By the time you finish reading these three paragraphs, one woman somewhere in the United States will have been raped. The National Center for Victims estimates that someone is raped every 1.9 minutes, and one woman is victimized by an intimate partner every 52 seconds.
This week is National Crime Victims' Rights Week. It's good to have a week dedicated to crime victims, but anyone whose life has been marred by violence doesn't want to feel like a victim. She'd much rather move from vulnerability to strength and think of herself as a survivor. So how does a victim become a survivor?
Alexis A. Moore, an advocate for crime victims, explains the transformation in three words: "Don't back down." In her personal blog she shares her own difficult journey from victim to survivor and why the internet plays such a critical role in helping crime victims move past victimization into survivorship:
For victims of crime out there struggling to become survivors, my advice is KEEP FIGHTING and fight smart...use all of the available resources...including the Internet to help make your own path to survival a little easier and don't back down. Your rights, your life and your future is worth every struggle and heartache that you may endure.Related articles: Cyberstalking and Cybercrimes Against Women
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Comments
My issue with this otherwise wholly admirable goal is the use of an almost equally passive and pejorative term – “survivor” – which brings to mind images of people walking out of Hiroshima with skin melted off their bodies.
The basic definition of a survivor is someone who simply didn’t die… what’s so triumphant about that? A lot of people are “just surviving” on welfare and foodstamps. I’ve, myself, have battled issues inside and have the mental scars to show for it. Some days, I was just surviving, but I wasn’t living. So, what’s so good about that?
The problem comes, I think, from this whole “let’s-give-everyone-a-warm-and-fuzzy-politically-correct-counter-label” identity movement that piggy-backed some of the cultural movements of the last few decades.
WhiteKnyght, you sound like you need a good hug.
At times, surviving IMHO is pretty heroic. . .especially when a person is barely subsisting on welfare and food stamps. It takes real courage to perceive this safety net as an angel investor in our future.
I think the point of all this is to remind folks that they are not alone. I also think we gain strength from witnessing someone slog through a dark valley and emerge triumphant. It gives all of us hope that we too can make it through whatever challenges are in our path.
You sound to me, WhiteKnyght, like somebody who hasn’t merely survived. You’ve gone on to thrive and at times find joy. That’s the victory. That’s what we celebrate.
Thank you, Anne, for the kind words… I just detest labels, of any kind, and the way language has been deconstructed and rendered meaningless over the years… I agree with the late, great George Carlin who once said that if Post-Traumatic-Strees-Disorder was still called Shell Shock, maybe people would have gotten some help.