Rape is a serious word

[Mother of Chaos]

Another wow, I missed this thread as well

Originally Posted by Bolero

+1000




I am a rape survivor (as of course J-G knows). It was an experience, like RMT's, that happened when I was a teenager, with someone I liked and trusted. It is something I have tried for 16 years to obliterate from my memory. I cannot - will not ever - find the word rape anything other than a description of a hideous sexual violation that robbed me of power, dignity, self-esteem and trust, and it is that very meaning which can and should bring home to people the awfulness of the act. Bullshit quibbling over etymology, or about how 'words are just words', or lack of understanding of outrage over this issue also makes me sick. We should be mad about the diminishing of this word's power. Mad as fucking hell.

I support this 100% I know only to well what Bolero and RMT experienced.

[nambawanatheist]

What a great teacher. Instead of taking the word away from her students, she gave them even greater access to it through discussion.

I'm sure none of those kids left her class confused about the definition of rape and what it actually means.

Perhaps this is OT, but I think it's worth noting that teenagers are people, and people can be c**ts sometimes. They are also young people experimenting with every aspect of life, including words. And of course, they are people who will change. She was wise enough to know that slapping them with an angry prohibition on the misappropriation of the word would never work, would only inflame the situation really, and very rightly approached it openly. Even those little fuckers who would have continued to throw 'rape' around afterwards probably found that it was now weighed down with a heaviness that was no longer funny.

Good on her!

Reminds me of a hero of mine from school whom I will never forget.