Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't seen anyone attacking Epstein victims? Other than the other men of course, I'm not sure that those other men are blameless or victims of him.
Refusing to hold the men (and women) who committed these crimes accountable is linked to victim blaming. There is an attitude of "oh well, this is what powerful people do, what do you expect?" Epsteins victims are literally just walking around trying to get anyone to care or do something about what this man, and the many people who helped and collaborated with him, did. And people look right through them. Like they aren't there, like this didn't happen. It did, everyday we learn more and more about how much it happened. And yet so many people still act as though the victims are irrelevant or inconsequential. It's sick.
I am an SA survivor and I've seen this firsthand. The first thing many people do when you tell them that a person they know SA'd you is look for an explanation to exonerate that person. People will do this even if they have known you, the survivor, for a long time. They seem to justify before they even contemplate expressing empathy for your experience. The assumption is that you must be mistaken. I've experienced this enough times that I no longer talk about my experiences with SA in any setting other than one designed for SA survivors. It's not worth it. I am tired of fighting through this instinctual reflex to protect the perpetrator.
I've seen people do this even when they KNOW it's the truth. Power corrupts people. Not just the person in power. Everyone around them.