RapeCrisis SthLondon · @RASASC_London
3rd Mar 2015 from TwitLonger
In the interests of transparency, below is a copy of the email sent to @stavvers on the 3rd of March. Please note the apology is for the hurt caused, which as an organisation we absolutely stand by. No one has a right to cause hurt to anyone, regardless of ideological disagreements.
@stavvers still has an important choice to make about whether she will take the step of apologising herself for the hurt caused in saying that a woman writing about how she was raped and what helped her to recover 'thinks like a rapist'.
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I’m responding to the Tweet sent earlier today in which we asked whether you had considered choosing to apologise for saying that a woman who had written a piece in the New Statesman talking about how she was raped ‘thinks like a rapist’ in a tweet you wrote on the 24th of February.
Myself and my organisation believe it is important for all survivors to be treated with respect and dignity and we also campaign actively to create safe spaces for survivors to speak out including through engagement with media outlets. We believe it is important to provide support provision for both transmen and transwomen who have survived sexual violence and also hold that righteous rage is key to us mobilising to create a world without sexual violence.
I understand you were deeply hurt by being asked whether you had considered making a decision to apologise, and for this hurt I offer my own heartfelt apology. I wanted to apologise to you over the phone as hearing it may feel more real than reading, though I understand you saying that you find phone conversations difficult due to having a learning disability. You offered, in your open letter to us, to come into the centre and I am happy to arrange this so we can speak in person. I can remember speaking alongside you about the Rape Pornography campaign on Al Jazeera in 2013 and know that though we have different positions on some aspects of ending violence against women and girls there are large points of similarity and connection.
Keep up the good fight