I was never raped, I'll say that right up front. But from what I've read, for many victims, the terror and violation of being raped is compounded every day by the shame, humiliation, and isolation that takes much, much longer to heal.
So you have to admire anyone who is trying to increase social awareness about rape, and to give victims a voice. But a T-shirt that says, "I was raped"?
That's the latest brainchild from Jennifer Baumgardner, who used the same tack in 2004 when she created shirts that read, "I Had An Abortion." She plans to distribute the rape T-shirts to college campuses through a sex education website, www.scarleteen.com.
My take? It seems that if you have the chutzpah to wear a shirt saying, "I was raped" (that's the design, in the picture), you almost certainly already "own the experience," as Baumgardner states as one of her goals for victims. But I can imagine victims who are still locked in stunned silence, who see someone ELSE wearing this shirt, and feel - at least for one moment - not so alone.
New York Times photo
