Dani Bostick
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Victim Watch- September 30

9/30/2015

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It's horrible to suffer as a result of a crime, and the stigma attached to the word "victim" makes it even harder. 

That is the subject of my October 17 TEDx talk in Colorado Springs- how adding negative connotations to the word "victim" is one of the most common manifestations of victim shaming and rape culture. 

By definition, a victim is someone harmed by a crime. Simple. Neutral. 

I'm going to track how the word "victim" is used in the media and by people in the public eye on a weekly basis. 

September 29, 2015
The National Review
Victim Culture is Killing American Manhood
by David French



"In victim culture, a person cultivates their sense of weakness and fragility, actively retarding the process of growing up....

I’d underestimated the allure of victim status — the ease with which one can achieve power and sympathy all at once."



The shame-infested definition the author puts forward says it all. Being a victim entails weakness and immaturity. 

My definition of victim is literal. I was sexually abused as a child. It harmed me. I am a victim, but I am not weak or immature. 

There is no allure in being a victim. Merely drawing a connection between those two words promotes victim-blaming and skepticism of innocent men and women attempting to seek justice for horrible crimes committed against them. 

September 22, 2015 
Statesman (Austin)
For Academia, Try being an Adult, not a Victim

By Brad Stuzman

"The underlying motivation is to stifle discussion and close the forum off to anyone who’s not in a sanctified class of victimhood."

Sanctified class of victimhood.  Again, creating a definition of victimhood that has nothing to do with the true definition and then insinuating that people seek to be victims because it is a privileged status is harmful to people who have been harmed by crime.

No part of suffering as a result of a crime is a pleasant experience, or one someone would actively seek out. 



You tell me: Based on those definitions of victim would you want to be defined as one? Journalists and people in the public eye need to stop turning the word victim into a slur. 







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I am a victim

7/20/2015

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One of the reasons it is hard to be a victim of a crime (particularly stigmatized crime like child sexual abuse, rape, incest) is because the word victim is so charged.

How do you use the word victim? Do you use it as an insult? Oftentimes the word carries with it unnecessary layers of shame and negative connotations. 

Rape culture and victim shaming can be very subtle. One of the most common ways victims are shamed is by the very use of the word "victim." 

Check out my take on how common uses of the word "victim" shame and degrade those harmed by the actions of others.

I am a Victim -  Huffington Post

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Wrote, Read, and about to Write & Read

6/15/2015

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WROTE

Here are a few of the pieces I wrote last week:

Why we all need to mourn Kalief Browder, The Good Men Project, 6/10/2015.
Tragic story- held at Rikers Island for three years without a trial under horrific conditions. He was recently released committed suicide last week. NYC Mayor De Blasio called it a "culture of delay," but it is so much more than that. 

Mom and sons conquer the Incline, The Good Men Project, 6/13/2015.
Excerpt: 
"I fantasize about getting in my car and driving 26 hours back to Maryland. I hate Colorado. I hate it even more when the floods hit a few months later. Then, I experience my first polar vortex, temps of 17 below that transform my town into a cryo-chamber."

Introducing the new sport of dog parking, Crooked Scoreboard, 6/12/2015.
I don't like to lose, and I don't like my dogs to lose either. I invented a sport-- dog parking-- and described how to keep score. 
Excerpt: "Running from dog butt to dog butt like it's the first time you've ever encountered another dog is not suave. Don't be desperate."

I also wrote a piece called Don't call me strong for Huffington Post.  

READ


If you hate punctuation rules, or really like articles about the English language, you'll enjoy Cormac McCarthy's take on punctuation found here:
Cormac McCarthy's Three Punctuation Rules, and How They all Go Back to James Joyce, Open Culture, 8/13/13.


This is a "watched" not "read," but it was definitely impactful. If you are somewhere you can sob freely, I suggest you watch it.  It's the story of Denali, a dog, told from his perspective.


ABOUT TO READ AND WRITE


Finishing Erik Larsen's Dead Wake is high on my list since I started it such a long time ago. Great read so far, I've just been reading more articles than books lately.

I have too many pieces planned for this week than I can reasonably write, but I hope to do something about going to concerts with my dad, and another one for TWLOHA for PTSD awareness month.  And, of course, lots of Steelers news for Behind the Steel Curtain.
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