Rape Recovery Quotes

“She told me that my rape was not my fault, that I should feel no shame, that – simple as it may sound – I hadn’t caused it. No one causes rape but rapists. No one causes rape but rapists. No one causes rape but rapists. It was true. And it had not been obvious to me. And hearing it from someone else, a professional, someone who should know, helped me believe that soon I would believe it.”
― Aspen Matis, Girl in the Woods: A Memoir

“Is this what the rest of my life is going to be like? Moments of happiness punctured by the memory of what happened, like a bomb which can detonate at any time.”
― Kelly Yang, Parachutes

“There is healing in telling. There is healing in exposing abuse. There is healing in being truthful. There is healing in knowing you are not to blame. There is healing in standing up for yourself. There is healing in setting boundaries. There is healing in self-love. Hold onto hope that you will recover.”
― Dana Arcuri, Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma

“The moment where you consider giving in, or do give in, that's the moment you torture yourself about for the rest of your life. That's the moment where you think it happened to you because you are a bad and weak person, who wanted it really. When in fact, it's about survival. And whichever choice you make, it wasn't really a choice at all.”
― Mhairi McFarlane, Don't You Forget About Me

“I want to undress you."

"I haven't touched a man since...since you.”
― Pamela Clare, Striking Distance

“It’s one thing to deconstruct and analyze and condemn the institutions of patriarchy and their flaws.

It’s another one to feel their bruises on your skin, and their grasping hands pulling your hair and covering your mouth as you scream.”
― Alice Minium

“The worst part is that I want to turn this into a parable. I want to echo a rallying cry of inspiration that sings, Women, we are not alone; Women, these men do not defeat us; Women, these men do not define us; Women, I feel what you feel; Women, we, together, are strong, and for all the loud voices that said no or that didn’t have the freedom to but who still said 'please stop' or 'not right now' or 'I don’t know' or 'I don’t like that' which are all the same goddamn thing, to all the women who said no, you are not to blame for his hard, hungry hands, whether they came at you like raging fists or whether they gripped your face softly, at first, smiling at it and inviting you into the night, only later for you to meet the fingernails and full-weighted back of his hand to keep you there and press you down; to all the women who said no, you are not to blame; to all the women who feel ashamed, you are still the goddess and his hungry hands could not defile you more than mortals could defile a god; to all the women who feel sorry, you did not sin; to all the women who feel angry, I share your rage; to all the women who are too tired to feel rage, to all the women who feel empty, who feel blank, who feel Nothing, who feel small, I feel that most of all, too.”
― Alice Minium

“The worst part is that I want to turn this into a parable.

I want to echo a rallying cry of inspiration that sings,
Women, we are not alone; Women, these men do not defeat us; Women, these men do not define us; Women, I feel what you feel; Women, we, together, are strong,

and for all the loud voices that said no or that didn’t have the freedom to but who still said 'please stop' or 'not right now' or 'I don’t know' or 'I don’t like that' which are all the same goddamn thing,

to all the women who said no,
you are not to blame for his hard, hungry hands,
whether they came at you like raging fists or whether they gripped your face softly, at first,
smiling at it and inviting you into the night,
only later for you to meet the fingernails and full-weighted back of his hand to keep you there and press you down;

to all the women who said no, you are not to blame;

to all the women who feel ashamed, you are still the goddess and his hungry hands could not defile you more than mortals could defile a god;

to all the women who feel sorry, you did not sin;

to all the women who feel angry, I share your rage;

to all the women who are too tired to feel rage, to all the women who feel empty, who feel blank, who feel Nothing, who feel small, I feel that most of all, too.”
― Alice Minium

“For so long, my body has been a battleground. I want to get closer to you, but I don't know how.”
― Pamela Clare, Striking Distance

“I want to write a thinkpiece about what you did to me. I want to write a critical analysis about the way you put your hands to my throat, the way you threw me against the partition wall. I want to extract a dose of worldly wisdom for all women to sap the power from that pain and into abstraction so we can all live again; I want what you did to be a statistic, I want you to be a memory, I don’t want you to be those hands on my throat.”
― Alice Minium

“Not that I’ve been raped. Not raped raped. Strane hurt me sometimes, but never like that. Though I could claim he raped me and I’m sure I’d be believed. I could participate in this movement of women upon women upon women lining the walls with every bad thing that’s ever happened to them, but I’m not going to lie to fit in. I’m not going to call myself a
victim. Women like Taylor find comfort in that label and that’s great for them, but I’m the one he called when he was on the brink. He said it himself—with me, it was different. He loved me, he loved me.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

“Jacob.” A whisper of the past.”
― Amanda Steele, The Cliff

“It is no better if your son rapes a woman than when your daughter gets raped. It is equally painful, may be more.

~ Rudransh Kashyap”
― Kirtida Gautam, #iAm16iCan

“I assumed I'd exercise my loud voice if ever attacked. Yet, on that morning, my voice abandoned me. I couldn't speak, let alone scream. All my energy was being channelled into staying alive at whatever cost.”
― Vanessa de Largie, Without My Consent