When I was 13 a friend of mine (also 13) told me she had been raped. She didn’t tell me in the confines of a private space, she told me casually in the dinner queue at school. Of course, I was shocked. I asked her if she was okay. She told me not to worry about it. I was quite an innocent 13 year old and didn’t really know what being raped meant. I knew it was bad though. I never said anything else to anyone because I had it in my head at the time that rape is simply something that people get away with. Shortly after, my friend and I stopped speaking to each other. I didn’t think much of it, but we kept each other on Facebook. It is only now, at the age of 20, and having met several other women who have told me about their experiences of being raped, attacked, assaulted, that I realise how important it is to listen to the victims and survivors of these horrendous crimes, and do whatever we can to bring the men who commit them to justice. I would encourage anyone to watch the recent BBC drama called Three Girls. Sadly it is a dramatisation of a true story, but it reflects very well (in my opinion) the ways in which the crime of rape can wreck havoc on people’s lives. If I’d have known this at the age of 13, I would never have kept quiet about the rape of my friend. To that girl, I am sorry. And to all other survivors of sexual assault, you are not alone.
