What is love? What is trust? What is safety? What is sex and what is power (over)? When is it o.k. to be vulnerable? These are all issues I grapple with at the very core and heart of my being, and they’re good issues to raise on a day like “Valentine’s Day.” Being a feminist and woman who is highly sensitive to issues of sexual violence and rape, I find this video a good example of how simple yet complex our activism must be around these issues. It’s also important to highlight the ways in which race, sexuality, gender, and class play into the reality of sexual violence. I feel deeply saddened by the power of rape culture. We must consistently claim that rape survivors are “people” too and they have feelings, experience PTSD, and serious repercussions from sexual violence. We must combat the pervasive ideological epidemic that women, and anyone who sits outside the rigid white heterosexual male-centered gender paradigm, is inherently sub-human and deserves to be disrespected, hated, harmed, and abused. Men and boys are victims/survivors too. The statistics are much higher than one would think, and unfortunately the shame around this truth squelches the visibility of this reality and silences survivors. We all live in a rape culture. We are all affected. Here we are, it’s 2013, and these issues are on the table. I’m grateful that there is at least a publicized discussion. I’m grateful for the people who spoke out on Valentine’s Day. These issues and the victims/survivors of violence deserve our attention. We have a long way to go.
