Speaking Out

For a long time now as I go through this long difficult battle of healing from my rape I have thought about speaking out publicly about my rape. It's something that I feel strongly about and want to do in the right forum and for the right reasons. The reasons I would like to do this is firstly for me, the DPP decided not to prosecute my rape and therefore there is no road to justice for me. Speaking out will be my way of sticking my fingers up at my rapist and saying f*** you, you did this to me but I survived, I am surviving. Part of me would like him and  his family to see it so they would have some idea of what it has done to me. The other reason I would like to speak out is because I would hope that it would help other victims of sexual assault. I feel let down by my justice system and I feel that as a society people need to understand just how devastating this crime is, until more awareness is raised then this devastating crime will not be treated properly.

It's a sad fact that society tend to blame the victim, maybe this is the reason why it's so hard to get a case to go to trial in Ireland, because it's so hard to get a conviction. I don't know but from what I've researched it certainly feels that way to me.

The only way that I can see to combat this is for victims of rape to speak out and tell their stories. Maybe this way society will get more of an insight in to what the reality of a rape victim life really is. It's not pretty, it's not nice to hear but try going through it!

The more I think about it the more I feel that it's important for me to speak out, to publicly say, this was what happened to me, this is what I have experienced and this is how it's affected my life. I also think, well why shouldn't I, after all, it's his shame not mine.

So...as a rape victim in Ireland, how do I share my story publicly and get people to listen??? I haven't a clue!