The Columbia Spectator has an article titled “20 years in, Columbia’s rape crisis center still only takes female volunteers.”
The article states:
Twenty years after its founding, the rape crisis center that serves Columbia and Barnard has held firm to its policy of only accepting women as counselors to victims of sexual violence.
According to Karen Singleton, the director of Columbia’s Sexual Violence Response program, the rape crisis center based out of Barnard Hall, has maintained its policy out of respect for the gendered nature of sexual violence and the center’s long history.
Gendered nature of sexual violence? Sexual violence can and does occur to men and women, boys and girls. Sexual violence is perpetrated by both genders as well. With roughly 20-25% of all child sexual abuse being committed by women I have to wonder at the logic the center is using here.
Another quote from the article states:
“Anecdotally, what we’ve heard through the years is that there are a lot of survivors that seek the services because they know that when they walk in a door that they have a sense that there’s going to be a female advocate or peer counselor that’s available,” Singleton said. “We can’t speak for every survivor, but we know that some people find that incredibly helpful in knowing what they are getting before they come into the service.”
Of course anecdotes can be very misleading. What about the people who don’t walk through the door? How about not using anecdotes and using proper research instead? For example the 2004 study by Denov which found that 100% reported a strong mistrust of women as a result of the sexual abuse experience. Forcing these people to see a female counselor if they want help is not a good way to begin a therapeutic relationship.
As long as people and places continue to act like this there will only be limited progress. Sexual violence is not just a women’s issue but a human issue.
Um, I think the Columbia Spectator article needs a reality check. I have to ask, has the western world lost its ability to reason and think (never mind think critically)?
So I’d like to know: where does that leave the female victims of women? If we’re looking to setup a parallel set of rape crisis centres for men due to the “gendered nature of sexual violence” where exactly does that leave me?
Sheesh. Some days I just hate the world for its stupidity.