<img src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/An6LGApCAAI61t9-227x300.jpg" alt="#ididnotreport" width="227" height="300" align="right" />What can a hashtag like <em><a title="#ididnotreport" href="http://twitter.com/search/#ididnotreport" target="_blank">#ididnotreport</a></em> (<em>I did not report</em>) do for a social network like <a title="Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>? In the past two or three days, it's given many women and a few men from all parts of the world an outlet to express their feelings on their experiences with rape and/or other forms of sexual abuse. Many have posted their reasons why they <em>didn't report</em> the attack(s) and/or abuse -- often blaming the system (legal, social, etc). What we've considered a special event (huge all-of-a-sudden phenomenon) for the past several days in a social network (in this case, <a title="Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>) hasn't been covered by big newscasters leaving bloggers with the duty to report it. This is shamefully pathetic, but this might be the <em>rape culture</em> many have referred to -- what an eye opener!

Other tags that've come out as a result of <em><a title="#ididnotreport" href="http://twitter.com/search/#ididnotreport" target="_blank">#ididnotreport</a></em> are
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	<li><em><a title="#ididreport" href="http://twitter.com/search/#ididreport" target="_blank">#ididreport</a></em> (<em>I did report</em>), which simply means that the survivor did report the attack and/or abuse</li>
	<li>and <em><a title="#rapeculture" href="http://twitter.com/search/#rapeculture" target="_blank">#rapeculture</a></em> (<em>rape culture</em>), which has been used to describe the vulgarity of social behavior and/or attitude toward rape survivors (<em>always the victim's fault</em>).</li>
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Most of these 140-character stories disgust me. It's stupid how society and the legal system victimize the survivor for a second time (if not more) right after being raped -- including emergency personnel who don't show any empathy to police officers who never show up.

In a cyber-world of anonymity, it's strange when many women and men open up to tell the world their deepest secrets -- some for the first time ever. Some are faceless and nameless, but others do have faces and names. It's disturbing when the person posting her experiences of being raped is still a child or when a person writes about a friend or relative committing suicide as the result of being violated.

I've heard some of these stories before. Some of my friends (female and male) have gone through rape or another form of sexual abuse, especially when they were children. It's like cycle that produces monsters who all do the same horrors again and again.

By the way, I stand by my previous <a title="life after sex: surviving" href="http://christiannoob.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/life-after-sex-surviving/" target="_blank">statement</a> that rapists should be beaten and castrated.
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	<li>My respects to the unknown woman holding the sign that reads, <em>"My rapist doesn't know he's a rapist." </em>Picture used in this post.</li>
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