Flashback Feminist Friday--Sexual Assault Can Take Many Forms
Caution: Sexually explicit content Currently, there is a controversy surrounding a recently released video of a young woman being sexually assaulted by a young man on the street. The controversy is whether this woman is a “real victim” or not. (There’s also additional controversy about the identity of the victim.) This conversation, about “real” rape, and “real” victims has gone on and on and although I will add my outcry and frustration, I cannot add a different perspective. Besides to say that rape is rape and victims are victims, until they become survivors. Do we really need to compare and rate levels of trauma and when abuse is “bad enough”? Instead, I would like to comment on the outcries that this woman is not being sexually assaulted, and in my opinion, a lot of this comes from the fact that this sexual assault does not include vaginal intercourse through penetration by a penis. There is a notion that digital pe...