Running head: Societal victimization 1

The dangerous effects of labeling a sexual assault survivor as a victim

Christopher Cleveland
James Madison University
Societal victimization 2

Abstract

Anya Alvarez, a former professional golfer and current social and political advocator to

end sexual violence, published an article stating that media outlets need to be more considerate

when writing about rape victims. Alvarez states that media outlets often talk about how much

rape victim’s lives were ruined and how they will never be able to return to modern life. Alvarez

raises a very important question with this article, and that question is the focus of this paper. Is

the way that we as society view rape victims overall harmful for the victims. I’ve selected this

question for discussion because its seldom discussed despite become increasingly relevant in

society, with things such as the meToo movement.

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With the rise of movements dedicated to bringing justice to people who have been sexual

victimized in one way or another comes the question of how to handle these survivors. When

media outlets write articles on sexual violence they often choose to report the darkest of details,

and how these affected the lives of the victim(s). Writers do this for several reasons, with the

most obvious being that it stands out and draws attention to the article, after all people are more

likely to act on an issue if they are hit with the ugliest of details. This is certainly done with

Nobel intentions, writers wish to motivate society into taking actions to stop sexual assault and

rape. The issue lies in how this affects the victims.

Writers will often describe how traumatic the event was for the victim. How their lives

will never be the same again and how they may never move on. Which again is done to motivate

other people into acting. However, this isn’t exactly true. Rape victim’s lives don’t end after the

rape but they do become considerably harder. Aside from the numerous physical damage that

can come with their horrific experience, they receive significant psychological trauma. Victims

often struggle finding their place in life again after going through a rape and being constantly

labeled as a victim doesn’t help. Being constantly remind that their lives where ruined is

counterintuitive to helping them move on to find a new life. What’s more is this creates a victim

label. Since they are only ever reported to be a victim they are viewed only as a victim by

society, when they are people trying to move on and survive their experience. The mental trauma

that comes from rape is significant, and can last a survivor’s entire life. Obviously, the side

effects are situational but experts say that being labeled a victim is overall harmful to any

situation and can sometimes even lead to people not seeking the help they need.
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The first source analyzed is “What is Rape Trauma Syndrome?” by Desree Hanson. This

is a scientific informative on what Rape Trauma Syndrome (or RTS for short) is, how it

develops, and the wide-reaching effects it can have on a person. The key points in the article

being that RTS effects people in many ways, much more than most forms of PTSD, and as such

can be difficult to recover from.

This article helps develop my point because of its discussion on how to help a rape

survivor. The last portion of the article is spent discussing the exact stages someone experiencing

RTS will go through and how to help them through it. The article discusses that symptoms can

be long lasting and states that “It often helps a survivor to have counselling if s/he is

experiencing symptoms that upset her/him.” (Hanson 5). One of the biggest issues with being

labeled a victim is that survivors are less likely to seek help out of fear. This is detrimental to

rape victims as they are not able to express their feelings which Hanson also states are necessary

to recovery. Hanson says that “However, if a rape survivor is going to recover well from the

impact of a rape, s/he must let her/himself remember the rape and feel whatever s/he is feeling

inside.” (Hanson 5) which shows the urgency for victims to feel through their emotions so they

can move on with their lives, and while seeming simple this isn’t that is particularly easy to do

alone. Hanson also states that RTS is a lifelong disorder, stating that people are likely to have

flash backs and symptoms all throughout their lives. Hanson also states that these are likely to

get better over time, that is if the initial trauma is adequately treated, if this isn’t the case then the

opposite is likely to happen. Studies show that if people don’t deal with this adequately and seek

help the symptoms they receive are often significantly worse than if they sought help.
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The next article chosen is called “The lifelong consequences for rape” by Starre Vartan.

The article focuses on the far reaching lifelong consequences of rape and how they affect not

only people but society. The article has several key points in which the author discusses the

different after effects of rape on people, including the lasting psychological damage. She then

goes on to discusses how this damage can be influenced by or even caused by society and effects

how we view this issue.

This article is very critical to my argument because it agrees with me that societal

reactions to rape can have serious effects on the survivors, and states just how long lasting those

effects can be. One of Vartan’s headers is “social acknowledgement is one of the most important

healing effects.” (vartan, 8) which ties in nicely with my paper. Vartan explains that for survivors

to be able to start the healing process they need social acknowledgment and help. In the

following passages Vartan explains that Survivors aren’t just going to get better, for them to

begin to get over their trauma they need some sort of social understand. She brings up incidents

where this lack of understanding, or even belief of the event, had a significant impact on the

survivors. “Social acknowledgement is one of the most important healing effects—a society has

to acknowledge that this suffering happened, and has to give the people some kind of symbol of

that,” (Vartan, 10). The article uses research from several experts that show that if adequate help

isn’t found victims can suffer with this for decades. This article agrees with the previous article

heavily. Both go into detail on the effects of RTS and how long lasting they can be, where the

first article mostly focuses on its effects to the victim directly, the second article talks about how

those effects can affect their lives. Both of these articles clearly show how others people’s views

can greatly affect RTS.

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The third and final article is “Why Don’t Victims of Sexual Harassment Come Forward

Sooner.” By Beverly Engel. This article is all about how fear of victimization causes sexual

harassment and rape victims to not come forward and repot their stories. Engel expresses how

this can be done in a number of ways, how sometimes they won’t report this to anyone if not

legally. The article is one discussion on how this is made possible and concludes with the author

saying that people need to come forward to seek help.

This article is very necessary to my paper as it ties the other two sources together while

explaining the primary concepts of the past two articles, and the primary dangers that society

poses to rape victims. The primary danger being that fear of victimization can cause survivors to

not seek the help they need to move on, which has been thoroughly proven at this point to have

many negative consequences. The article goes into detail about how this happens, and how it can

influence RTS. The article also goes into great detail on how fear can cause woman to never

report this, and how this fear can affect their lives. “Fear of the repercussions is a huge obstacle

woman face when it comes to reporting sexual harassment or assault” (Engel, 8). Engel uses the

next couple of passages to explains that even though this fear can be irrational it is still

influenced by society and causes serious damage to the woman. Engel states that woman

beginning doubting their selves if they have issues coming forward. “most will continue

doubting themselves and assuming they will be doubted if they report.” (Engel 15). This is

another issue created by societal perceptions and perceived repercussions specifically. Victims

should never have to fear coming forward, it shouldn’t be harder for woman to seek help.
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In conclusion I believe I have provided sufficient evidence to not only prove that how

society views rape victims can have serious effects on them, but also that there is an urgency to

change this. There is a lot of information on the internet regarding rape and its victims, and a

majority of it is counter effective. While it may help motivate people to stand and take action

against these deeds, or first and foremost concern as a society should always be healing. There is

a growing issue where woman is too afraid to come forward when these deeds are set upon them,

and this needs to change. Victims need help, and one way we can do that is respecting them as

human beings.
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Sources:

Alvarez, Anya. "Writers Can Convey the Agony of Rape Without Disempowering
Survivors." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints
in Context,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/FQPYJA068412322/OVIC?u=viva_jmu&xid=3fbdc7
d2. Accessed 13 Feb. 2018. Originally published as "Why I’m Not a ‘Victim’ of Sexual
Assault," Rewire, 9 June 2016.

Engel, B. (n.d.). Why Don't Victims of Sexual Harassment Come Forward Sooner?
Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-compassion-
chronicles/201711/why-dont-victims-sexual-harassment-come-forward-sooner

Hansson, D. (n.d.). What is Rape Trauma Syndrome? Retrieved March 25, 2018, from
https://web.archive.org/web/20080317034912/http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/sjrp/publicat/rape.htm

Vartan, S. (2014, December 15). The Lifelong Consequences of Rape. Retrieved March
25, 2018, from https://psmag.com/social-justice/lifelong-consequences-rape-96056