Take A Stand For Those Who Can't

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I am going to start out by saying that some people might not like what I have to say here. This is a touchy subject with some rather sensitive comparisons that will be made. I refuse to sit back and let something, which most people would or do ignore, continue when I can at least speak up and possibly prevent others from going through the same pain.

This is 100% me getting up on my Soap Box and doing the right thing. If you do not like soap box topics, feel free to check out ANY of my other posts as they are more educational than preaching.

Everyone at some point in their lives has a weak moment. During these weak points in our life we are the most susceptible and vulnerable to being forced into doing things we do not want to. While I am a strong willed individual with a dominant personality most of the time, I am still human. I still have my moments where I am so unsure of myself that I am not able to speak up for what I want, think, or feel. This is normal and I tend to not even think about it most of the time as it is a part of me. I recently had a friend of mine tell me about a situation in which she was beyond vulnerable, and others mistreated and took advantage of her to the point where she is hurting badly. Her situation spoke to me in ways that I never wanted to have to face. It brought up my own past and hardships of a similar nature.

She is at a point in her life where you would think that she would know better than to let people take advantage of her. I dont care how old you are, you are never too old for someone to hurt you in the type of way that she was. She was in a place where she should have felt safe, she should have had people there to keep her from being hurt. In reality, these people either did not know, or were part of the problem. This is NOT OK!!!! What makes it worse is that it was, in a sense, a rather sexual situation. Now there were things which took place prior to this, but those do not exactly have an impact on what I am speaking about. What does have an impact is the fact that she was in a situation and community where she SHOULD have felt safe. Instead of standing up for someone who was not able to, those people who were in the community just stood by and egged it on. They made it worse and did NOTHING for one of their own. She was forced to do something she was not comfortable or willing to do, in a way that while sexual could not be classed as rape.

She was sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, publicly humiliated, and forced to do things she did not want to. NOT OK!!!!!!!!! These are serious crimes both legally and in basic human decency. The people who did this to her could easily go to jail for at least 2 of them, possibly 3. The group of people who stood by and watched without saying anything? Technically they could be charged with aiding and abetting as well as failure to report a crime.

Sadly what we have here is a situation of lack of compassion for someone who needed help. This is the same EXACT mentality that perpetuates “victim blaming” and rape culture. I am almost certain that their opinions were “well if she didn't want to do it she could have left” or “she got herself into the situation so she has to deal with it” or some other stupid excuse for being a horrible person.

The reason why I compare this to rape culture and victim blaming, is because they perpetuate the notion that the victim is the one who had all of the power to stop it from happening. This is not how things really are. The victims of any crime are not to blame. Those who commit the crimes are to blame, those who see it happening but do not try and help are to blame, and those who stand back and act like it is normal are to blame.

According to a CDC survey done between 2004 and 2006, "1 in 20 women and men" have had to face either attempts or actual sexual assault. This figure is only for USA and does not take into account the number of people who do not admit to being victims; be it out of fear, pride, shame, or any other reason.

What I would like to see everyone take away from this is that we need to speak up for those who can't, go to officials if needed, protect those who need it. Do not be part of the silent crowd, STAND UP FOR YOUR FELLOW (WO)MAN. SPEAK UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT. PROTECT THE REPUTATION OF YOUR COMMUNITY. DO NOT LET PEOPLE YOU SEE BECOME VICTIMS WITHOUT A FIGHT!! Above all, just remember, treat others how you would want to be treated.

#soapboxtopics #education #rant