The three
following petitions discuss rape kits, survivors of rape and sexual violence. A
petition created by SlutWalk Milwaukee on Change.org, discusses how rape
survivors are being sent away from two Milwaukee hospitals. The author states,
“Aurora Sinai Medical Hospital and Aurora West Allis Memorial Hospital are the
ONLY Milwaukee-area health centers that staff Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner
(SANE) personnel 24 hours a day. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin staffs
responders that are specific to the needs of children and youth. Every other
area hospital does not staff any responders for sexual assault.” Currently SANE
responders are trained in administering rape kits and telling victims where to
go for support, while also being trained for particular circumstances. Even
though SANE responders give special and quality care to victims, hospitals
chose not to employ them because they do not bring in more money to the
hospital. As Maureen Haig, one of the signers of the petition, states:
“I
am signing because having compassionate, trained responders is VITAL for a
person who is dealing with this trauma. Hospitals should insure that someone on
staff (train people who are already there) will be available on any shift. It’s
extra training that I am sure some staff members would be willing to do and
something that hospitals shouldn’t have to be told to do.”
I agree with
Maureen one hundred percent that every hospital should have SANE responders
that are able to care for and assist the patient. It does not seem unreasonable
that SANE responders are there 24 hours a day, seven days a week just as
cardiologist would be.
The
second petition from Change.org also deal with rape though it is about passing
the SAFER Act in an effort to end backlog for rape kits. In the petition
created by RAINN, the SAFER Act is defined as “a no-cost bill that will lead to
the elimination of the DNA backlog of evidence collected in rape cases
(commonly known as rape kits). Currently there is a tremendous backlog of DNA
evidence from unsolved rape cases that has never been sent to the lab for
analysis.” Much in the same way that every hospital needs SANE responders, rape
kits must be analyzed in an effort to help victims and prosecute rapists. Other
reasons for the SAFER Act include “The SAFER Act will bring transparency to the
testing process, help us efficiently target resources to areas that have the
biggest backlogs, and empower survivors.” This seems like a no brainer, as one
of petition signer, LB asks, “Does it both anyone else that we even have to
sign this in the first place?” Why does this even have to become an act before
something is done? Rape kits should not be backlogged and every kit should be
analyzed!
The
third petition created by Security on Campus is discussing the Campus Sexual
Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act. The petition discusses the campus violence as
“Did you know that fall semester of freshmen year is the most likely time to be
sexually assaulted? Did you know only 5% of women raped in college ever report?
One in four college women face extreme sexual violence on campus, as well as
high risks of stalking or intimate partner violence.” Again this seems like a
no brainer, every student attending school should feel safe and free to do
their normal activities. Some of the benefits of the Campus SaVE Act include “universities
to provide education on primary prevention, risk reduction, consent, reporting
and bystander intervention throughout the school year. Collaboration will also
be established between the U.S. Department of Justice, Education, and Health
& Human Services to develop best practices for campuses seeking to prevent
violence.”
In
“Victims, Villains and Vixens,” Lynne Y. Edwards discusses crimes against
girls. Edwards discusses how the media can distort a victim’s story, in one
instance through a direct quote by the victim would appear that she lead to her
victimization “‘I said I had a lot of problems,’ she told the jury. ‘He said
that if I had sex with him when he wanted, then I could do whatever I wanted
outside of that.’ While the victim is allowed to tell us her role in the crimes
committed against her, she is not permitted to directly tell us about the
horrors she experienced” (21). Just as every victim should have the right to
safely go about their life, have proper medical care and properly have their
rape kit tested, they also deserve to have a voice in telling what occurred to
them. The victim should be the one on trial or sent away from a hospital, they
should be able to have their rapist convicted. They should be able to able to
sleep at night knowing they are safe.
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