Editor’s note: This letter is in response to the political cartoon published in Friday’s Daily Lobo.
Editor,
I found your political cartoon for Friday to be highly offensive. The cartoon depicts a woman with a note taped onto her T-shirt that says, “Rape me! God says it’s OK!” I know that these cartoons are supposed to be funny, but for women who have been affected by rape, it will not seem funny at all.
The problem with rape is that it is the only crime in which the victim is blamed. More often than not, the victim is afraid to come forward due to self-blame and fear of what people think of her. Her perpetrator rarely (if ever) gets punished for what he did to her.
Despite misconceptions, rape is not about a woman being dragged into a dark alleyway by a man in a trench coat. Rape is also not about having sex then having the woman regret her decision. Rape is not merely just sex, but an act of power and violence of one human being over another (especially true about someone who the woman knows well). Regardless of what society thinks, the victim did nothing to deserve all the pain (physically and emotionally) she went through. Telling the victim that it is her fault only slows her recovery.
There are many lifelong effects that come associated with rape, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (e.g. nightmares and flashbacks), spending months or years in counseling, significant drops in grades and trust issues. Rape is already hard enough for a woman to deal with, let alone having other people giving her a hard time about the situation. Rape is never OK and there is no excuse for it. There is also no excuse for making fun of rape victims. We are not to judge others or joke about topics as sensitive as rape. We don’t know other people’s struggles in life and never know what someone else might be going through.
Next time, Daily Lobo, think about what you post and whom it might affect.
Sharon Sullivan
UNM student
