Written by Andrelyn Izquierdo.
An essay to help see the word victim in a new light.
Image by Geralt from Pixabay.
When experiencing repeated assaults by the same attacker or different ones, it keeps the victim as a victim. If the victim is able to try and survive in multiple ways, then it’s considered a victim trying to survive. The label of victim is shunned and shamed because in our culture, it puts the person as someone who is weak and asking for it. To be a victim is to be blamed along with receiving more negative consequences. At this point, who would want to call themselves a victim to accurate identify their role in a committed crime.
There’s 3 kinds of people in a crime:
Victim - the person being attacked.
Witness (if there is one) - the person who has seen the attack.
Attacker (many other names can take the place of this, such as rapist, perpetrator, offender, abuser, etc.) - the person who is harming the victim in any way.
The word survivor is much more favored, which ends up mislabeling victims that can mislead their stories. They say how you’re a survivor now and that means the period of being a victim is over as if it’s never going to happen again. This may be true for those who only experience a one time occurrence or if something happened to the attacker to where he/she/they really cannot harm the victim anymore. At this point, yes…the victim has now transitioned into being a survivor.
But what happens when it’s still not over? When the stalking is still occurring? When there are still attempted and successful rapes? When your body is still being harmed by others? Remember…each time a crime is committed, there are three kinds of people. Most of the time there are only two types when it comes to sexual crimes. This does not mean there’s a limit to the quantity of each type of person. It’s simply mentioning that each person’s actions take on a certain role.
The stereotypical victim portrayed on different media is someone who is labeled as weak with complaints of crying too much, promiscuous, depressed, suicidal, having parental issues, having a problem childhood, misdiagnosed as disabled, and put as having a behavior disorder. It's so common that people now expect rape victims to have these symptoms when that's not the case. Instead of being celebrated, these innocent people have their reputations torn down and put as someone who sleeps around. It's not right. This discourages empowering victims and instead encourages more silence because these are the consequences for someone attacking you.
When there’s a person who is continuously being a victim in a crime, this technically means that the person is still a victim and not a survivor. Sure, the person is still alive so there’s that meaning of survival in which you can be both at the same time. Then there’s also being the victim of many crime cases and fighting to survive verbally, physically, or through the law.
When it comes to these kinds of situations, being a survivor puts the person who was attacked as an afterthought and falsely portraying safety. But if the person states being a victim, then the blame game begins falsely accusing the victim of motive, causing the crime, or actually committing it. The first instinct is to interrogate the abused with questions regarding what she/he/they were wearing at the time of the incident, what was said, how many intimate partners in the past, and any other choices that were actually the victim's and not the attacker's beforehand. This is considered to be violating the victim all over again as it does more harm than good. These actions that occur afterwards can be done throughout the entire reporting process by anyone involved including, but not limited to:
Hotline Volunteers/Employees
911
Neighbors
Strangers
Law Enforcement
Paramedics
Firemen
Medical Professionals
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners
Advocates
Lawyers
Judges
And any other groups of people who may be involved in the sexual assault reporting process dependent upon where you live. The details of how each of these groups take action to victim blame and discourage reporting will be discussed in a future article.
There’s more shame to being a victim than a survivor. If the offenses are not over, then it is strongly encouraged for you to fight back to defend yourself. More likely than not, the offenses will not decrease or stop occurring until you do so regardless if it's an open case or not.
Be empowered. Crying is not a sign of weakness. Don't feel like the kind of victim they want you to be. Whichever name or label you or a loved one end up considering to be, own it. Do not place blame or shame on yourself for an attacker’s actions that are not your fault. However, do try to defend yourself when possible and never give up!
Are you a victim or survivor? Or are you both at the moment? When the opportunity presents itself, choose to fight back even as a victim.
#SlaveryandHumanTraffickingPeventionMonth #sextrafficking #victim #survivor #besafe #humantrafficking #bestrong #defendyourself #fight #selfdefense #helpstophumantrafficking #EndRape #speakingup #SurvivorStrong #UnseenFortitude #empowerment
#Besafe and #staystrong
Inspired by my true story.
This article is written by:
Andrelyn Izquierdo
Comments