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“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1
Visitors
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Retraumatizing Rape Victims
The disregard of victims' needs by providers can so closely mimic
victims' experiences at the hands of their assailants that secondary
victimization is sometimes called "the second rape" or "the second
assault."[i]
Because most victims of drug-facilitated rapes have no memory of the
sexual assault, people may mistakenly minimize the trauma. Victims feel,
powerlessness, and humiliated by not knowing what was done to them.
[ii]
People may disbelieve the rape victim, ridicule her, abandon, blame,
ostracize, sabotage, threaten, betray her, or side with the rapist
against her. These painful and dangerous reactions can come from family,
friends, and authorities as well as from people associated with the
rapist. Many people fault the rape victim for what she may have done
before, during, or after. The most important thing for a
counselor/friend to do is believe the person when they tell you that
they believe they were drugged and raped.
Because most victims of drug-facilitated rapes have no memory of the
sexual assault, people may mistakenly minimize the trauma. Victims feel
powerlessness, and humiliated by not knowing what was done to them.
[iii]
It fact, it's particularly devastating to rape victims when you're
treated badly by the very people you expected would help you. For many
victims, witnesses and their family members, the emotional injuries may
be the most difficult and long-lasting effects of being the victim of a
crime. Many victims say the betrayal of these experiences is so painful
that it was worse than the rape itself. That's why, in the literature on
rape, this all too common abusive treatment of rape victims has been
given the name, "the second rape".
Social injuries are those caused by society.[iv] A social injury occurs
when the victim is treated insensitively, does not think anyone cares or
is not able to get the help she needs. Anyone can cause a social
injury: a friend or family member, a law enforcement officer, a
prosecutor, a member of the clergy, or a counselor or other service
provider, who may not believe the victim who reports a crime, may not
help the victim, or may not treat the victim with dignity, compassion
and respect. If a victim is treated with dignity, compassion and
respect, she may have less difficulty dealing with these immediate and
long-term crisis reactions. If she is treated poorly, these reactions
may be made worse. When such reactions are worsened, the actions of
others are called the "social injury." Some examples of social injuries
are as follows:
The law enforcement officer or a family member may not believe the
victim when she tries to report a crime. There is a tendency of the
police to view complaints of rape as unfounded if they believe that the
victim was intoxicated at the time (Lopez, 1992). [v], [vi], [vii]
For a crime victim with a disability, in particular, the social injury
may occur when the victim realizes that other people may not believe her
simply because of her disability.
The story about the crime may be reported in the newspaper, on the
television or radio, or may be a source of "gossip" in the community.
This can embarrass the victim, especially if the facts are reported
incorrectly, if personal information about the victim is given, or if
the victim is made to appear foolish.
Family, friends or even a clergy member may not be helpful or
understanding. They may "blame" the victim (not always on purpose) for
what happened or they may not want the victim to talk about it because
it could cause the family shame.
Doctors or nurses may not always identify physical injuries as being crime-related.
Other sources of social injury include mental health professionals,
social service workers, victim service workers, schools or educators,
victim compensation systems, disability program workers, and employers.
Anyone who comes in contact with a victim can cause a social injury,
through lack of information, lack of awareness of victim trauma, or by
treating the victim without respect, dignity or compassion.
In addition to being terribly sexist and wrong, these all too common
abuses of rape victims are also very dangerous to the victim. These
abusive reactions drive rape victims into deepening isolation and
despair. When these abuses gather steam, they can turn the victim's
whole social or family group against her. This can easily or to the loss
of the victim's connections to help. The disbelieving, blaming, and
ostracizing of rape victims is also dangerous to all women and girls.
Driving rape victims into isolation and despair is one of the ways a
male dominated society supports the ongoing existence of rape.
Here are some of the reasons that alone or in combination that people
mistreat rape victims. Some people side with the rapist and mistreat the
victim because: We still live in a male dominated society in which men
and their organizations control most of the power. Rape itself is a
crime of dominance. After a rape occurs, the sexist, male views of rape
frequently resurface with a vengeance. These views easily gather steam,
join forces with the authority of powerful male dominated institutions,
and if not dealt with, will almost always lead to the protection of the
rapist and an easy overwhelming of the victim.
In addition to the biases of sexism working against the victim, it's
just plain easier for people to side with the rapist. Remember, in most
rapes the rapist and the victim know each other. Once the victim makes
the charge of rape, the people around both the victim and the rapist are
forced to take sides. It's almost always easier to take the side of the
rapist. If people believe the rapist, they can simply abandon the
victim to fend for herself. But if people believe the victim, they then
have to go up against the rapist and take action against him. Sadly,
many people just don't have the courage or strength of conviction to
stand up to the rapist and his powerful allies. The rapist has a
criminal mentality and he is willing to lie, manipulate, threaten, and
bully others once the charge of rape is made. The victim, on the other
hand, is wounded and often too weak to defend herself. In addition, she
is not a criminal and as such she is not willing to bully or intimidate
others who don't support her. Once the rapist starts bullying, lying,
and rallying his buddies to his side, even the victims' supporters often
become afraid and fall silent in their defense of the victim.
Once the charge of rape is made all the old sexist stereotypes of rape
begin to surface. The old ideas about what is proper behavior for a
female are so extremely limiting that people can always find a way to
blame the victim. She was out too late, acting too sexy, too innocent,
too assertive, not assertive enough, drank too much, too bitchy, too
stupid, or too aloof. It simply does not matter what the woman or girl
was doing when she was raped. These old constrictions on female behavior
provide ample and convenient cover for those who want a way out of
having to stand up against a rape. Authorities too often don't take rape
seriously. When authorities don't take the rape seriously, people
around the victim get the message they don't have to take the rape
seriously either. Once authorities show they aren't taking the rape
seriously, any support the victim has been able to maintain generally
begins to erode rapidly.
Taken alone or together, these continuing manifestations of sexism in
society make it so much easier for cowardly people to accuse the victim
of lying rather than to accuse a man of rape. Erosion of the rape
victim's support usually doesn't happen right away. In fact, initial
reactions to rape victims are often good. Authorities usually take an
initial report. Friends of the victim usually start out by accompanying
and supporting the victim, and family members often initially show great
concern. It generally takes a little time for the perpetrator to start
organizing his own support and begin bullying, lying, and retaliating in
a way that erodes the victim's initial support. This lead time gives
the victim and her advocates an opportunity to prevent the buildup
toward targeting the victim. The negative reactions in the rape victim's
vital relationships and social groups turn against the victim and then
it's much more difficult to correct them.
Find out more at Medical Whistleblower's website http://medicalwhistleblower.viviti.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i] Secondary Victimization of Rape Victims: Insights from Mental Health
Professionals Who Treat Survivors of Violence Reviewed by Priscilla
Schulz, LCSW from an article of the same title by: Rebecca Campbell, and
Sheela Raja, University of Illinois at Chicago, Published: Violence and
Victims, V. 14 (3), 1999
[ii] Rebecca Campbell, and Sheela Raja, "Secondary Victimization of Rape
Victims: Insights from Mental Health Professionals Who Treat Survivors
of Violence" University of Illinois at Chicago, Violence and Victims, V.
14 (3), 1999, National Violence Against Women Prevention Research
Center http://www.musc.edu/vawprevention/research/victimrape.shtml
[iii] Rebecca Campbell, and Sheela Raja, "Secondary Victimization of
Rape Victims: Insights from Mental Health Professionals Who Treat
Survivors of Violence" University of Illinois at Chicago, Violence and
Victims, V. 14 (3), 1999, National Violence Against Women Prevention
Research Center
http://www.musc.edu/vawprevention/research/victimrape.shtml
[iv] The four injuries: How to get help after a victimization
http://www.trynova.org/victiminfo/victimizationhelp/fourinjuries.html
[v] Lopez, P., 1992: 'He Said She Said An Overview of Date
Rape from Commission Through Prosecution to Verdict' Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology vol. 13, pp. 275-302.
[vi] Joint Inspection Report, 2002: 'Report on the Joint Inspection into
the Investigation and Prosecution of Cases involving Allegations of
Rape' (London: HMCPSI) para. 6.8.
[vii] Sturman, P., 2000: 'Report on Drug Assisted Sexual Assault' (London: British Home Office)
Hidden Injuries
Case of Retraumatization of a rape victim
A March 2009 settlement ended the lawsuit filed in federal district court by Cassandra Sampson, charging that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and one of its nurses, without justification, had five male guards forcibly strip after she went to the emergency room for treatment of migraine headaches. Ms. Sampson, 50, had previously used the psychiatric division of the hospital’s emergency department because of disabilities stemming from emotional and sexual abuse as a child. Ms Sampson was to be compensated for “severe emotional and physical injuries” and reform of hospital policies that discriminate on the basis of psychiatric disability.
Press Releases
Woman Forcibly Stripped by Male Guards Settles ADA Lawsuit (3/10/09)
News
Woman Files Suit in Forced Strip Search, Boston Globe (6/6/06)
ER Searches Trigger Painful Memories, Boston Globe (6/12/06)
Hospital Settles Suit over Woman;s Strip Search, The Boston Channel (3/10/-09)
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Martin Luther King Jr. , Title 42 and 1983
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United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." Confucius
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Theodore
Roosevelt- Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic",
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910