Our Whole Culture Blamed Her – Without a Word
I read a letter on a problem page in a teen magazine. It was back in the 80s but I still remember how devastating it was. A 17 year old girl had been raped and she hadn't told anyone. Her reason for not telling was that she thought that people would disbelieve her, specifically because she wasn't "pretty enough" to get raped. She didn't think that anyone would believe her pretty enough to be rapable.
She wasn't experiencing somebody blaming her for her assault. She was experiencing the mass victim-blaming myths suffocating her and making her believe she had no options at all.
I hope she's ok. I still think about her, from that one letter when I was a teenage girl.
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