Rape Awareness Campaign: Rape Survivor or victim? A Reality Check!

Katie Simon, on April 20 wrote, ‘A man raped me seven years ago.
I was left traumatized, suicidal, and with a complex linguistic decision: what should I call myself?
For a long time, I avoided using the terms rape victim or survivor. I simply said “I was raped” or “a man raped me.” But the experience of being raped forced its way into my identity, not just my history. It comes with the territory of writing publicly about my rape, of speaking openly about it. I am a woman; I am a writer; I am a rape __.
Victim? Survivor?’ This shook our soul, and left us with the same question as to her!

Rape isn’t just a physical assault or a brutal stab to a person’s dignity/social status. It’s long-lasting and in many cases a permanent wound to the person’s identity. The person is not only unable to face him/herself in the mirror but also unable to face his/her own thoughts in his/her mind.

The tremendous physical pain, vulvovaginal injuries, internal bleeding, pregnancy, handicap, STDs, insomnia, etc are the least physical traumas that a person experiences. The war enrages when the person fights for his/her life.

Rape not only affects a person’s relationship with him/herself but also his/her relationship with everyone else. The person significantly increases the emotional and physical distance with people, especially from the gender by whom he/she has been raped. For example, if a girl has been raped by a man, she might avoid any physical contact with her father or brother!

The person loses his/her identity of the self! Who am I? Was it my fault? Why did it have to be me? Where did I go wrong? These are just a few of the hundreds of questions that person asks thousands of times, to him/herself every single day for years or the few days he/she left.

Who’s responsible? Our education system, patriarchy, the false masculinity, need of power, the society that includes us, and the list goes on.

But, WE STILL BELIEVE WE CAN MAKE THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE!