To the editor,
Informed, caring people understand that it is very common for both female and male victims of sexual assault to freeze and not scream, yell or fight. It is also very common for them not to tell anyone about their experience, perhaps because of complicated feelings of misplaced shame, guilt, fear and embarrassment. It’s not hard to understand when you consider how painful and confusing it must be to wrap your head around what just happened; that another human being just treated you as less than human.
It is so important not to compound this pain with ignorant statements that blame the victim and excuse the perpetrator.
Nancy Maier,
Iola, Kan.
