by Heaven Harrell
A woman, beautiful in every way but what happens when that beauty is taken away? Forced into the darkness, her smile, once as bright as a sun’s ray on a summer day, is dimmed, why? Is it because she dressed a certain way? Were her jeans too tight, did her dress fit her body just right? Does that justify what he did that night?
It happens all too often the victim put to blame, because a football team decided her body was a game. No one cares her name and if you think about it, it’s really not humane. Because if you flip the shame and it’s your sister, mother, or aunt laying on the cold, hard ground in pain, does the rules change?
Is she just another bitch that went to a party and got a little too lit? From the moment she put the glass to her lips, every sip is counted, and for her being forcibly mounted his guilt is less viable and her story more unreliable. Or, is that women are too undeniable? Is it biological, an evolutionary gene that makes it okay for him ignore her screams?
I guess so because when she goes to the court, she doesn’t get support. Just treated like a worthless escort. Her sexual partners put on display as if that takes away from her right to say with whom she decides to lay.
On the stands she is crucified, looked down on, and despised. Months later when the tears still haven’t dried and she commits suicides, we cry about the loss of young lives? How can we continue to survive when we don’t notice a ray of sunshine until it has died?
