What women have had to live with

Rape victim 'inviting,' so no jail This is a similar article where another sex offender was allowed to 'walk free' because of how the victim was dressed. We can debate the issue of how offenders have to 'live with' what they have done, but so do the victims.

This victim impact statement was quoted in the article:

In a victim impact statement, the woman described her ongoing fear related to the attack. "I'm a prisoner in my own home," she wrote. The woman said she bears a permanent reminder of what Rhodes did to her -- a scar on her knee.

And while a scar in her knee was one physical reminder, often the worst 'scars' are the ones we don't see - either the psychological scars, or the injuries which aren't so obvious to other people.

I was never raped, though I have also had to live with my own 'traumas' as well.

I was severely sexually harassed at work a little over a decade ago. I didn't dress provocatively at all (or what some people would regard as provocative), I never got personally involved with my antagonists (in the workplace) and I certainly never flirted with them. But, apparently, it was my fault for being 'controversial' - for 'over-reacting', for being a 'trouble maker and so forth.

But when I did report them for harassment, I was told by HR that my harassers will 'have to live with it for the rest of their lives'. And while I was scolded for coming forward, nothing was done to reprimand my harassers.

And I am sure this 11-year-old, who was viciously attacked, probably had noone to look out for her or stick up with her; likewise, this was also the case for me (though there were plenty of people that were more than willing to give me 'advice' on how to behave around them, yet noone told them how they should behave).

And like this young lass, I will also have to 'live with' what I have been though myself. Not only what my harassers have said about me, but also the fact that my reputation will always precede me wherever I go.

Additionally, because I was called alot of nasty names and had pranks pulled on me etc, I have felt unsure about my own femininity, my own 'beauty' and how would I fare if I ever enter into a relationship in future.

While I don't blame the organization in question entirely, I felt more could have been done to hold them accountable for their own behaviour, and make them bear the consequences for their own behaviour.