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Complexities of Enforcing Justice after rape

  • Author Author Ste11aeres
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  • Blog entry read time Blog entry read time 1 min read
http://harvardlawreview.org/2015/02/trading-the-megaphone-for-the-gavel-in-title-ix-enforcement-2/

I want to ask a question that is about something psychological, not legal.
This article mentions how a young man attending a college was prohibited from going anywhere where a specific other college student might see him, because he looked like someone who had raped her. He was not the guy who had raped her, but he looked like him, and this was triggering for her.

Was this a psychologically good move in regards to her?
Is she destined to live out her life in fear of all persons with a certain face or body type?
Might it not be psychologically better for her to occasionally be around someone who looked that way? That way, negative emotional associations (in regards to harmless things such as that facial structure, skin color, whatever) could be replaced by neutral ones.
What do you think?

And yes, it was a very unjust thing against him, a person innocent of wrongdoing. But that's not the specific question that I'm asking here.

Comments

I never heard of 'avoidance' therapy.. while I have utter sympathy for the poor womans plight, that, I feel, is not going to help her one iota.
What effect will it have on her social life if she's:
(a) Encouraged by professionals (obviously much more persuasive than peer encouragement) to continue to avoid certain people - will her criteria expand.. stay the same.. reduce (as, maybe, the therapist is hoping)
(b) Make her peers wary of her - will this improve her state of mind?

In short, I don't agree with this approach.

To address the issue of guy with the prohibition order, as it really is part of the plot.. I once knew a work colleague who was accused of attempted rape - to police - by a woman who was assaulted on a train - my colleague frightened the guy off and he was gone by the time the police arrived, but her confused/shocked state of mind caused her to point the finger at the next male face she saw in relation to the incident.
Fortunately he was with a friend who provided a third person perspective and he wasn't charged.

He felt terrible for a long time and, although nothing came of it all, he relived it for ages - he was anxious for a long time whenever he had to travel alone on a train.

To be clear, we all worked for the railway.. imagine how that must feel for him, getting on trains every day..

What's the real life scenario for Mr'(s) Look-a-like? To avoid certain classes? Duck and hide if he sees this woman.. does he get a special lecture with mugshots at the start of term so he can keep a paranoid eye out for her?

How does this approach help anyone here?
 
No, she and her support team should have come up with an personalized "emergency exit strategy" and the accomodations given to the situation should have surrounded that- not surrounded some other innocent person totally uninvolved.

...as time goes on I see more people who look like those who have hurt me badly. It freaks me out less and less. From that point of view I believe she should have come up with a couple emergency-get-out and/or coping strategies with her team.

I leaned on my supports heavily when I needed to in similar situation.

Anyway- I agree this strategy would reinforce fear.
 

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Ste11aeres
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