A strange feeling to see what I wrote echoed in the words of a real-life survivor. She was brave to tell this story; someday it won't require bravery because, while rape probably won't stop, shame will.

"We are all different; still, every woman I know, from the moment she’s learned such a thing can happen, dreads being raped. Most of us walk through a dark house, building, parking lot, or down a deserted street, afraid of the shadows, of the strange sadistic man, lurking, stalking, plotting to pleasure himself by the rush of power he will get from our humiliation and the subjugation of our will to his. And then when it does happen—whether it’s a stranger or, even more likely, a person you know—which it will to an estimated one-quarter of the women in the world; when you are physically appropriated for someone else’s pleasure; when you smell him; when his hands and fists and weapons touch your body; when this man, whose intention is to take whatever he wants from you no matter how you feel about it, mimics postures and actions that have been shared before only in intimate consensual moments, a response to this sick perversion of intimacy does happen, even if it’s nonphysical and nonverbal: It’s a plea in your heart, Don’t hurt me; a begging, Please go away. Rape victims do not exactly remain silent during the rape. They’re screaming inaudibly through the whole thing."

Heartbreaking and true.

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_...