Monday, April 07, 2008

Woman, your faith has healed you

I do believe in miracle healings, I guess. But the greatest miracle and the greatest healing is love - Proper relationships that seek to build, restore and uplift. And we need to go deeper then all this, deeper then the hurt and into the very core of our beings. I remember talking to a couple of criminal defense lawyers:

"If you have a sexual assault case, you want an all female jury."
"Why?! Don't you want all male??"
"No. Statistics show that women are far likelier to acquit a rape charge then men. Because women don't want to believe that these things happen, or they don't want to admit that they've been sexually assulted in the past. Nor do they want to identify with the victim. Now men, on the other hand, want to be the hero. They want to beat the bugger up."

Sexual assault hasn't just been laid on our bodies. It's been laid on our minds and souls, and has reached into the core of our beings. We are not safe from all this, not safe to admit that we have been hurt and that others continue to hurt us. Not safe to take control of our minds and bodies and bring them into sanctification. And only there, can we properly love and engage.



[In pornography] Women, particularly, are deprived of unique human character of identity and are depicted as sexual playthings, hysterically and instantly responsive to male sexual demand. They worship make genitals and their own value depends upon the quality of their genitals and breasts.
~ Justice Shannon in R. v. Wagner

No more! Let us be free!

6 comments:

Eric said...

In the last 4 years I have had 5 of my friends suffer the horror of rape. Not one came forward to tell the police. I used to laugh when I heard the statistic that only 20% of rapes are reported. Not anymore.

But what astonished me most was the response of my friends: "It was my fault.."

Sexual assault is, in my opinion, a form of torture that continues for years. But it affects not only the person but all who love and care for them. Friends, family, husbands, boyfriends.

Relationships are shattered, trust evaporates, love becomes a dirty word. Those who don't know are left scratching their heads wondering what happened. Those who know suffer silently as the one they care for is torn apart crying "it was my fault.."

Hannah Lim said...

I KNOW!!! Ok well I don't. I've never been subject to rape and if I were the victim of unwanted sexual advances, I've been oblivious. But that's what it is: our bodies and minds have been taken from us. As a society, we've got a long way to go. I am so sorry to hear about your friends. I trust you're being there for them. Will keep them in prayers.

Eric said...

Thanks for your prayers.

What do you feel society must do to help prevent such crimes? Personally, I generally feel that the justice system is woefully lax on these sort of criminals.

I have no experience with the justice system in handling these sort of things, so your advice is welcome there too.

Hannah Lim said...

Heh, I WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF THIS WORLD.

No well, I don't have much faith in our justice system to be honest. It's good for what it does, but what it does isn't good. At least, it doesn't go to the root of the problem: broken relationships and broken selves.

At the end of the day, it isn't about putting the mofo behind bars, it's about creating a society and culture that properly values both men and women and the relationships between them. It's not about the crime, it the source of the crime that needs to be tackled. In that way, women need no longer be anorexic, go under the knife for bigger boobs and shave their legs. Like this muslim women behind a veil once said: I cover my head with cloth, and you put a knife to your body. Don't talk to me about women's rights.

We're really really not there yet.

Btw, how did you find my blog?

Eric said...

Well.. I was procrastinating from my physics work and decided to check out some blogs. Noticed your comments on Plonka's website concerning Singapore. Thought they were amusing so I checked out your website.

I honestly don't believe we'll ever move to a society that values women and relationships the way they are meant to. But perhaps my cynicism comes from my undergrad years at another university where full page ads looking for strippers was the norm in the university newspaper. haha..

Hannah Lim said...

Plonka is a dear friend indeed. :) Oh ye of little faith. We're all human, we all have a piece of the divine. We'll get there one soul at a time. Love and respect someone today!