As a rape victim, what would you do if it were you?

[Eye Stigmata]

You should be proud of yourself and your strength.
I'm 21 and I'm just still trying to figure out who I am and how to protect myself in a safe way.
Sometimes I punish myself when I do something wrong, or when someone hurts me. Instead of being kind to myself and taking care of myself, I do double the damage.
It's going to be a process...but I'm working on it.

Thanks for your support.

[Jazzey]

You should be proud of yourself and your strength.
I'm 21 and I'm just still trying to figure out who I am and how to protect myself in a safe way.
Sometimes I punish myself when I do something wrong, or when someone hurts me. Instead of being kind to myself and taking care of myself, I do double the damage.
It's going to be a process...but I'm working on it.

Thanks for your support.

Anytime ES..I'm 39, soon to be 40 -and I still self-injure when times are tough. You should be proud too - you're young, you have an entire lifetime ahead of you, you are intuitive & intelligent about your feelings -you will be fine ES. I don't have a doubt about that, but you need to believe that.

[Eye Stigmata]

Awwh...you are too sweet!

We'll both be ok...I know it
Keep your head up high. You make me want to be stronger for myself...I know I have to.
Thanks

[Violet]

If he rapes someone else it will not be your fault, it will have nothing to do with you, You did what you had to do to survive and i agree i could not go to court or even talk with anyone about what happened. Hurting him, revenge i know these feelings but it won't undue what was done. I think you are doing what you have to do to heal and that is talking about it. Getting help from a therapist I wish i could say more to take away the pain but i know i can't. Just trust your therapist to help you deal with the trauma and to give you coping skills on the hardest days. Glad you can post here and release some of the pain that way.

[NapsWithCats]

Hi Eye,

Having been raped at knife-point at age 16 and raped by someone I knew at 18 or 19, it may bring you great peace to report it. There is a lot of guilt and shame that seems to go with rape (is what I experienced). I reported the first one, but I kept my eyes closed and to the side. I went to my friend's house after and she called the police, they picked me up, took my statement and (against my strongest wishes) called my mother who didn't believe a word of it and punished me, dragged me home (close to Police Station at the time) and threw me in my room and slammed the door).

The police had me do a "drive-by" to see if a guy in a car parked on the street was the guy, but since my eyes were closed and he threatened to kill me if I looked up when he left, I didn't see his face, only remember his rancid smell, scruffy and his voice. I did look up (it was on a big cliff by the ocean, I thought he would throw me over for sure) and saw a car, so I told the police the car looked very similar, but didn't see the guy. So the police were mad at me too.

Regardless, I would report, they'll take your statement, probably ask why you didn't report sooner, and you can just say he threatened you and would be watching you like you said. That would definitely scare the ba-jee-zee's out of me!

But at 49 - if it happened now, I would report for sure. It may bring a great relief to you.

I am so sorry to hear this happened to you - it's the most frightening event in the world, the feeling of helplessness and fear.

Wishing you peace and tranquility and extrapolation of all memories of this person (after reported and all that's done).

Again, so, so sorry this happened to you!

Julie O'