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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Dear people who question Jackie

With regards to the Rolling Stone article about UVA — what is now up for debate: Whether Drew was a member of the fraternity. Whether Drew was a lifeguard. Whether the fraternity had a social event on the books that night. Some other inconsistencies in Jackie’s story.

My responses, in order: Why does this matter if it occurred at the fraternity and included other fraternity members?

This is a reasonable misunderstanding.Why does this matter at all?

Drew was a part of her assault.

She saw him at the pool.

Maybe she thought he was a lifeguard. Maybe he was and just wasn’t a member of that fraternity.

As if every social event goes on the books. As if.

But, maybe there was not a formal ?social event.

People still might have been there drinking. Jackie’s post-trauma memory might have been so damaged by being raped that the details of whether or not there was a formal party might not have maintained their original clarity. In cases of severe sexual trauma, like Jackie’s, the details of the event can be incredibly traumatic to call back to memory.

In order to protect oneself, survivors often subconsciously block out some parts or recreate different versions. Over time, it is completely possible for her story to have changed.

My takeaway is that clearly something terrible happened and because of that we should stand with her.

She would not have come forward unless something terrible and traumatic ?had happened.

Doing anything other than supporting her is blatantly cruel.

Questioning her or calling her “the girl who cried rape” retraumatizes her. It removes the focus from the perpetrators, from UVA’s lack of response to sexual assaults, from American universities’ lack of responses to sexual assaults.

It fuels the fire of the false-rape myth.

It makes it harder for people to believe other survivors, who also deserve to be believed.

It discredits advocates’ work to bring this issue to national attention.

So, I support Jackie, and you should too.

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