With all the anti abortion decisions SCOTUS has made lately I've been discussing these issues with my husband. I told him the story of the 10 year old girl that was raped and denied an abortion. He thought that if you haven't had your first period you can't get pregnant, so the thought was 'it's physically impossible.'..
We have an 11 year old daughter, I asked him what if she gets raped. His response made me angry, but I know he doesn't understand because he's never had to worry about it before and knows no one who's gone through that trauma.
He thinks to prevent rape to give her a knife, defensive classes, and I teach her confidence and self-esteem (my PTSD makes that seem impossible) to show her she doesn't need a man. Those are great ideas, yes, but I believe he assumes since it hasn't happened around here it won't and won't happen to her especially if she knows how to defend herself. I know that's the story many people tell themselves but the Freeze reaction is all too real and very misunderstood.
I'm worried for her future, not just because of SCOTUS' decision but also because of what he thinks will prevent it, will she blame herself as so many of us do because of his opinion? I bet she will.
He's never heard the stories of women who have defensive training, weapons, etc. unsuccessfully fight off her attackers, only those lucky ones who didn't freeze up.
Which brings me to my question, would any of you be able to share your story? I COMPLETELY understand if no one wants to, I just thought I would ask so I can help him see it's not just something to brush off, that he should be concerned about women's rights too. I need him to understand that this decision opens the door for more rape and assaults (am i being dramatic about this one?). He wants me to fact check the news stories I read online but I thought it would be better to show him the real stories, not the bs news reports.
Thank you for any help and reading my long post. I hope I didn't offend or trigger anyone, I really don't mean to, I'm so unbelievably sorry if I have. #Rape #Survivor