Till It Happens To You

Till It Happens to You Music Video

You tell me it gets better,

It gets better in time.

You say I'll pull myself together,

Pull it together, you'll be fine

Tell me, what the hell do you know?

What do you know?

Tell me how the hell could you know?

How could you know?

Till it happens to you,

You don't know how it feels,

How it feels

Till it happens to you, you won't know,

It won't be real

No, it won't be real, won't know how it feels.

Lady Gaga

What Do You Know? 

As I sit down to compose this article someone has been sexually assaulted. Before you read this, many more people are becoming victims to a crime that happens whether the media pays attention or not. 

Lady Gaga, a victim of rape as a young woman of 19, knows that it's not an issue of skinned knees, but a personal invasion. The word terrorist has been thrown around a lot; but sexual assault in my opinion is an act of personal terrorism.

A young person enlists into the Army, Navy, Marines, or Air Force to make a difference, to be part of a team... A woman gets hired out of many applicants (presumably because of her qualifications). A new student enters the campus of a University excited to learn and grow and experience... This has been a wish fulfilled. And then when rape happens their lives go spiraling out of control. Their view of life, people, and friends becomes shattered. 

Apparently the military, like many other institutions, is failing still at combating sexual assault. For all of its talk about Zero tolerance, very little seems to reverse the course of this problem. Yes, reporting may be up but retaliation in the ranks continues.

Many survivors we interviewed, some of whom did not initially report their assault, said they did not want to report because they had seen what happened to others. As one said, “I know how it works in the military. If you report, you are out [of the military].” One Marine who was ostracized after reporting, walked in on her roommate being violently gang-raped. When she asked her roommate if she would report the assault, her roommate said that she would not report because “I don’t want to end up like you.” When a trainee turned her drill sergeant in for sexual misconduct in 2012, she experienced such intense abuse in retaliation that she later discovered his other victims made a pact never to reveal what he had done to them.-Embattled. Human Rights Watch. May 18, 2015

Until You Walk Where I Walk

Retaliation keeps the sexual assault alive in the victim's life. That fear sent shock waves out to others by the perpetrators and supporters that this is what happens to victims when they speak out. Victims of rape in the military are most affected because they are subject to living in close proximity to the assailant, and live in constant fear of repeat assaults. 

Montreal mayor says Roosh V is not welcome in Canada

Social rape advocate, Daryush “Roosh V” Valizadeh is encouraging his misogynist followers to “come out of the shadows and join him in his crusade to make men's rights to rape women in privacy legal. His belief is :

“By attempting to teach men not to rape, what we have actually done is teach women not to care about being raped, not to protect themselves from easily preventable acts, and not to take responsibility for their actions--- I thought about this problem and am sure I have the solution: make rape legal if done on private property.” -Raw Story February 1, 2016

His twisted mindset seems to work for him. Mainly because a person like Roosh has no moral filter. They have simply excused themselves by believing his lusts and predatory attitude doesn't hurt him, and no one else matters.  Roosh V was in Ontario where he was told to leave a local bar in an unfriendly manner. He plans to hold secret meetings to promote his rape agenda. Some would advocate his right to free speech. But in this blogger's opinion: speech which advocates the violation of another person should not be sanctioned or tolerated.

ODU Frat House Signs: A Bad Idea

This Is No Joke

Predators like Roosh V travel from country to country because they seem to know that in our institutions and even in society we do not stand together against this crime. Our justice system is lazy to the point where rape kits are shelved, warehoused, and even forgotten like relics in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Many victims have been told by prosecutors, that their case isn't winnable, so they won't attempt to seek justice against the alleged assailant. The issue on College campuses gets blurred because of the loss of funding or the accused is the football star. The mentality in the military is to respect tradition and the glory of the Armed Forces, while men and women are sexually assaulted in the ranks.

When the media quiets down about this or any human outrage, we go to sleep again believing the problem has gone away. But many of us continue to see the things that the media has moved away from. Just because this isn't happening to you, doesn't mean it's not happening to someone right now in our societies, on our college campuses and Universities. Although the silent agony of this crime may not be heard, the victims cries are real. Sadly we don't take this serious until it happens to us. We forget about this shameful crime until it happens to us.

Resources

Till It Happens To You- YouTube.com

US ‘make rape legal’ group- RawStory.com

A Frat House Hung ‘Offensive Banners- UpRoxx.Com

Montreal mayor says Roosh V is not welcome in Canada- Tarnga.Net

Special Thanks To 

Vera (Veracrusin)

Catherine (Deja1422)

For being my eyes during this difficult time.

No More PSA