Sexual Assault Survivors & Supporters Protest Rape Apologists
St. Paul, MN – A community of sexual assault survivors and supporters held a rally in front of St. Catherine University to demand a change to how our society responds to rape. They wanted the parents of rapist Alec Neal, who held a workshop at the university, to know it was unacceptable to defend rapists.
#BreaktheSilence protest to raise awareness of how #communities respond to #SexualAssault #RapeCulture pic.twitter.com/PzadA9erkT
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 10, 2016
Alec’s parents, Craig & Patricia Neal have continued a letter writing campaign to undermine Sarah Super’s story of surviving being raped by Alec. We spoke to Sarah at the rally and she said Alec’s parents were defending her rapist, “just like Brock Turner’s dad defended a rapist.”
Other participants in the rally brought up the hypocrisy of Alec’s parents actively trying to erase a woman’s voice, while teaching workshops on uplifting women in the workplace.
Protest demands communities support survivors & not defend rapists. #BreaktheSilence #RapeCulture #StandfordRape pic.twitter.com/AH9ghu44F0
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 10, 2016
Since the rally, Pollen a co-sponsoring organization has pulled support from the Heartland Circle, which was co-founded by Alec’s mother. Here is a piece of the Pollen press release:
In Pollen’s ‘public apology’ they stated, “While we support the underlying mission of this event and the women on the panel, we cannot support any organizations or individuals who align themselves with the erasure of women’s stories and validation of experience, especially for victims of rape.”
Sarah closed out our conversation saying it was about how communities respond and “no longer defending rapists.”
Since Sarah was raped last February, she has been a vocal advocate for survivors, hosting events for other survivors to break the silence around their own sexual assault or rape. “Silence supports the perpetrator,” says Sarah, “never the victim.”
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