SEXUAL TRAUMA – SOCIETY’S “SPECIAL TREATMENT”? /// Part 2

(From the Christine Blasey Ford case to the question of double standards)





2 – IS TRAUMA JUST TRAUMA?



After all, there is no shortage of trauma.
A person can be traumatized by a serious accident, physical violence, experiences of war, years of bullying, domestic violence, the death of a loved one, betrayal, profound humiliation, or any number of other life-altering events.
Such experiences, too, can stay with a person for decades.
Some people carry what happened to them throughout their entire lives, even though hardly anyone knows about it.




And yet the crucial question remains:
Why is a particularly long period of time sometimes granted in cases involving sexual offences, during which a possible perpetrator may still have to face serious legal consequences?
Suffering alone cannot, after all, be a sufficient criterion.
Because once we start ranking human suffering according to its supposed social importance, we can quickly end up with a rather strange hierarchy:


Trauma A receives special attention.

Trauma B receives less.

Trauma C perhaps none at all.


Who, exactly, decides which kind of suffering is considered especially worthy of protection?
The usual justification for treating sexual offences differently is this:
Shame, fear, dependency, and the psychological processing of a sexual assault may cause those affected to speak about it only much later.
That is certainly understandable.




But this leads to another question:
Why should the existence of a possible trauma automatically mean that the interests of the accused must take a back seat for such an extended period of time?
Here, too, a constitutional state should keep both sides in view.
Because if we genuinely want justice, the severity of someone's suffering must not automatically determine which principles of the rule of law are to apply to the other side.


 

• Read other works of Harry Schloßmacher
• Send e-Mail to Harry Schloßmacher

---

Your opinion:

Comment

Rate this (Mark: 1 It´s great - Mark 6: Weak)

No mark Mark 1 Mark 2 Mark 3 Mark 4 Mark 5 Mark 6

Your email-address (or Forum-ID)

How does this work?

Password

No ID yet / Password lost?

Submit

Our authors and e-Stories.org would like to hear your opinion! But you should comment the Poem/Story and not insult our authors personally!