(rant) Secondary survivor of sexual assault? Bullshit.

I feel you. Look at it this way maybe: many people coming out of trauma, whether it is long term, complex trauma, a single incident, surviving a disaster, a single rape incidence, being physically abused, neglected, tortured, enslaved, trafficked, war zone trauma, etc, all have a point where they become a jumble over it. And what this woman is trying to find the best way she can, is to describe what survivors of this are experiencing and going through via her 'second hand account trauma' that upsets you.

She's ghost writing and representing for people who are unable to represent themselves when they are recovering from that. She is a good bystander who has probably been legitimately moved when she is shocked to hear the things people her heart goes out too and is doing the best she can. The fact that she actually feels second-hand shock, we will call it, is proof she has gotten involved enough to have the beginnings of what you could compare to the psychological burnout some people get who are around psychologically heavy... material.

Try to be understanding and not get mad at her if you feel she is not phrasing it as accurately as you feel she should. What we are dealing with on the inside is often completely different than how things appear on the outside because of the things we do to not only cope, but because many victims who are abused are so used to being abused and exploited, that they won't be able to identify what was being done to them. That's how it goes.

Forgive her a little for that, and respect that she cares, and is an outside perspective that's on your side. It's not a bad thing and I'm sure she does not mean any insult.

/r/TwoXChromosomes Thread Parent