Sexual Abuse: Why All the Fuss?

Jane Brody’s article in the New York Times, The Twice Victimized of Sexual Assault, addresses the overwhelming victimization of women by sexual abuse, and the problems they encounter when they report it. Though the tone of the article is a bit crude, the reality is of the content is even worse. The majority of American women are sexually abused, assaulted or harassed in some way, and usually it is by someone they know and trust. Only 40% of the cases, however, are reported. Studies highlight various reasons for failure to report, one being fear. Some women, however, don’t even realize the seriousness of the suffering they endure. In other words, they don’t even realize that they really are victims of a grave violation to their person, and therefore, do not think it is something that ought to be reported to authorities. 

Many women consider it to be a personal problem, something of a bad day, to suffer through and get over on their own. How can this even be?

If you don’t even know what your dignity calls for, what your dignity demands, how you are going to know what damages it?  People say that the fight against the sexual revolution is over. However our society continues to be plagued with a trivialization of the sexual dimension of the human person. It’s enough to simply turn on the television for 3 minutes (even during commercials) or to open your eyes to street ads and shopping windows when walking around in a city. You’ll see what I mean. And if your response is “what’s the problem?”, then you’ve proven my point.

President of the Spanish Forum of the Family, Benigno Blanco, was recently quoted in an ABC article on repercussions Spain is feeling after a year and a half of legalized abortion in full effect: the collective conscience is being desensitized as the act of abortion is being made trivial. Though that may be changing in the US, with a longer history of legalized abortion and the progress made by grassroots pro-life orgs over years, we can affirm that we are still in the thick of sexual degradation being the norm.

Image and happiness

This concern for image (that can lead to some wild extremes) perhaps isn’t completely without foundation, nor artificial, such as a product of social/cultural pressures. I would say that the error lies in the form that this concern takes on and the reference points. In other words, I think there is something lacking when people only look at themselves, or at popular social models, for guidance as to what image they ought to represent.

People may be surprised to hear that the human concern for “image”, from the Christian perspective, does have to do with our nature as human persons. “God created mankind in His image, in the image of God, He created them; male and female, He created them.” (Genesis 1:27). Simple? Yes.  Banal? Not at all. This need to express something about our “image” is basically written into our very being! It’s intrinsic. For the Christian, this is fundamental to understanding his own dignity, and the dignity of every human person- man and woman. If God is the reference point and source of a person’s image, then it seems important to discover and get to know Him in order to express a worthy, faithful image.

Perhaps non-believers would disagree on the point that we were made in God’s image and therefore, disagree with the statement that we ought to know Him so that the rest may follow (i.e. understanding own dignity, what image we ought to portray, and how to portray it, etc.).  Regardless of religion, every person (especially those woman concerned with their image), ought to reflect on what is their reference point for something as basic as how they express themselves to the rest of the world, to the people around them, and even to themselves? In other words, have you thought about what are trying to represent? What are your criteria for doing so? (We cannot forget the reality that many people look to what Ms. Ambrose and her celebrity clients put forth as models for our image).

When the image well portrays that which it tries to represent, there is order. And where this is order, there is peace. Where there is peace, there is happiness. Speaking of happiness, take a look at USA Today’s story that has received worldwide coverage for “America’s Happiest Woman”:  Mary Claire Orenic.  We’ll have to save this discussion for the next post.