[Louise]

Ignoramus: Isn't it time you put away all this sexual abuse stuff and got on with your life?

Me: Oh, but I am getting on with my life. Healing is an integral part of that. But unless you are interested in hearing about the process of rape survivorship, I have nothing more to say to you.

Also, some dolphin-spanker mailed me some time back to tell me to stop sitting on my fat middle ass class whining and to move on. Shit-for-brains was told to go fuck himself. That works too.

L XXXXXX

[nature_mommy]

well a few people have asked me why i dont just get over it, i get real mad, and i try to keep myself calm try to stop myself from shaking with anger.
and i ask them if they have ever been raped have they ever been sexually abused when you were 4 yrs old, and when they say no, i tell them then that they dont know what its like and how it can ruin a person's life how a child grows up "strange" to the world and all that.
so shut the #### up!!!

then i storm off and wait for an apology.
but of course the one time my ex said that to me, he had said it so many times before and the last time he said it to me, i just told him to not even go there and thats all i said. and why oh why did he flip out on me then??!!! he threw a fit, told me he was taking me home (which i was happily thrilled about, this was last year before we split) wait a minute!!!!! i almost said that he said he was sorry!! thats not true at all, he told me to say i was sorry!! and i didn't do a thing, oh my blood is boling now how could i have twisted that around in my head??
but i laughed at him when he said this to me and i told him i didn't have to apologize for anything, he took me home, called me from a pay phone then said he was sorry and of course asked me if i wanted to come stay with him, and i said no.
that was the beginning of the end.
and i have begun to ramble, stop me now! lol
and i just now wonder what other things has he done that i've twisted around in my head t o not seem bad?
i think i got into the habit of pretending like he was okay and good to my family when i was with him, now im still doing it, and i am...
gotta stop that, cause he was no good for nothing, mean, lying, stupid who thought the world was his and all his.
no good.
okay im gonna shut up now!!!
too much coffee not enough sleep :)

[Louise]

Hey family

The question of what to say to people who cheapen your journey by making comments like "isn't it time you just got over it" is coming up a lot these days. This is a secondary wound, and nobody has the right to foist such ignorance on you. But it is something many survivors can feel belittled by.

I propose we have a thread of how we have responded to such comments in the past (or how we would like to respond to them). Responses can be cranky, potty, humourous, serious, whatever.

It can then be shifted to wonderful threads and hopefully do some good for others.

(((((((Hugs)))))))

Lou xxxxxx

[Laney]

When told to get over it, I've told people to get hit by a mack truck, lose a limb and "get over it".  

Really I'd like to tell them to burn in f*cking ####.

Whoever these numbnuts who say this are, I feel like giving them a medal to pin on their chests, because in a brief conversation, they seem to know how to fix it all.  "well just get over it"  Thank you, you f*cking genious.

:P

my two cents

Laney

[Louise]

What really gets up my nose is that every year, we have war casualty remembrance days. Soldiers are shown on TV crying as they remember events which happened fifty years ago.

NOBODY questions their right to do that, or gives them that worthless piece of three-word shit advice. Imagine the fuckin' outcry if one of these brave heroes was told to stop whining! They wouldn't tolerate it and neither should we.

:)

[Jes]

Louise,

I used to respond angrily.  How dare someone tell me to get over it, when they have no clue how it feels to be raped?

But I have come to think that that is not the best way.  I now assume that the reason that they are talking that way is because they have no clue...and I try to educate them.  They are part of the problem, but with information, it's possible to make people like that a part of the solution and I do try.

I might say something, like, "Unfortunately, rape is so common that one would think that it is easy to get over.  But when someone violates you and essentially ignores your personhood, it is very hard to reclaim that."  Or "My rape was so absolutely terrifying and in one moment, every belief I'd had in the order of the world was devastating.  It takes a lot to reorganize those beliefs in order to accomodate the rape and a world where rapists aren't just the bad guys on TV."

If that fails, I usually try to say something that I think my hero, Lis, would say.  "It is always a good idea to discuss issues about which you have no knowledge or personal experience with someone who does.  You get an A+ for being a moron."

xxxooo

Jes

[linnea]

This is sort of related to the "get over it" line...

My husband used to whine that it wasn't fair that he had to deal with the repercussions of my past.

"It's not fair to you," I said.  "If you want to talk about not fair in life - I was molested as a child, started learning about sexuality at age SIX, became the caretaker in my family, lost my childhood, was RAPED by a therapist when I sought to get help for the nightmares and flashbacks that come with post traumatic stress disorder, got pregnant by the bastard, became a birthmother because I chose adoption, listened to who call the whole things an AFFAIR for YEARS, despite the fact that we weren't even DATING at the time, have dealt with a life of depression and ptsd AND I have to put up with YOU."

"You want to talk about NOT FAIR?  I WIN!  EVERYTIME!  HANDS DOWN!  Don't ever talk to me about not fair."

Fair is now the "F" word at our house and even my children will tell you not so say it around me...