"accuser" = 'victim'

[Neal Whitman]

Doing a little bit of searching on "survivor accuser victim," I find
that if anything, the use of "accuser" instead of "victim" is not seen
as a goodthing, but rather one more obstacle for rape victims to
overcome. If no one can be called a rape victim until after they have
accused someone, who has subsequently been convicted, what about all the
rapes that go unreported, or which don't result in an arrest? See, for
example, this blog post complaining about a legislator's move to replace
"victim" with" accuser" in a bill:


      http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/no-such-thing-as-a-rape-victim/


Having read the earlier message, I was interested to see that the AP
concluded its story with a similar sentence, which finesses the issue by
putting "victims" inside a presupposition-blocking "say" complement:"The
AP also does not generally identify people who say they were victims of
sex crimes."

Neal

O n 3/17/2013 12:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "accuser" = 'victim'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Victim" is passive and therefore "demeaning" - or so I've heard. She's not
> a victim: she's an "accuser" and a "survivor."
>
> I notice that your post even uses the passive voice.  Wake up and smell the
> Kool-Aid!
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      "accuser" =3D 'victim'
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> Yahoo! News's top story (of some past instant):
>>
>> Judge finds two Ohio teens guilty of raping girl
>>
>> [At the end:]
>>
>> "Under its policy of keeping the names of
>> accusers in rape cases confidential, Reuters has not identified the girl.=
> "
>> My guess is that, although the accused were
>> convicted, because the article observes that the
>> "girl"s story was questioned by the defense, she
>> can only be described as an "accuser", not as an actual "victim".
>>
>> *By*Drew Singer | Reuters =96 24 mins ago
>> [But]
>> (*Writing* by James B. Kelleher and David Bailey;
>> editing by Steve Gorman, Xavier Briand and Bill Trott)
>> [ Emphasis added.]
>>
>> Joel
>>
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>
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