pieces of holes (TRIGGER WARNING)

[NicholeW.]

pieces of holes (TRIGGER WARNING)
Little Light, October 17, 2008, Portland, OR.

http://takingsteps.blogspot.com/2008/10/pieces-of-holes-trigger-warning.html

I was raped.

I can't really make that flowery. I can't pretty it up or find some more eloquent way of saying it. I've tried so hard to turn it into the piles of words I paint everything with that I've failed to just say it.
I know I'm not alone in it. It's something more than a third of women in general, and more than half of trans women specifically, can say. It took me a long time to admit that I, too, can say it.

[Janet_Girl]

More proof that we are viewed as freaks.  Even by the medical community that is to help victims.  The thing that upsets me the most is the fact that ER staff did not take the victim seriously.  Being Trans is not asking for it, just as being a attractive woman isn't asking for it.

The writer was raped three times that I can see.  Once by her attacker, twice by the medical staff, and third by the police who did nothing.  And this all happened in Portland.  The are trans-friendly laws in Portland, and the state has anti-discrimination laws.  But a lot that does when the hate is still there.  Where are the politicians and the anti-hate laws that they are spouting now here in Oregon.  The Mathew Shepard Law is a law based to punish the guilty, but when the police don't even think that it is a crime, because of a person's gender identity.  How can the ever be justice for victims of hate crimes when no one will believe that it exists, just because they don't "believe in it".

The only thing that any of us really want or need is to live our lives without interference.  Free of hate, phobias, and being made fun of.

[NicholeW.]

Lots of places have laws. The enforcement of the laws and the enforcers are often the difficulty, Janet.

[Janet_Girl]

Lots of places have laws. The enforcement of the laws and the enforcers are often the difficulty, Janet.

So very, very true.  And there is no laws that says they have to put their personal opinions on hold.  Up hold the law yes, but they still have their personal opinions.  And that is why results like this happen.  And the victim does not have to be a transwoman,  just a woman.

As I have always said.  Everyone must obey the law, except those that make it and those that enforce it.

[NicholeW.]

And some of us learn that quite clearly when faced with the situations that require some enforcement of the law and some ability to place a prejudice aside.

N~

[Janet_Girl]

And I would hope and pray that none of us ever has to come face to face with this problem or anything that requires the assistance of law enforcement.  I feel so sorry for the writer and how she was treated or rather mistreated.

[Nero]

I must admit to some subconscious sexism on my part because as I read, assuming a man was of course the perpretator, I was shocked when the rapist turned out to be a genderqueer female bodied person and found myself intstantly doubting the story.

For after all can a female (or female assigned) person be capable of rape?

This is so deeply ingrained in us. I know it in my heart but just can't seem to get my head around it - are women even capable of this? and if they are, surely the incident was much less than made out to be, right?

Less painful, less traumatizing, less dehumanizing, less forceful, less 'rape', surely?

These are sick, sexist and wrong thoughts but they flitted through my head as surely as they do most of society.
The difference is I'm now recognizing I thought this way.

[Janet_Girl]

Yes Nero, women are capable of rape.  Please remember that rape isn't about the sex, it is about power and control. 

But then some laws say rape is penetration, therefore women can not rape based on that view of rape.

[lisagurl]

The fact is 90% of all crime goes unpunished. The message here is the law does not stop a crime happening to anyone. Be prepared to save yourself. Be aware that every minute of your life you can be subjected to mistreatment or even be killed. Be alert and do not put your body in dangerous places at the times when the odds are that you will be subject to problems. Too many people impair their senses late at night and are among people they do not know with no means to protect themselves.