When it comes to women of color, did you find any systematic differences in the handling of their reports, or any additional difficulties they face when reporting assault?
I don’t think there’s hard data on that, but some of the women of color I interviewed said they had a difficult time reporting their assaulters. One, Karmenife, monologued at length to me about the island queens she idolizes for their attitudes, accomplishments, or self-regard. But she also discussed how she felt when she reported a fellow student to her university for assault. “Women of color, particularly black and Latino women, are often categorized as unrapable because we’re hypersexualized,” she said. “Supposedly, we’re always asking for it. So when this happens to you as a woman of color, you have all this institutionalized oppressive shit in your mind going, ‘Oh, you were asking for it because of your body, the way you’re shaped. This is just how it is.’ Plus, I think part of me didn’t report for years because I was afraid to call the guy a rapist, because that’s reinforcing a stereotype for all black men. How can I say I love black men if I turn this person in? It forced me into silence.”
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