
When I was nineteen years old, I walked to a grocery store from my parents’ home outside of a high fence concerning which inside was a mental institution around a mile away from their home. Then there was a vocalized whistle from inside. I turned and saw a mental patient, out for an airing and exercise no doubt, drop his pants and show me his genitals.
In response, I said nothing to him, showed no reaction on my face, turned away and kept on walking to the store. Yet I was shook up emotionally that someone, mentally disturbed or not, would act in such a way toward another person.
Around the same time, I was almost raped and someone was raped — at least one other young woman — in Morningside Park, NYC, USA. I describe these events here:
No-Go Zones – Countercurrents
www.countercurrents.org/2017/09/04/no-go-zones/
Sometimes, believe it or not, men are raped. They are tied and forced to have a physiological sexual response by one or more females, which is, obviously, as bad as that which takes place to females, but not occurring as an event as frequently.
The first time that I learned of rape was when I was thirteen and was reading a medical text about treating mentally ill people that I found on one of the many bookshelves that my parents had. It involved the way that a family friend lured a five year old girl into having sex with him.
The steps to lure her were cunning. The hiding of the continual rape was equally cunning. … FIVE YEARS OLD, AND WHICH CHANGED HER PHYSICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY FOR LIFE!
Obviously, the rapists need mental health support, such as the man who exposed himself to me was receiving. Obviously, too, do all of the victims!
We also all need AVP sessions to heal as a society from such horrific events:
Alternatives to Violence (AVP) – Quakers in the World
AVP was initiated by US Quakers in 1975, in response to requests for help from inmates in Greenhaven Prison, New York. It is now an international movement …
Alternatives to Violence Project – Wikipedia
Though founded in 1975 by inmates with the help of Quakers in New York State, AVP draws its participants and its trainers from all religions, races and walks of …
My friends at Scarsdale, NY, USA Quaker ( Religious Society of Friends) Meeting started this initiative. I can guarantee that it works even in cases involving butchery and murder as occurred in Rwanda. So contact Quakers at the AVP if you wish to learn the way to set up such a project in your region. Doing so is cost free for recipients.
Sally Dugman is a writer from MA. USA.