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Rebecca Solnit argues that centuries of patriarchy have bestowed an engrained implicit bias in our culture, one that devalues women’s voices and experiences and inherently makes a man’s story credible and a woman’s story doubtful. In “Cassandra Among the Creeps,� she explains:

“Hysteria derives from the Greek word for ‘uterus,� and the extreme emotional state it denotes was once thought to be due to a wandering womb; men were by definition exempt from this diagnosis that now just means being incoherent, overwrought, and maybe confused.� (p. 105)

When a man is accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or domestic violence, the victim is often the one who is put on trial. Solnit argues that this is the result of centuries of misogyny that paints women, as a category, as unreliable.

How can we as a culture shift this narrative?

Believing survivors is a powerful way to interrupt this system of oppression. What are some ways that the average person can support survivors?

Much of the subjugation of women is based in fervent adherence to and misunderstanding of religion. In the United States, evangelical Christians have long cherry-picked the bible on women's issues. One example, among many, is they completely ignore God's commandment to Moses in Numbers 27 that land be left to Zelophehad’s daughters, a clear indication that women do have property rights -- and they are human beings -- contrary to what men maintained as the status quo for centuries. While it certainly won't be easy to re-educate men, or to get them to stop selectively eliminate certain passages from their religious texts, that's the first step, I believe: convince them and everyone else that they have improperly interpreted God's message on women.

Secondly, as Ms. Solnit suggested repeatedly, we must get the message across that these "individual incidents" are neither isolated nor individual. They are an enormous social problem: an epidemic that affects every single person in this society. Whether we know or believe it, our everyday lives are impacted by rape and domestic violence. Even if we don't personally know anyone (hardly possible), the enormous cost leeches into so many areas: medical, mental health, business losses - which are passed to consumers - criminal justice and court systems, school systems, and the list goes on and on. Estimates are that domestic violence alone costs anywhere from $10 billion to as much as $500 billion per year. For every dollar spent on prevention, it is recouped several times over in savings in multiple areas.

These are the ways people can be educated that may stimulate interest in prevention. They should be interested in saving women and children for the sheer sake of saving lives and livelihoods, but for the bureaucrats who make policy, money talks.

As for supporting survivors, nothing works better than empathy! I cannot stress how important it is to be willing to listen and genuinely care.