Why do they call them "survivors" of sexual assault when almost all live through it?

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Why do they call them "survivors" of sexual assault when almost all live through it?

Why do they call them "survivors" of sexual assault when almost all of them live through it?

Keep in mind we aren't just talking about rape but all sexual assaults—including inappropriate touching or whatever are relatively easily chargeable offenses.

Imagine there was a busload of women that crashed into a concrete wall; and that there was an explosion and fire and the bus was reduced to quite a wreck, yet for a few minor injuries, all the women lived through it. They'd properly be called "survivors," as the chances of not surviving such are quite significant.

While injurious psychologically and at times physically, I don't see how even rape—much less the other aforementioned violations—is particularly lethal. Therefore to say someone "survived" it is to be somewhat redundant. One might as well say one survived a wrestling match, boot camp, a powerful kick in the groin, or falling from a step ladder.

("He'll survive," I think said the Terminator.)

I remember watching an interview (or interview-of-sorts) with Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship ridiculing the idea that she is an "acid survivor" (apparently she took a lot of LSD in her time), describing an image of someone in a river clinging for life to a rock.

Will such superfluous use of the term "survivour" in this reduce its meaning?

What's wrong with the term "victim?"
 
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Why do they call them "survivors" of sexual assault when almost all of them live through it?

Keep in mind we aren't just talking about rape but all sexual assaults—including inappropriate touching or whatever are relatively easily chargeable offenses.

Imagine there was a busload of women that crashed into a concrete wall; and that there was an explosion and fire and the bus was reduced to quite a wreck, yet for a few minor injuries, all the women lived through it. They'd properly be called "survivors," as the chances of not surviving such are quite significant.

While injurious psychologically and at times physically, I don't see how even rape—much less the other aforementioned violations—is particularly lethal. Therefore to say someone "survived" it is to be somewhat redundant. One might as well say one survived a wrestling match, boot camp, a powerful kick in the groin, or falling from a step ladder.

("He'll survive," I think said the Terminator.)

I remember watching an interview (or interview-of-sorts) with Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship ridiculing the idea that she is an "acid survivor" (apparently she took a lot of LSD in her time), describing an image of someone in a river clinging for life to a rock.

Will such superfluous use of the term "survivour" in this reduce its meaning?

What's wrong with the term "victim?"
They are both "victim" and "survivor".
They are a victim because it was done without their permission in a forceful way.
They are survivor because they lived through it and it changed them in a way they cannot undo.
 
They are both "victim" and "survivor".
They are a victim because it was done without their permission in a forceful way.
They are survivor because they lived through it and it changed them in a way they cannot undo.



Decent point, but perhaps a better term might be "maimed" (or a more common, but lighter term, is "scarred"); and who says not all fully recover?

Such could also be a definition of something like a mugging or robbery, or other assaults and battery—though again generally (far) more survivable.
 
The 'dom' AV tells everything anyone needs to know about you. A make believe self proclaimed alpha who thinks they know everything about women, but in reality knows nothing, and knows even less about BDSM and dom/sub relationships.

Keep up the charade Christian Grey.
 
The 'dom' AV tells everything anyone needs to know about you. A make believe self proclaimed alpha who thinks they know everything about women, but in reality knows nothing, and knows even less about BDSM and dom/sub relationships.

Keep up the charade Christian Grey.

Make-believe has no place on this site.

Why aren't you using third person singular pronouns?

Never read the book. Ain't interested in doing so either.



Rye on the kaiser.
 
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They are survivors because they were not killed by their assailant and they did not let the assault to control their life.
 
Such describes a number of crimes besides sexual assault.

And those people are also called survivor. Any time something drastically alters your life, you survived it.

If you were mugged, and now you had a drastic lifestyle change because of the PTSD associated with, say, being in the area where the mugging happened, so now you have to move- you survived the mugging. You're a survivor.

Trying to push survivors against each other is a pretty shit way to live your life.

This is especially true if it's an experience that legit could have killed you. If you say, had a gunshot wound from the mugging, and you survived, then you are absolutely an assault survivor.

What the fuck, OP?

It's not like sexual assault survivors are the only people to use that term. Have you ever SPOKEN to a psychologist? It wasn't even coined to refer to sexual assualt, it was originally used for "shell shock", and now refers to anyone who has survived a traumatic experience and experiences PTSD. That's the real, factual answer.

The term we were using before that "victim"- tended to, you know, victimize people. When you have a label like that attached to you, it's easy to internalize it, which makes recovery more difficult. Because we realized that it was hindering recovery to make people feel like a victim, we started using the term "survivor". People survived their combat. People survived their sexual assault. People survived their abusive childhoods. People survived their violent muggings.
 
And those people are also called survivor. Any time something drastically alters your life, you survived it.
I differ.

If a person survives something he/she is likely to survive, then referring to him/her as a survivour is redundant.

Victim? Yes?

Owed a big debt of justice? At least at times, it's hard-to-argue otherwise.


If you were mugged, and now you had a drastic lifestyle change because of the PTSD associated with, say, being in the area where the mugging happened, so now you have to move- you survived the mugging. You're a survivor.

What you described is a victim: one who likely suffered three losses. There is the economic loss (stolen money, cards, or hassle getting new ID cards), the physical injuries, and yes, likely psychological injuries. His/her suffering might be great, but even here, I think most people survive muggings.

Now if the victim was, say, shot or stabbed, and survived, one could call him/her a survivour as the chance of fatality would be quite significant.



Trying to push survivors against each other is a pretty shit way to live your life.

I'm not.



It's not like sexual assault survivors are the only people to use that term. Have you ever SPOKEN to a psychologist? It wasn't even coined to refer to sexual assualt, it was originally used for "shell shock", and now refers to anyone who has survived a traumatic experience and experiences PTSD. That's the real, factual answer.
I tend to regard psychiatry as a "soft" science.

I figure "shell shock" was the trauma of experiencing something that had a high chance of killing a person.

If a Yemeni woman has the shakes because she hears explosions from American-made bombs dropped from Saudi planes (likely made in America), she is both a victim of psychological injury, AND is properly called a survivour.

If a female combat soldier got drunk and raped by some of the guys, she is a victim, but again, to call her a survivour is to be redundant.


The term we were using before that "victim"- tended to, you know, victimize people. When you have a label like that attached to you, it's easy to internalize it, which makes recovery more difficult. Because we realized that it was hindering recovery to make people feel like a victim, we started using the term "survivor". People survived their combat. People survived their sexual assault. People survived their abusive childhoods. People survived their violent muggings.

I think Wikipedia had a debate if it should be referred to as FGM, female circumcision, or FGC, because the victims of such don't like to be called victims of FGM.
(By the way, given some of the conditions of the practice, some of those victims are properly referred to as survivours.)



Why not use the term "recovered."

She was raped by a drunk SCOTUS member, but through effort, she recovered.



"Survivour" might imply fragility.

"He survived a bee sting," implies allergic sensitivity. To omit the term is to imply a degree of invulnerability.
 
Everyone listen!! Someone who has never experienced sexual assault is telling people who have experienced sexual assault how they should refer to themselves.

When he's done with this, I wonder if he'll have time to explain my period pain experience to me, and tell anyone of a different ethnicity what race description they should feel comfortable with.
 
I'm just going to listen to that classic anthem of empowerment by Gloria Gaynor, I Will Recover. Followed perhaps by Recovered, by Destiny's Child.
 
Everyone listen!! Someone who has never experienced sexual assault is telling people who have experienced sexual assault how they should refer to themselves.

Okay. You win. New definition:

survivor (or survivour)

noun:

1. a person who has lived through something that had a significant chance of killing him/her (e.g. "Melissa Etheridge survived breast cancer.")

2. a person who has experienced sexual assault (e.g. "Dr. Ford survived Kavanaugh's sexual assault.")


When he's done with this, I wonder if he'll have time to explain my period pain experience to me, and tell anyone of a different ethnicity what race description they should feel comfortable with.
Huh?


I'm just going to listen to that classic anthem of empowerment by Gloria Gaynor, I Will Recover. Followed perhaps by Recovered, by Destiny's Child.

Grateful Dead Touch Of Grey Video (Good Quality)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCYbRmSlW-M
4:50
821,775 views
 
I think the existing definition will do fine.

survivor
/səˈvʌɪvə/Submit

noun

a person who survives, especially a person remaining alive after an event in which others have died.
"he was the sole survivor of the massacre"

the remainder of a group of people or things.
"a survivor from last year's team"

a person who copes well with difficulties in their life.
"she is a born survivor"
 
I think the existing definition will do fine.

survivor
/səˈvʌɪvə/Submit

noun

a person who survives, especially a person remaining alive after an event in which others have died.
"he was the sole survivor of the massacre"

the remainder of a group of people or things.
"a survivor from last year's team"

a person who copes well with difficulties in their life.
"she is a born survivor"

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/survivor

Great: and we can add words to quantify the significance.

"A survived a date with B [some guy like Ted Bundy], and C survived a date with D [some guy like Kavanaugh] 30 years ago.": becomes what?

It doesn't matter. In her mind, C might be as much of a victim—and survivour—as A: after all, I never was assaulted by someone like Kavanaugh so my opinion is disqualified.




and if cigarettes are as hard to kick as heroin, then conversely heroin is as easy to kick as cigarettes.

It's all the same.






Anna-Maria Tremonti drove with Matt Galloway to the donut shop. They got a coffee and pastry. They ate it soon after they left, and they drank it just before arriving home.
 
The person who quit cigarettes and the person who quit heroin both had an addiction. We don't say that the person who smokes can't be addicted because some guy online has decided that only junkies are really addicts. But it's recognised that smoking can be addictive, as can gambling, computer games and porn. They don't even contain addictive substances, but the impact on the mind seems to count for something.
 
The person who quit cigarettes and the person who quit heroin both had an addiction. We don't say that the person who smokes can't be addicted because some guy online has decided that only junkies are really addicts. But it's recognised that smoking can be addictive, as can gambling, computer games and porn. They don't even contain addictive substances, but the impact on the mind seems to count for something.

I used to, perhaps stupidly, think that cigarettes aren't as addictive as heroin.

Of course, I didn't know as I was addicted to neither: and in these issues, the addicts are perhaps the supreme authority on the subject.


Then I heard that cigarettes are as addictive as heroin: i.e. both were not only addictive, but equally addictive.

Now at a great risk of political incorrectness, I thought the reverse—that if cigarettes are as addictive as heroin, then heroin is as easy to kick as cigarettes.


But I mustn't say, or perhaps even think, such politically incorrect things.

I should accept the declarations based on quantification without question, while at the same time, if I encounter a the reverse, immediately resort to qualification.

Both are addictive.

Cigarettes are as addictive as heroin.

Ethelridge and Dr. Ford are both suffered (one by a disease that will kill perhaps a a few 100 000s of North American women this year, one by some drunken frat-boy asshole 30 years ago).

Ethelridge and Dr. Ford are both survivours—thus their suffering is the same.

I will no longer question this, because as I have suffered neither, I have no legitimate opinion on the matter and my questioning of all of this is largely based on a terrible lack of sympathy based on my male privilege—a privilege that only a handful of women on this continent can equal (i.e. compensate their lack of such male privilege) through increased effort.
 
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