If justice means anything, it has to show consequences for wrongdoing!
What does it say about us when the future of two young rapists is considered more worthy of protection than the shattered innocence of the girls they violated?
I understand that young people make mistakes. I believe in rehabilitation and that people can change. But rape is by no means a youthful indiscretion.
It’s an act of profound violence that leaves scars long after the headlines fade.
As a psychotherapist, I’ve sat with the aftermath of trauma. I know that healing is neither quick nor guaranteed. The nervous system and the body remember.
Trust and safety disappear!
As a woman, I was raped and sexually abused in other ways when I was a child, a young girl and a young woman. So I know what I’m talking about from a personal perspective, too.
The therapeutic road to recover from the violation and traumatisation and reclaim myself has been gruelling, long, and painful.
Those young girls’ lives have been obliterated, and whether or not they go into therapy, there are bleak years ahead of them… perhaps for the rest of their lives. Not everyone recovers.
When a judge shows leniency because a criminal record might damage the boys’ futures, for Godess’s sake, what about the girls’ futures?
They’ve been left with a life sentence!
Justice isn’t about revenge. It’s about accountability, and without accountability, we teach a dangerous lesson. That’s not just that some lives matter more than others, but it’s OK, boys, what you did wasn’t so bad.
W T F!
The measure of a society is not how gently it treats those who cause harm, but how fiercely it protects those who have been harmed.
Now, I don’t usually make appeals here, but I am this time.
The judge in question, at the very least, whether intended or not, appears to have had no idea of the damage rape causes. And, at the very worst, whether intended or not, his judgment appears to be shaped by attitudes that have historically minimised the impact of sexual violence on women and girls.
That’s me being very polite to avoid being summoned for libel!
Most professions have a body to which complaints can be made, but not so judges.
If you were as outraged as I was, and still am, about the girls’ treatment in this case, please read and sign this petition so parliament has to take notice… https://bit.ly/4a0rfEq
And spread the word if it feels right for you.
Warm womanly thanks…
Ps… This is an unabridged version of a post I recently wrote on LinkedIn.
Love and wild warm wishes…
For women who’ve reached, “There has to be more to life than this!”
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