Be careful when describing the lifelong impact of rape | Letters
Comments such as ‘their lives are ruined’ or ‘they’ll never heal’ aren’t necessarily helpful, says one reader
I write about the recent coverage of the Fordingbridge case (Court of appeal to review rape sentences of three teenage boys, 26 May). I experienced a remarkably similar crime over 20 years ago: same number and age of perpetrators, same incident, same court outcome. The differences were that I was younger, and that, mercifully, being before the days of social media, it wasn’t filmed (though word of mouth in the community resulted in similar name-calling). There also wasn’t public outcry at the outcome; it’s nice to see progress, if too slow, in our understanding of the impact of these crimes.
Still, I’m worried by some of the discourse for the girls in question and others who have experienced similar. There have been comments in print and social media which, in attempting to emphasise the severity of the crime, have said things like “their lives are ruined” or “they’ll never heal”.
المصدر: The Guardian — Commentisfree