The Heavy Discussion

     We had two wonderful speakers in class on October 15^th, for some pretty heavy and interesting discussions. The first discussion was on victims of assault and while I thought I was pretty knowledgeable on the subject matter, I learned a great deal of information. As a victim of assault myself, it wasn’t until something happened to me that I started realizing how many other women were victims of some kind assault in their lives. The number is unreal, yet the crime continues to happen and people continue to blame the victims. Victims are even blaming themselves. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every 9 seconds a woman is assaulted in the U.S. 

So what is this cycle and why is it ok for a victim to have endured such pain and get told it was their fault?

I wish I knew the answer.

     I understood from the discussion that many factors contribute to blaming the victim from guilt and fear and power from the abuser that he/she think they are entitled to have. And it does make sense. The abuser wants control and power and in turn, the intentional harmful act makes the victim feel guilty as if they done something wrong to deserve it or fearful of getting help because of the risks that are there. Risks can include not being believed, the fear of the abuser coming after the victim for seeking help, severing financial or familial ties etc.

     I personally hate how majority of assault cases are overlooked and how a large number of them occur from people victims already know. According to the Victims of Crime website, 67.8% of women and 45% of males are assaulted by someone they know. 

     Majority of the time victims don’t get the proper healing they need because of the way they are treated from seeking help. Because of this, they walk around for years with feelings of pain, anger and resentment. From personal experience I know exactly how it feels to be assaulted, doubted and then have your entire character questioned by family members at the expense of the abuser who should have been held accountable.  The abuser received a green light go pass that said, “you did nothing wrong.” While it took time and I did eventually get the healing I needed only by the Grace of God and my savior Jesus Christ, my heart goes out to those who haven’t.

     Assault is serious and should never be taken lightly no matter the situation. No one deserves to be abused in any way and once that abuse happens, it is ALWAYS the abusers fault. End of story.

     On another note, the LGBTQ community certainly has a history although the name is fairly new. What I learned from the speaker was how that community was portrayed in the media some decades ago and I must admit…I was completely shocked at what I learned. 

     He shared with us many shows, actors and actresses starting in the 1950’s that portrayed someone in the LGBTQ community and how people were reacting to it. We looked at how in 1954, there was the first gay character on television. From there, we examined many other shows that laughed at people who were gay and on the show, the Jeffersons was where the first black transgender women was portrayed. Some shows that addressed gay characters in some way were Three’s Company, Archie, Mash, Cheers, Golden Girls etc.

     It was one program on CBS in 1967 called, The Homosexuals that talked about homosexuality as if were a plague. The tone was very, “scary movie” like and the fact it was called, THE Homosexuals really says it all.

     Nowadays, the LGBTQ community is more in television shows then at any other time. While it is still a controversial topic, as far as if homosexuality and the rest of the community should be accepted, it has certainly become more prevalent in media. Also not to mention the fact same-sex marriage is now legal in all states as of June 26, 2015 says a lot as far as the community being accepted.