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Introduction
Mental and physical abuse cases against women are often ignored and pushed aside by the government. They aren’t given the attention needed to provide women protection of their mind and bodies. By ignoring the injustice women face, we are allowing society to continue the gender inequalities of silencing a woman who has come forward with accusations against a man. Multiple sources point to the constant discrediting of women due to unrealistic expectations society has placed on them.
There are obvious discrepancies between the judgement on a female and that on a male when it comes to sexual abuse. Female victims of sexual abuse are often put in a position where they know their accusations will do nothing but induce embarrassment, awkwardness, and uncomfortable feelings surrounding their stories. By conceding to these norms, society is ultimately permitting the continuation of sexual abuse by preventing women from having the ability to share their encounters with abuse. Women do not feel like they will have the justice they need to try to move on from being sexually abused and in turn there is such a huge mental toll taken on a woman when she is sexually abused. So many aspects of a victim's life reflect her experience and what has happened. Women are typically unable to move on from what has happened and every part of their life is dependent on the actions taken to give her justice. By looking at the results of gender abuse cases, we see that women’s voices are often shut down and not acknowledged as credible. Most people are unable to recognize this because society has normalized blaming the woman based on unjust criteria such as her clothing choices or intoxication levels.
“The realities of reporting sexual abuse played in my mind constantly- out of every 230 rapes reported, only nine are even referred to a prosecutor. Only five result in conviction. The numbers are worse for nonrape sexual assaults.”
USAG Case
Women avoid reporting abuse cases because in previous cases it becomes clear how unlikely it is they will receive real justice and help with their situation. Their cases are often passed through multiple justice systems and pushed away until more and more people speak out. As seen in the USAG case against Larry Nassar, a sports medicine physician who was found guilty of abusing the gymnasts he treated, had lots of power and connections to other powerful departments causing many of the young gymnasts took a long time to come forward with their accusations. Rachael Denhollander, author of “What Is a Girl Worth?” claims her reason for not reporting Nassar as an abuser was because she needed to know people would back her up, she had gone to a coach to try and prevent other gymnasts from visiting Nassar and getting treated by him. The coach didn’t listen to her and continued to send her gymnasts to Nassar for help with their physical injuries. Society had given Rachael the idea that if she tried to voice her concerns, she would not be listened to and would not be taken seriously. She took so much time out of her everyday life to research the best ways to organize and prepare for her trial and how to come forth with her report of Nassar’s abuse. “The realities of reporting sexual abuse played in my mind constantly- out of every 230 rapes reported, only nine are even referred to a prosecutor. Only five result in conviction. The numbers are worse for nonrape sexual assaults.” If the justice system was more reliable, more and more women would be found coming forward with their statements searching for justice. Rachael used the information of the cases that provided justice for women and analyzed what they did to construct their arguments to give her case the best chance it could have. She acknowledged how unlikely it was that her case would be given the proper attention and still fought for her voice to be valued.
College Cases
Most of society views abuse as conditional which causes women to believe their voices do not need to be heard. When looking at what happens on college campuses, often the women are perceived as the wrongdoer in these situations. When a woman files a report by reaching out to law enforcement when on a college campus, the station uses college resources, taking into account all the different aspects of the encounter. How much alcohol was in use, where it took place, interactions between the two, and more. None of these should determine that a woman is guilty of her own harm. No woman asks to be abused and no woman deserves to be abused.
Many abuse cases found on college campuses are considered to be not so important because of their level of urgency. If there is no violence found, many times the case will be completely ignored despite how mentally abusive the situation could be. “SGBAs may be on the less serious end of a severity continuum (e.g., hiding a partner’s car keys so that he or she misses an unimportant meeting), but many abusive tactics that qualify as SGBA are extremely dangerous, violating, humiliating, disempowering, and/or threatening (e.g., incapacitated rape and stalkers’ or partners’ threats to kill victim or people victim loves.) Indeed, they can be some of the most terrifying, intrusive, confusing, and demeaning GBA behaviors.” There are dangers to many actions men take that society deems unimportant, telling women they are overreacting and should deal with it on their own. As the actions continue, the danger escalates and women are left on their own, thinking they are just exaggerating. The women on college campuses are predominantly abused by men at the college, a woman from that same college will often avoid reporting what happened to prevent embarrassment. By silencing one woman, society silences all. There is an image that comes with being abused. Even though it was not the woman’s fault they are often perceived as being attention seekers. Society needs to stop blaming the women for being the reason for their harm when it is the man’s fault and only theirs.
"There are dangers to many actions men take that society deems unimportant, telling women they are overreacting and should deal with it on their own."
"Instead, the FBI’s investigation dragged on and was shuffled between field offices while Nassar continued to see patients at MSU.’”
Legal Difficulties
When a woman makes the choice to make an allegation against a man for abuse or rape, her struggles often include being taken seriously and her report becoming a case. Oftentimes the report will be passed through many groups of people that have the resources to focus on it and investigate, yet choose not to. For example, connecting back to the Nassar case,“The Senate investigation concluded that the FBI ‘failed to pursue a course of action that would have immediately protected victims in harm’s way. Instead, the FBI’s investigation dragged on and was shuffled between field offices while Nassar continued to see patients at MSU.’” As the reported case of Larry Nassar made its way to more powerful groups, they took more time to learn the case and acknowledge who did not confirm the allegations. Because of how much power the men often hold, the cases will not be taken to court because law enforcement knows the typical results. In certain cases, predominantly in college cases, there are many steps that have to be taken. In the USAG case, Nassar’s actions were done on a campus and because of that, their law enforcement offices had to take interest and care of the case. Despite being so powerful, his status on this campus should have played no part in the decisions the court and other people in law were making. Larry Nassar was permitted to continue his medical practices throughout his investigation. Rachael Denhollander notes, “There are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits sitting in police departments across the country - each representing a woman who went through the trauma of having her violated genitals examined, swabbed, and photographed, only to have investigators never even consider the evidence.” Women go through so many steps to have their cases heard and resolved yet often are shut down and disregarded. They do not get the recognition they deserve to have their voices heard and respected.
"To society, women are discredited because they are considered to be too emotional in their recollections of the experience."
Emotional Toll
“Survivors are often judged as ‘too damaged to trust.” Racheal admits her difficulty moving on from her abuse, “The reality of living with abuse was more frustrating that I could express. Rarely did society recognize the incredible damage of abuse, and I’d absorbed its minimizing message every day, blaming myself for the fear, the nightmares, and the anxiety. I’d been willing, to a point, to admit the abuse, but I still tried to bury the damage from it, believing that it was my failure that allowed me to be so damaged.” She was told by society that it was her fault she was abused and that she should have done more to stop her abuser. As a young girl who thought she was safe in Larry Nassar’s company, she had no reason to doubt his actions until further contemplation. To society, women are discredited because they are considered to be too emotional in their recollections of the experience. As a survivor of abuse, Racheal was faced with so many challenges after the abuse was recognized by her and her family. For many girls who experience abuse, pushing through the mental barriers that follow is often the biggest setback in their lives. Whether it comes out during future relationships, self-harm, emotional and physical injuries, or any other part of life. Women struggle with moving through their “normal” lives after having such a traumatic experience.
Conclusion
America cannot claim to have equal gender rights when women are being abused and powerless in making their voices heard. The fight for rights is insufficient if a woman cannot come forward with her report and feel as though there will be justice for her. The justice system does not provide sufficient security for women and when dangers arise, they do not take responsibility when needing to be held accountable. Women should not have to fight to be protected. Women are told they are doubted in their memory of their abuse because of being a woman. The consistency of women's voices being shut down is something our society has to resist in order to promote equality.
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