Many Thanks to Pamela Anderson! Anderson Shatters the ‘Good’ Rape Myth
Unfortunately, Anderson’s story fits in with the existing research regarding sexual assault. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), 44 percent of victims of rape and sexual assault are under the age of 18. Fifteen percent were under the age of 12 when they were first attacked. Nor is it surprising, sadly, to hear of a single person victimized by multiple offenders. In a 2006 Department of Justice report, researchers indicated, “Women who become victims of sexual assault are at much higher risk than other women of being victimized again.” A 1991 study found that, even controlling for the personal characteristics of a victim, most victims of sexual assault are victimized on more than one occasion. The DOJ study suggested that being victimized once may “make them more vulnerable to the tactics of the offenders they encounter.”
It makes a rough sort of sense. Sexual assault is a particularly gruesome form of bullying, and as anyone who was a kid can tell you, once one bully starts targeting a victim, all the other bullies smell blood in the water.
By speaking out about her childhood experiences and framing herself as a survivor—one who is unafraid to be sexual—Anderson can signal to other survivors that they can heal and move on.
Anderson must be aware, of course, that her identity as a proudly sexual woman who has done work in soft porn like Playboy is bound to attract this kind of victim-blaming and abuse. Indeed, Anderson has even participated in comedy satirizing the way people reduce her to a sex object, most notably in the movie Borat, in which she took part in a skit making fun of people who minimize or excuse violence against women deemed sex objects.