With Love, Étienne | ✓

Chapter Thirty-Six

É T I E N N E ' S  P O I N T  O F  V I E W 

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TWO WEEKS PASSED.

Nothing was the same after that day. There was an unexplainable tension in the air -- a poison that felt suffocating, but not enough to kill. Everyone tried to pretend it didn't exist; even Louella pretended everything was fine. She smiled and she laughed, but it was all fake. It was beginning to frustrate me because all I wanted to do was shake their shoulders and shout at them to wake up. Every time I tried to bring up the topic, someone would kick me to stay silent. I understood that the final verdict was heart-breaking, but it was even more heart-breaking watching everyone try so hard to forget.

In those two weeks, Louella had hidden herself at home. She refused to step outside into the world. Rumours were being spread around town -- from Milo no doubt -- about what happened. She couldn't face anyone anymore, with her name being passed around with bitterness. Whether it was online or in person, the name Louella Rey was sketched into the skin of everyone, never to be forgotten.

19.25PM MADISON JOE: What a slut.

21.53PM TOMAS CLEARY: I can't believe she lied about something like that.

07.30AM JENNY BOOM: I thought they were friends.

17.20PM JAMES WILTON: Whore.

As years went by, we've been taught to accept that rape and sexual assault issues are part of life and that we have to accept that it happens, on top of that, we have to make sure we are not another victim. We lived in a world where society told us to not get raped instead of telling don't rape. We were taught to not leave our drink alone at the bar instead of don't drug someone. Why were we telling men and women not to get raped instead teaching rapists not rape -- to understand the clear line between consent and non-consent?

It was sickening that in nearly every single case of rape, victim-blaming always played the biggest role. Why weren't we allowed to dress how we wanted, do what we wanted, without the fear of someone violating us? Victim blaming and tolerance of sexual-harassment were all examples of rape culture, and it somehow had woven itself into our society to the point where it was socially normalized. We conditioned everyone into believing that their story wasn't worth being told, and that if they dared to speak up, they would be silenced straight away. We questioned them and ripped holes in their stories to the point that they doubted themselves. 

Were you drinking that night?

What were you wearing?

Were you alone?

Did you even have anything to defend yourself?

Why didn't you report?

Why was it that we nit-picked and scrutinized the victim's behaviour and words before and after the attack, desperately trying to find a way to blame them for what happened -- to find a plausible excuse for the rapist's actions?

Rape culture was hidden in every aspect of our lives, and we had become blind to it. Boys will be boys -- no, boys will be held accountable for their actions regardless of anything else happening around them.  When did it become okay to rape someone and excuse it with he wouldn't do that, he's a nice boy or he's the star football captain, so let's go easy on him. This notion of a free pass didn't apply to any other kind of crime, so why was it used so often here?