Survivor and victim's advocate Tonya GJ Prince addresses how making assumptions about who is or isn't capable of violence silences Survivors of
Survivor and victim’s advocate Tonya GJ Prince addresses how making assumptions about who is or isn’t capable of violence silences Survivors of violence and abuse. Using stories of victim’s experiences, she cautions against framing sexual violence as something that happens only under very specific conditions.
Sexual violence doesn’t care about titles or reputations. A person’s position in the community doesn’t make their harm less real. It’s not about the ‘who.’ It’s about the harm, the trauma, the destruction left behind in the survivor’s life. No Survivor feels less harmed because of “who” harmed them.
In this episode, we are urged to shift our language and our focus in support of victims and Survivors. Because no one’s position, no one’s title, no one’s connection to others or admiration by others should ever excuse the trauma they’ve caused.
Lesson: Listen to victims and Survivors. Keep listening to victims and Survivors.
(Feel free to remind people focusing on “who it is and who it isn’t” to keep listening to the courageous and often silenced voices of victims and Survivors.)
