bellbird
MyPTSD Pro
I've written to the organiser just now.
Here's what I wrote. Thanks all for the encouragement/suggestions.
I will let y'all know in November when the new questionnaire comes out if we've been able to facilitate a change. If not, I'll just try again :)
To Dr. Chris Sibley,
My name is bellbird.
I have been a participant of the NZAVS since 2014.
I have a suggestion regarding the following questions that featured in the 2018 questionnaire:
"We should invest more in educating women how to avoid physical/sexual violence from men."
and
"We should invest more in educating men to not be physically/sexually violent toward women."
Sexual assault is a topic that is very close to home for me; I am a woman, with PTSD, that has been primarily caused by sexual assault by a male perpetrator.
Throughout my journey with PTSD over the last year, I have been fortunate enough to develop friendships with men who are sexual assault survivors and who had female perpetrators.
From speaking with them, I have learnt about the huge gender bias in how sexual assault and domestic violence are portrayed, the stigma that they face as male victims, and how their experiences are so often and so cruelly invalidated simply because of their gender.
As a victim of sexual assault myself, I speak from the heart when I say that validation is immensely important.
I strongly feel that the wording of the above two questions from the 2018 questionnaire fuels the stigma that there are only male perpetrators and female victims in sexual assault. Which is completely inaccurate.
The focus should be on educating people to treat other people with respect and not assault them, and on educating people to assess the risk of being assaulted and what might be appropriate responses, irrespective of gender.
I sincerely ask you to address this bias in the 2019 questionnaire. I have seen the ways in which this global bias has impacted the lives of male survivors and how desperately change is needed in how we approach this topic.
I implore you, given the platform that you have of reaching so many New Zealanders, to be a part of that change.
Yours sincerely,
bellbird
Here's what I wrote. Thanks all for the encouragement/suggestions.
I will let y'all know in November when the new questionnaire comes out if we've been able to facilitate a change. If not, I'll just try again :)
To Dr. Chris Sibley,
My name is bellbird.
I have been a participant of the NZAVS since 2014.
I have a suggestion regarding the following questions that featured in the 2018 questionnaire:
"We should invest more in educating women how to avoid physical/sexual violence from men."
and
"We should invest more in educating men to not be physically/sexually violent toward women."
Sexual assault is a topic that is very close to home for me; I am a woman, with PTSD, that has been primarily caused by sexual assault by a male perpetrator.
Throughout my journey with PTSD over the last year, I have been fortunate enough to develop friendships with men who are sexual assault survivors and who had female perpetrators.
From speaking with them, I have learnt about the huge gender bias in how sexual assault and domestic violence are portrayed, the stigma that they face as male victims, and how their experiences are so often and so cruelly invalidated simply because of their gender.
As a victim of sexual assault myself, I speak from the heart when I say that validation is immensely important.
I strongly feel that the wording of the above two questions from the 2018 questionnaire fuels the stigma that there are only male perpetrators and female victims in sexual assault. Which is completely inaccurate.
The focus should be on educating people to treat other people with respect and not assault them, and on educating people to assess the risk of being assaulted and what might be appropriate responses, irrespective of gender.
I sincerely ask you to address this bias in the 2019 questionnaire. I have seen the ways in which this global bias has impacted the lives of male survivors and how desperately change is needed in how we approach this topic.
I implore you, given the platform that you have of reaching so many New Zealanders, to be a part of that change.
Yours sincerely,
bellbird