buried, but will always find its way to the surface in some form one day or another.
