When I name the violence that happens to me, the carceral state tries to force me to punish and blame someone for it. If I refuse to punish and blame, it pressures me to give up naming my trauma. Healing from an assault when my harm-doer, emboldened by a culture swimming in rape, is not evil nonetheless requires a complete rejection of the carceral thinking that conditions me, and a refusal to strictly adhere to its language when that’s the language I’ve been given.
