Growing up, your mother probably taught you to never use the “f” word, but what about the “r” word? I’m talking about rape. While the word certainly conjures up a plethora of mixed feelings, it is certainly not a word that should be banned from anyone’s vocabulary. Now, trying telling this to a Nebraska judge.

Before I continue, I must have you know that as I simply write this post; my blood has completely boiled over and is scorching my skin, making me even more furious over this decision. Okay, now back to my post…

After seeing clips of this piece on the Today Show this morning, I had to find out more. The basics are that a woman was raped in October of 2004, there was a hung jury when the case was first tried and (thank god) the case is going back to court in again. The words rape, sexual assault, victim, assailant and sexual assault kit were banned from the trial. Bowen, the rape victim at this trial says,” This makes women sick, especially women who have gone through this. They know the difference between sex and rape.”

So why did this judge ban such terminology? Apparently, it is in order to protect the defendant. Now, I am a firm believer of innocent until proven guilty, and I do understand that with rape cases, the situation is especially sticky, but what about the victim? (yes, say it with me now, v-i-c-t-i-m) Trials of all kinds are challenging, but there should not be any favor. Lawyers take rigorous courses and study for years upon years for a reason. This makes me angry and nauseous all at once to know that this country’s legal system is minimizing rape. It is not consensual, and it is not sex. It’s rape. It is a heavy word and it certainly unleashes paralyzing and complicated emotions but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore it and ban it. It isn’t supposed to be easy, it is the stripping of a woman’s (or a man’s) personal and physical stability.

The Nebraska judge should be ashamed of his decision.