Miska of SCUM-O-RAMA! discusses prison rape in "lets get some perspective":
"if men really seriously have a problem with prison rape (and its obvious they dont, otherwise they wouldnt joke about it so flippantly all the time), then I guess they should stop raping other men in prison or something. CRAZY SOLUTION, I KNOW."
As a rape survivor myself and a supporter of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, I can attest to the fact that there are many real men and women devoted to ending prison rape and willing to discuss it in a serious and mature manner, rather than just the manchild(s) that Miska has been unfortunately exposed to and describes above. I'm not gonna play the survivor statistics minimization game that many find so fulfilling as one survivor of any type is just plain one survivor too many. Silencing the voice of any survivor for any reason and making sweeping generalizations is an abhorrent thought to me and I'm grateful that the major survivor advocacy groups refuse to engage in such disgusting behaviour.
Just Detention International is one very serious organization with regard to the abolition of prison rape for all inmates and they’ve done a great deal of work in that area. I’d recommend that anyone truly interested in ending prison rape give their website and advocacy works a view. A summary of their mission statement is below:
"Cases of sexual abuse in detention are not rare, isolated incidents, but the result of a systemic failure to protect the safety of inmates. Victims of prisoner rape are left beaten and bloodied, contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and suffer severe psychological harm. Once released – and the vast majority of prisoners do eventually get out – they return to their communities with all of their physical and emotional scars."
It is not about the statistics or who has it worse. Oppression Olympics are an ugly, minimizing and childish way to score "points." Rape of any kind, against anyone, is a human rights tragedy and I have a real problem when I see it defended, used as a form of mockery or turned into a weapon to silence survivors based on gender, regardless of who the offending apologist is at that moment. A recent coalition letter (disclosure: signed by me as well) that included survivor advocates like RAINN, JDI and other organizations from across the political spectrum is available on my website. Any readers truly interested in helping prison rape survivors and have the time to give, could make an impact supporting the work of JDI.
Feel free to leave comments here or in the Current Events forum at Pandora's Aquarium if you are a member.
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I believe the author of the offending blog is forgetting the 1 in 10 statistic (and is the reality of male rape even greater?) when she alleges in a generalized way that men are only threatened with rape when in prison. It is far too easy as a woman who has been raped to forget that men suffer too, and that no one has any ascendency or claim to greater pain. I forget it myself sometimes, but the point is to work toward a world where no one needs to be fearful that their body will be violated, no matter where they are. Safety and freedom are not the exclusive property of either gender, and it is time society and our attitudes reflected that fact.
Wed 1/26/2011 7:54 AM
That is really disgusting 🙁 Male or female, prisoner or not, rape is never something that’s OK or that we should accept, and people who’ve experienced it deserve support. Women also commit sexual assaults. There are some cultural things involved, things we shouldn’t ignore, but blaming all men on the basis of what some do is just so wrong. I wish there was more support for men who’ve been hurt like this and more scope for men to be involved in it too.
Wed 1/26/2011 5:15 PM