Dr. Pisaster pushes back against Dan Savage and Dish readers:
Every woman reacts differently to rape. There is no right way to respond to such a personal violation, and casting doubt on women’s claims of rape because they didn’t immediately accuse their rapist and run to the police, or even end their relationship with their rapist does a huge disservice to the many women whose experiences don’t fit the social “script,” of rape.
I appreciate that so many people are willing to call a spade a spade and see the incident as described by Bristol as rape, but the assumption that the claim is false because of how her relationship with Levi progressed after that night is appalling. It’s entirely possible that Bristol is lying, but it’s also possible that she is among the many young women who are unacknowledged rape victims, and the message I wish we were sending those victims is not, “What happened to you was wrong, but if you continued to have a relationship with your victim we won’t believe you/you deserved it,” but, “What happened to you was wrong, period, and you have the right to deal with it in your own way.” Doubt her story if you wish, but not for that reason.
The Dish 