Sexual Assault Awareness - End the Silence

Take Our Poll "Are you a sexual assault survivor?" Talk about it and cast your vote in our poll     Related Resources • Rape: Healing and Surviving • Date Rape Drug FAQs • How Health Care Workers Can Help End Domestic Violence Against Women    From Other Guides • SANE - Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Training • Sexual Assault and Abuse - Getting Help • Hotlines for Sexual Assault, Rape, and Abuse

Rape, the "silent crime," is the least reported of all crimes. In fact, fewer than twenty percent of rapes and attempted rapes are ever reported. Some victims are silent because they are ashamed. Others are afraid - of their attacker, of being judged. Some are simply too hurt or too angry to speak out.

I'm proud to say that I'm a survivor now, but I was once among those silent victims.  My freshman year of college, I was drugged and gang raped at a party by members of a fraternity.  Afterward, I kept telling myself that it hadn't happened. I stayed in denial - and remained silent - for 10 years.

Sexual assault awareness means increasing public awareness of this "silent" crime. It means asking ourselves and our communities how we can work together to eliminate sexual violence and respond to survivors in a way that enables them to heal and regain control of their lives. Approximately 683,000 women and 93,000 men in this country are forcibly raped each year. And the numbers are rising. Sexual assault awareness means recognizing that rape is real, and lives in our own backyards.
 
The 10 years I kept quiet about my experience taught me one very important lesson: Silence doesn't make it go away. I believe now, more than ever, that communication is the answer. Talking about my experience has been crucial to my recovery, to my healing. So critical, in fact, that I am participating in a statewide public awareness campaign, led by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, to help others who have been raped understand that the only thing more painful than talking about rape is not talking about it.

Finding the strength to talk to someone - a friend, a relative, a counselor, anyone - is the most important step in moving from rape victim to rape survivor. I want About.com readers to know that there are people who can help, and services available for those have been sexually assaulted or know someone who has been sexually assaulted.  The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization. The national hotline is 1-800-656-HOPE.  Information about resources within Texas is available at www.taasa.org.

User article by Cathy

~ Tracee Cornforth

Recent Articles