RAPE MYTHS PERPETUATED by Law & Order SVU
I do a consent workshop that I basically ended up structuring around Law & Order:SVU and the myths about sexual violence that it perpetuates. It’s a common cultural touchstone and a good jumping-off point for conversation.
This is the intro to the workshop; participants are then asked to brainstorm other myths and then lead that into a conversation about consent, what that means and what that looks like in their own lives.
—
1. If you come in to a police station to report a rape, you will be taken seriously.
The detectives on SVU all have personal reasons and personal investment in the cases they take on. Every single case is taken seriously and is followed up on with appropriate gravity.
In reality, engaging with institutions is often incredibly traumatizing for rape survivors for many reasons, not the least of which is that our voices often are not taken seriously. This was my personal experience, and I suspect it is statistically more likely to happen in communities of color and to survivors of color given well-documented and attested to issues of police racism and brutality. As well, sexual assaults against women of color happen at a proportionately higher rate than their representation in the US population, especially Native women, something that has been written about extensively by Native activists. From NVAWS: