3 suicides in less than 3 weeks of women who had been sexually assaulted

3 suicides in less than 3 weeks of young women, who said they had been sexually assaulted, all of whom turned to systems for help, and were let down.

The first was 14 year-old Samantha Kelly in Detroit, who took her own life,   after class mates accused her of lying about the assault. She had reported an 18 year old fellow student of raping her, and her mother had been interviewed on TV – thereby revealing her identity to others in her school. She started to be harassed in person and online, and malicious facebook pages started to pop up about her (even now after her death some are appearing). The case has now been dismissed as they say that without her testimony a conviction would not be possible.

The second was 19-year-old Elizabeth Seeberg, a freshman at St. Mary’s College in Indiana. The assault reportedly happened inside a dorm room August 31.  She reported it to police the next day and Elizabeth Seeberg was interviewed by police.  Elizabeth Seeberg provided two written statements and pointed out the football player.

Thirdly was Beatrice Delgado, a 17-year old, who committed suicide after reporting that she had been sexually assaulted.  The girl, who reported that she had been “tied up, beaten and raped” initially sought medical treatment but then asked to be taken home instead, saying that she felt traumatized and didn’t want to face the medical exam alone.  There, she hanged herself in the garage.

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This year seems to have been full of things like this… The most obvious of which was the spait of LGBT suicides now long ago.

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Where are the support systems that are meant to be there to help people in these siturations? Doesn’t it just seem like these people were all failed by those that they reached out to? Should schools have most awareness of these issues?

I personally believe that there should be lessons on sexualitiy, sexual assualt/rape, and abuse in schools. But then again I am one of these peopel who think that most cases of bullying and such are caused by misnderstanding and ignorance and so that education will fix it. Maybe though sme people would bully others and accuse people of being liers regardless.

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All in all, not really been a great year for our cause

Reclaim the Night

Thousands of women from all over the UK and the rest of Europe will be travelling to London to attend the 7th Reclaim the Night march on Saturday 27th November 2010. Be one of them!

-Reclaim the nights website – http://www.reclaimthenight.org/

In Britain, it is estimated that one in two women will experience domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking during their lifetime, and rape convictions are at an all-time low – just 5.6% of all reported rapes end in a conviction. Every week, two women die at the hands of a former or current partner and new cases of child sexual abuse are reported weekly.And the idea that women should protect themselves by staying inside after dark seems to carry as much weight as ever. Recent coverage about women being “irresponsible” if they drink to excess and then report rape has given the distinct impression that the streets are only safe for very well-behaved, sober women, and then only if they venture out in daylight hours. Police still routinely warn women to “be careful” when out late at night, an approach that puts the onus on women to protect themselves, rather than pinpointing their would-be attackers.

In the summer a U.K. study revieled that a significant number of people thought that rape victims were at least partially to blame for their attacks. The various reasons that respondents blamed women for were the unsurprising — if she had been drinking, if she had worn something revealing, if she had engaged in some other kind of sexual contact with the rapist, etc. — but no less disturbing than they’ve always been.

In 2009 there was a 15% in reports of vioelce against women, and in 2008 there was a 8% rise in rapes. These are the only 2 crimes to have increased in number ove rthe last few years.

And now for some pictures of tonights event from our friends over at shadow light photography: