Madeline is now attending the U of U, where she continues to advocate for sexual assault victims. In this article she shares her (horrible) experience reporting her assault to BYU's Title IX office.

Although we know that at BYU, victim blaming tends to be more common than not, what most surprised me was the reaction of her bishop --

"Around this time MacDonald spoke to her bishop, who told her she was 'asking for it' and threatened to revoke her ecclesiastical endorsement because the night she was assaulted she had gone on a date with what she described as a 'good Mormon boy' instead of attending family home evening."

Her BYU roommates, supportive at first, also turned on her.

The U of U, to its credit, realized the urgency of her situation and admitted her as a transfer student within days of her application.

http://dailyutahchronicle.com/2016/11/17/madeline-macdonald-byu-sexual-assault-survivor-shares-her-story/

Blame the victim of rape has been a Mormon Standard for over 40 years that I am aware of. I expect it has been that way much longer.

So, nothing has really changed. Even if HCO is barred from its witch hunt, your bishop can still victim-blame you and get you kicked out.

Truly disgusting.

Unfortunately this is all too common even outside of Mormonism.

Just think of all the young mormon and non-mormon women who have been date raped and then told it was their fault by their mormon bishop.

And then think of all the young men who have been told their girl friend is a slut and not good enough for a mormon boy.
"Just repent and don't think of if, the Lord will forgive you but first get a different girlfriend, I know a sweet spirit..."

It boggles the mind.

Coercion is NOT consent.

Good for Madeline, and those like her

The victim blaming has got to stop

Reminds me of a recent headline from Qatar or nearby: A British woman who was raped by two of the locals faces serious jail time for having sex outside of marriage.

Note to self:
Stay away from the Middle East
Stay away from BYU

this from the article:

"She went to speak with the Title IX Director who admitted to the process of handing over the sexual assault report to the Honor Code Office. They cited it was because of the “ban on sex” and that many women have sex, feel regret and claim it was an assault on their campus."

So there you have it - rape does not happen, women are just ashamed after doing the deed and decide to call it rape to save face. So speaketh the great mormon church.

That could be your daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, mother or best friend treated in this way. Sickening.

Let's see, rather than stay quiet about consensual sex and let it go unnoticed like 95% of the sex on campus, the remorseful young lady goes after all sorts of ugly victim blaming attention by calling rape. Yea that makes sense.

OMG.... more power to Ms. McDonald. Wow.

Y'all are SO right.... the victim blaming must STOP. It is horrendous.

As a rape survivor and potential murder victim, I was terrified of my attacker. It was a date rape scenario.... not only did he keep several of my personal belongings, he knew exactly where I lived and worked.

Other than one close friend, I lied to everyone else about what happened to me and did so for many, many years, even to my family. Of course I never reported it, as I was terrified already, and could not even begin to think how everything would be turned against me in a court of law, and make it turned all around to "being my fault". etc.

The man I was dating dumped me as soon as he found out and proceeded to act as though he had never even known me. I was very fortunate to become involved, albeit VERY slowly, with a very loving, empathetic, sweet, kind, patient man who did so much to help me rebuild faith in myself in every possible way. I will never forget him... he truly loved me and was such a lifeline at the time. My husband does know about what happened to me, and has been completely loving, supportive, all the while realizing that although it was many years ago, there are still many aspects of it that deeply affect me... he totally understands this, and has always been completely sensitive and loves me deeply.

My how things have changed.... I am now much wiser and much less fearful of what anyone else would "think", and believe me, I truly regret that I never reported my rape and attempted murder, as I wonder how many other women he attacked. I did the best I could at the time with the information and circumstances I had. Although I have not yet followed through, I am a certified EMT, and I continue thinking about pursuing some type of specialized additional training where there would be opportunity to help other women in crisis, who like me, really had no one to turn to and no idea of the help and resources available. I can't change what happened to me, however if I could help another woman even in some small way, I would be honored if I could make a positive difference to help someone else.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2016 01:20PM by cynful.

IMHO These things happen because they are: 1 sanctimonious 2 hypocritical 3 bigots.
I think that covers it.

Rape is not about the sex... its about the CONTROL and POWER over the victim. The rapist does not care what the victim is or is not wearing