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Effects of rape in our society
Effect of rape on society
Effect of sexual assault
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In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the protagonist, Melinda, suffers with depression. Melinda’s depression began because of an event that occurred one night at a high school party. On that night, Melinda was raped while under the influence of alcohol. She felt as if she was unable to talk about what happened and decided to isolate herself throughout the summer. Due to the way she handled things after being assaulted, Melinda realizes her actions cause her to lose her friends. Many victims of sexual assault tend to isolate themselves, which is why Melinda can connect to many victims that have gone through this experience. After being raped, Melinda develops social anxiety and begins to socially and physically harm herself, just as millions of other survivors of …show more content…
Melinda makes minimal contact with her friends and as a consequence, loses her friends after these actions. Little did Melinda’s friends know, she was avoiding them unintentionally. On the first day of school, when Melinda sees her friends again, she realizes they want nothing to do with her. “I see a few friends, people I used to think were my friends, but they look away” (Anderson 8). This quote proves that Melinda was able to understand that her friends were not really her friends anymore. There are many reasons why victims may isolate themselves after this experience. “Victims are three times more likely to suffer from depression, six times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs, and four times more likely to contemplate suicide” (Who are the Victims 3). This quote from the article may help readers understand why victims suffer from diagnosis’ like depression, which cause them to isolate themselves. As a final point, victims of sexual assaults can connect to Melinda because they may isolate themselves after this type of
“Numerous studies have demonstrated that experiencing child abuse can lead to a range of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems” (Moylan, 2010). Precious’s internalization of depression and emotional numbing are all factors that contribute to her self-concept. Study shows that “childhood sexual abuse has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, denial, sexual problems, and relationship problems” (Hall, 2011). The implications of sexual abuse are often detrimental to the mental state of an adolescent. Psychiatric evaluations show that Precious suffers from symptoms of PTSD and Major Depression
What those many women went through is a big deal all throughout the world. “As a result of fear of violence, participants reported altering their participation patterns in solitary activities by: (a) reducing night participation, (b) participating with other people, and (c) modifying where they participated. These three modifications in participation resulted in a lower level of enjoyment during recreation and leisure activities. Actions which may be taken to address the problem of fear of violence include assessing and improving safety features of facilities, access to safe transportation, and recognizing fear as a constraint in future research.” (http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19951810804.html ) Later with more and more visits to her therapist and more practicing playing the piano, she made more progress. She ended up becoming friends with Caroline again and even though they set it up, they were all friends again. And everything was back to normal, kind of.
For the past few weeks, we have been reading the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is about a girl named Melinda Sordino, who for the most part refused to speak or interact with others after being raped at an end-of-the-summer party before the start of her freshman year in high school. Ever since she was raped, she has completely changed. However, I think she showed signs of improvement during the second half of the year. Ever since the party, Melinda rarely talked to anybody, including her parents. Nevertheless, I noticed that during the second semester of the year, she talked considerably more.
The plot of the book, Speak is that Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High went to an end of the summer party with some of her friends. Things take a turn for the worst when a senior named Andy Evans sexually assaults her at the party without her friends knowing about it. Melinda is frightened, afraid, and does not know what to do so she calls 911 busting the party, and causing her friends and everyone at that school to hate her, even if they don’t know her.
...eneficial due to the suggestions Simmons gives to teachers, parents and the victims themselves on effective ways to avoid and prevent this abusive behavior from continuing. I would highly recommend this book to girls of all ages, parents, teachers, school faculty or anyone who has contact with girls. Simmons believes we need to teach girls that it is okay to expose their most uncomfortable feelings. There are many dangerous warning signs of girls giving themselves over to someone else’s terms and denying their own feelings which worry Simmons the most. This behavior is dangerous and could lead to victims staying in violent relationships in the future if we do not teach girls early to know how to resist the signs of abuse.
Holding back tears takes a lot out of any persons’ emotions. University of Manchester’s Billie Andrews reveals that the constant force for a boy to be emotionally repressed, hiding any emotions that negatively impact the boy, eventually leads to boys keeping events of sexual abuse to themselves (“Boys Don’t Cry”). After being consistently told to be “tough”, boys tend to ignore the magnitude of how much danger they are in for the sake of “being a man”. For example, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center of the University of Michigan provides statistics on male sexual assault encounters; roughly 16% of males have reported sexual assault according to the US Centers for Disease control in 2005 however, there are estimations that declare males report sexual assault even less than females (. A contributing factor to males not reporting sexual assault is because it is hard for society to believe males can be victim to assault because males are always “tough”. Masculinity implies that a male should repress any negative emotions and being a victim is a negative emotion. The fact that the idea of masculinity is so powerful it can force a boy to hide events of sexual assault spells that the male gender role is in need of attention; regardless of gender, sexual assault victimizes
Girls are three times as likely to have been sexually abused as boys (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Many female delinquents, an estimated 70 percent, report a history of sexual and physical abuse. Most often, abuse is perpetrated by family members or close family friends who are perceived as trusted adults (Davis, et al., 1997). This in turn leads to a young girl lacking one of the most basic needs which is trust.
Melinda has pain from Andy Evans, because of the party. Andy found her at school and is trying to talk to her. “IT found me again. I thought I could ignore IT…But he whispers to me” (86). Andy talks to her knowing it makes her uncomfortable. Melinda sees Andy and does not know what to do. “I am a deer frozen in the headlights of a tractor trailer…He couldn’t, not in school…Why can’t I scream, say something, do anything?” (161). Melinda cannot move when she sees Andy not knowing if he will try to do things to her again. Andy is trying to rape her again and he does not think she will do anything. “‘You’re not going to scream. You didn’t scream before…You’re jealous that I took out your friend and not you’” (194). Andy knows Melinda does not talk so he does not expect her to say or do anything. There will always be someone in their life who tries to tear some else
According to the authors of “Enhancing Care and Advocacy for Sexual Assault Survivors on Canadian Campuses”, “Sexual assault has immediate and long-term health consequences for victims including suicide, HIV infection, depression, and social isolation,” (Quinlan, Clarke, and Miller). Another common side effect these victims face is post-traumatic stress disorder. Someone experiencing PTSD may have random outburst of anger, have trouble concentrating on day to day tasks, or may even have flashbacks of their attack. These consequences make it hard for victims to get back into the normal routine of everyday life (“Effects of Sexual Assault”). In a case at Amherst College a young women named Angie Epifano faced many of these consequences after she was raped by an acquaintance in one of the college’s dormitories. While immediately choosing to ignore what had happened to her Epifano soon became an emotional wreck. Before the attack Epifano had believed herself to be an extremely strong and independent individual. In an article done on Epifano’s story she stated “Everything I had believed myself to be was gone in 30 minutes,” (Epifano). Sexual assault takes away a piece of someone. With their hopes and dreams clouded by the tragedy they have endured, victims face a lifetime of
Adolescents who are physically abused are likely to question the intentions or others as well as develop bias perceptions of social processes. A study showed that "Inmates who were child victims were more than twice as likely as inmates who were adult victims to report having suffered prior instances of physical or sexual abuse. The differences were particularly striking with respect to sexual abuse. While an estimated 22% of child victimizers reported having been sexually abused, less than 6% of adult victimizers reported such backgrounds” (Ards et al, 2001). Not only are victims of sexual abuse more likely to enact sexual violence against others they are also likely to engage in prostitution.
This is the story of Melinda Sordino, an ordinary fourteen year-old girl who is going to start freshman year in high school. This is obviously a very big step for anyone but she is dreading her first day more than anything. Melinda is starting high school with no friends and a horrible secret that she cannot discuss with anyone. From the very first step she takes that day, Melinda is alone. One night at a wild high school party during the summer, Melinda gets raped by one senior student from her own school. After she calls the police that night, her closest friends have abandoned her and random classmates now snub her simply because she couldn’t talk to anyone about it. As the story goes on, Melinda has an internal conflict with herself everyday
There are a large amount of symptoms that come from rape, some may have a change in personality and friends and other may choose to drop out of school. Rape can have an effect on people that can harm them for life and for some victims in order for them to get over an attack is if they know that their attacker is incarcerated and w...
Sexual assault is an offense that plagues many U.S. citizens. Although some studies show that rape is on the decline, other studies report that the phenomena actually occuring is that less rape victims are reporting the crime. In fact, approximately 68% of sexual assaults go unreported to the police according to the U.S. Department of Justice in a National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008-2012. It is common knowledge that rape victims are usually severely traumatized after the event, which leaves them susceptible to various emotions such as shame, anxiety, numbness, fear, denial, and guilt. Because of this, many rape victims decide to repress their experience and let it go unheard. However, not only does this prevent them from healing emotionally,
Rape is a crime of sexual violence that can cause “long-term emotional devastation” in a victim although some victims may respond to it differently (Williams, 16). Victims of this act can also face physical injuries: “the National Women's Study, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, found that more than 70% of rape victims did not report any physical injuries as a result of their assault; only 4% sustain serious injuries that require hospitalization” (Frey). But, the most disturbing impact that society puts upon women after being raped is shame making the victim feel blamed. Usually the victim may feel less open and more “fearful” and “humiliated” towards society, making them not come forward and report the crime.
Although the social worker wanted encourage Rose to disclose to others in an effort to address well-being, it is important for the social worker to not impose her own ideas about should be done. Social workers need to be cautions when working with rape victims and understand where they are in the recovery process. The fact that Rose was able to open up to the social worker is a big step for Rose and should not be overlooked. Her disclosure to the social worker provides hope that Rose may later be comfortable to disclose to her family or seek assistance. Additionally, disclosing about the assault, as mention in the paper, may cause more harm to the client’s well-being. To encourage disclosure may be seen as rash and impulsive on the part of the social worker as Rose may not be ready yet. Thus, the decision to uphold self-determination for the time being, in addition to providing Rose with support and information on possible services is preferred. This option helps the social worker maintain a trusting relationship, uphold professional standards, and consider the well-being of the client without violating her