Everyone’s Fault

Crossposted from Yes Means Yes Blog.

The Polanski arrest has everyone talking, and Lauren has again revisited her personal story, which can’t be easy.

Lauren’s a friend, and I’ll say publicly what I’ve said privately before. If a girl or a woman gets raped, that’s the rapist’s fault. If she doesn’t know who she can tell or if she can tell or whose side people will be on or if she’ll be blamed or if she can get the support she needs … then that’s everyone’s fault. The whole system, the whole country, the whole culture failed Lauren. And Samantha Geimer. And every other girl and woman both who have survived and who have not. We failed and we keep failing and that’s a shit sandwich that we all get a bite of.