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.

The concern for image?

The spotlight has shined on celebrity stylist Ms. June Ambrose. The NY Times published an article yesterday on this influential female fashion artist, who worked her way “up” from her humble beginnings. To some, it may seem a bit trite to discuss the “influence” of a stylist. However, with over 300,000 faithful followers for her 15 to 20 tweets per day, Ms. Ambrose calls our attention.

What does she talk about? Well, mostly fashion of course. Particular styles are not our concern here. What does she say about fashion and its relation to a person? “What we stylists do is very intimate…We’re literally stripping someone to their core, and clothing is only the first layer.”

It is a disturbing to think that someone who deals with putting together your accessories, hats, shoes, clothes (all exterior, material things that can change in value overnight with the brevity of trends) thinks that she is dealing with the core of your being. It is even more disturbing to think that hundreds of thousands of people (and many more) buy into this mentality, often unconsciously.  Though so many people are hit by the plague of materialism and superficiality, it is also true that many people are fed up with the excess of the exterior.

Take, for example, Dove’s worldwide Campaign for Real Beauty that promotes confidence in women’s natural beauty. Their Cannes award-winning video clip, Dove Evolution, well portrays this contrast with the kind of artificial ideal of beauty promoted in the commercial sphere.

Why the concern at all? Is it completely absurd? Or does it have to do with who we are, with our “core”. I would assume that Ms. Ambrose would answer in the positive and I would have to agree with her. (However, the article makes me think that our reasons would differ. She thinks that telling people that “it’s all about the ankles” contributes to satisfying her followers’ thirst for “authenticity”. )

I don’t think that anyone would be satisfied with being reduced to their physical attributes, and even less, to their exterior “add-ons”.  Why then, do people generally feel the need to express something about themselves to the others, about their “image”? What importance should be given to this physical dimension? These are all questions I plan on addressing in the the following posts, along with the question of why this concern for expression of personal beauty hits women harder than men. Until then, let me know what you think…