Every finger in the room is pointing at me.
I want to spit in their faces then I"m afraid of what that could bring.
I got a bowling ball in my stomach I got a desert in my mouth.
Figures that my courage would choose to sell out now.
I've been looking for a savior in these dirty streets.
I've been looking for a savior between these sheets.
I've been raising up my hands drive another nail in.
Just what god needs another victim.
By: Tori Amos; professional musician and rape victim, founder of RAINN.
Acquaintance rape, which is also referred by some as "date rape" and "hidden rape," has been increasingly recognized as a real and relatively common problem within society. Even though awareness is increasing, I feel it is nowhere close to where it should be. A woman is raped every two minutes. It took me about eight minutes to write this page so far, which leaves 4 more victims of sexual assault to add to our statistics. It's absolutely disgusting how we have socially and legally ignored this problem.
Acquaintance rape is an epidemic leading to unneeded cases of people suffering from anorexia, bulimia, self injury, suicide, depression, PTSD, borderline personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder, never feeling safe, being unable to trust anyone and having normal functioning relationships. Yet for some reason instead of the rate of rape going down, it is continuing to rise, just as the sun, everyday we wake.
It wasn't until the media started its infatuation with the issue of rape, such as the Mike Tyson/ Desiree Washington and William Kennedy Smith/ Patricia Bowman cases, did laws really begin change. Wide scaled television coverage delivered the issue of acquaintance rape into living rooms around the world. Then the horrendous story where sexual harassment, sexual coercion, and acquaintance rape of female Army recruits at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and other military training facilities. All these women wanted was go out and defend their country, instead their lives were made a living hell, as they were terrorized by their very own peers.