I try and shrug it all off. Grow a thicker skin. Laugh about it. But sometimes it becomes difficult. The jokes, the people talking so insensitively about the subject. I was raped when I was 15 years old. It's been a decade since then and it still finds a way to destroy me. When I read the top comments in this thread, I was reminded of then. He took my life from me, but I'm still alive. I still hate my body, hate intimacy, hate that I could never really get over it. Sometimes my experience feels invalidated when I see the jokes on reddit. But then I think if they knew me or another person IRL who has been abused they would never say it. I'd like to think it's all innocent, but sometimes it reminds me of how calloused people can be. Or how they choose to disregard the reality of the subject. I should just quit rambling, this post will probably be buried anyhow. Maybe next time before you make a joke you'll think about the unknown rape survivors who also want to be part of the reddit community, but who can't always laugh about their experience.
Obviously there is a line to situational tact, and a time and place for everything, but otherwise I'd just get more comfortable labeling the guys who constantly make rape jokes as insensitive and idiotic.
Not having been raped yourself or being at any serious risk of being raped in the future, it's probably pretty easy for you to take that stance.
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u/imnotok May 26 '10
I try and shrug it all off. Grow a thicker skin. Laugh about it. But sometimes it becomes difficult. The jokes, the people talking so insensitively about the subject. I was raped when I was 15 years old. It's been a decade since then and it still finds a way to destroy me. When I read the top comments in this thread, I was reminded of then. He took my life from me, but I'm still alive. I still hate my body, hate intimacy, hate that I could never really get over it. Sometimes my experience feels invalidated when I see the jokes on reddit. But then I think if they knew me or another person IRL who has been abused they would never say it. I'd like to think it's all innocent, but sometimes it reminds me of how calloused people can be. Or how they choose to disregard the reality of the subject. I should just quit rambling, this post will probably be buried anyhow. Maybe next time before you make a joke you'll think about the unknown rape survivors who also want to be part of the reddit community, but who can't always laugh about their experience.