Survivors of Rape and Sexual Violence Speak to Dark Side of Vineyard Life

By MANDY LOCKE

She's the girl next door. She's the waitress who serves you at your favorite spot on Circuit avenue. She teaches your children. She dates your brother. She sits next to you in biology class.

She's your daughter, your sister, your mother, your wife.

And she's a survivor of sexual violence. She's one of the 15 known women to survive rape or sexual assault on Martha's Vineyard this summer alone. She's one of more than 30,000 women in Massachusetts who reported rapes and sexual assaults to crisis centers in the last decade. And it is estimated that only 20 per cent of survivors ever report the crime.

Of course you didn't know. Shame forces these women into silence. She fears insulting questions: "Well, how much did you have to drink?" or, "Why were you wearing that skirt anyway?" She dreads common value judgments like, "She's always been easy" or, "She should have known not to go home with him." People blame the victim so they can distance themselves from the survivor and stay safe in the belief that sexual violence can't happen to them.

If you know the woman, you're likely to know the rapist as well. Nine out of 10 women are attacked by someone they know. So, the rapist, too, is the guy next door.

Rape has nothing to do with sex.

"It's about power and control. Sex is the weapon," said Ann Wallace, director of Women's Support Services of Martha's Vineyard Community Services.

"People are surprised to hear about the prevalence of sexual violence here because the Vineyard is not seen as a real place. It's seen as a safe and magical place," Ms. Wallace said.

"The silence surrounding sexual violence against women on the Island creates a false sense of security," added Annie Holmes, counselor and advocate for Women's Support Services.

It's easier to think the women fabricated their stories. Yet, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, only about two per cent of rape reports are false. That's equal to or lower than rates of false reports for all other crimes.

This false sense of security is dangerous, Ms. Wallace said, because it leads women to believe they can protect themselves from rape. So, when it happens, survivors blame themselves. But as rape survivor Cynthia Caroseller writes in Who's Afraid of the Dark?: "Rape exists because there are rapists, not because there are victims."

In recent days, four women agreed to share their personal experiences of sexual violence with the Island community. Their names have been changed in the interest of privacy, but the stories are uniquely their own.

Caitlin is a high school student who has lived her whole life on the Vineyard. This fiercely loyal and honest young woman wants the men who raped her to know the damage they've done to her life.

Even though her case has been creeping through the court system since the attack last year, she has unshakable faith that justice will prevail. Meanwhile, Caitlin waits. She knows that drill all too well. She switched schools for a year to avoid seeing one of her attackers throughout each day. Now, she waits for the two men to face the judge.

Alex is a second-year college student who, like thousands of people her age, headed to the Island for the summer to save some money for school and to enjoy the endless beaches with friends. A nationally ranked lacrosse player in high school, not even Alex's physical strength protected her from being raped by her supervisor one night this summer. The missing piece of this puzzle is Alex's recollection of the night.

She suspects she was given a date rape drug, and even though she went to the hospital within 24 hours of the rape, finding traces of any of these quickly disappearing drugs is difficult. Alex waits, too. She waits for the district attorney to decide if there is even enough evidence to proceed to court. Meanwhile, she'll head back to school for the year and trust that her report will proceed.

Rose, a year-round Vineyarder in her mid-20s, is a brilliant self-starter. Her friends would classify her as an intellectual. But not even her sharp wits could protect her from being held against her will earlier this summer by three men who repeatedly raped her over the course of several days. Rose has filed a police report, but she is uncertain as to whether she'll proceed into the criminal justice system.

Beth, too, grew up on the Island in a well-rooted Vineyard family. The lure of the Island called her home after college, where she immediately began working with Island youth. Beth appears reserved, but her closest friends know that a passion runs just below her calm surface. Beth was sexually assaulted by a co-worker in the spring of 1999. After waiting a year in the court system, the district attorney settled with the assailant in a pretrial conference. He pled guilty to lesser charges, and the case was continued for one year without finding. Beth now works diligently to move on with her life.

Editors' note: Additional articles about issues surrounding rape and sexual violence in the Island community will appear in future editions of the Vineyard Gazette.