Tag Archives: consent

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Do You Want a Hug? An Exploration of Consent

The question has been brewing in my mind for the past few days. Over the weekend, my husband and I went to visit my family for the first time since we were married. As was inescapable, I ended up in the church pew Sunday morning next to my grandmother after a hearty dose of familial guilt (It will mean so much to your grandmother! Who knows how much longer she has left?).Though I no longer attend church or follow the faith, my parents’ church was a huge part of my childhood. Growing up, I spent most of every Sunday along with several evenings throughout the week within those walls. Though at least seven years have passed since I last attended with any regularity, many of the same faces remain. As we drove up to the church, I braced myself for the unavoidable questions and comments from all of my parents’ friends. What I had not adequately braced myself for was the amount of physical contact I had to deal with throughout the morning.

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Did He Know? (Part 2)

Throughout our cultural landscape, we have the persistent stereotype of a rapist being a scary man hiding in a dark alley waiting to accost women. While there are instance of rape that present like this, the stranger in a dark alley is more of an outlier than a trend. According to RAINN (The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), approximately 80% of victims know their rapist. Of that, 47% of reported cases involve a romantic partner. These numbers are based off of reported rapes, which we know are seriously under-reported. If we were able to take into account all rape, the percentage of victims who know their rapists would likely increase significantly as victims of stranger rape are more likely to report their rape as there is far less cultural stigma (though that is a topic for another day).

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