Questions Raised by Belittled Testimony
By Susan L. Lipson
Why is it that men who’ve cried out
years after their abuse by priests
are considered brave heroes,
with suppressed memories—
PTSD, in fact—
when they step forward publicly,
painfully recounting memories to the best of their abilities;
supported by the outraged community
who condemns the defiling of innocence;
not interrogated by critics determined to cast doubts
on their very characters,
to victimize them again,
to mentally rape them
with slander;
while women who dare to cry out
about having been molested, harassed, abused, raped,
and violated in their past youth
by power-seeking men who once were
boys, just being boys
(not “assailants” or “abusers” or “rapists”—just randy boys),
are not considered heroes, but rather:
“politically motivated pawns,”
“confused and misguided neurotics,”
“vengeful liars or self-righteous exaggerators,”
or even “attention-whores”?
Why is double jeopardy illegal,
But not double victimization?
