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In Christian theology, Saint Maria Goretti is the Patron Saint for rape victims.
When Saint Maria was 12 years old, her next door neighbor attempted to rape her. She fought him and he ended up stabbing her. As she died, she forgave him. *To find out the "rest of the story", see this link: Saint Maria Goretti - her bio
Every individual reacts differently when confronted with a crime. Saint Maria fought her attacker. I didn't even realize that I had been raped until 6 months later. How one reacted is not the issue; rather, the issue is that she was forever changed from that experience.
According to The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language, the definition of rape is as follows:
rape (reip) n. (law) illicit sexual intercourse with a woman [man] without her consent (by force,deception, while she is asleep etc.)
Rape is an act of violence against women and men. Rape isn't about sex. It is about one person controlling another human being by intimidation, manipulation and fear. It doesn't matter if you knew your attacker or not or whether you went out on a date; rape is a crime, and no one asks to be the victim of a crime.
Rape not only affects the victim, but the people who love and care for that person.
I am a surivor of rape and Dan is a secondary survivor. We have spent many hours working together through the healing process. Part of that time has been on the internet looking at different sites and reading books about rape and its effects. While doing this research, we were shocked at how prevalent rape is in our society. Also, we have discovered that society still has a long road ahead of it in its treatment of women. Dan and I decided to create this site in hope of spreading the message about rape* and to give other survivors a place to start or continue the healing process.
While this site has Christian overtones to it, it is not meant to discourage anyone from exploring it. This site was created to offer hope and support, whether you believe or not.
*Many women are still in relationships with men who have raped them because they have not recognized what has happened to them as rape. The reason we want to "spread the word about rape" is to help these women recognize what they are putting up with. Statistics show that when a woman recognizes the incident as a rape, she is less likely to return to the rapist. Why do women return to the rapists in the first place? Partly because they did not recognize the event as a rape, although there are many reasons why a woman would want to make a "relationship" that has involved sex (yes, even unwanted sex) work, especially if she has high moral standards for herself and does not want to think of the event as a "one-night-stand."
This site always in development. Please check back to see the new features
link to a site created by the Chicago police.
Webrings page to find more resources!
form to send us your own words for our Speak Out! page.
Find out why we have been called "Satanic, Neo-Nazi, Feminist Propagandists"!
Read what the U.S. Department of Justice is doing for victims of rape and domestic violence
This site was created on September 21, 1999
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