Telling her story
Posted by Anna on July 4, 2007
I’ve got some mixed feelings about this story in The New Zealand Herald.
On the one hand, I think it’s great that they are giving a rape survivor the opportunity to tell her story (and I admire her for doing so).
On the other hand, this story does fit all the criteria a lot of society – and the media - view as important for being sympathetic to a rape survivor:
- She did not know her attacker
- She was at home
- She did not let him into her house
- She told the police
- She has positive things to say about the police
- She left evidence for the police
- The rapist was convicted
Her story is no less important for all that, and I’m glad it was published. But I would like to see the stories of other rape survivors who don’t fit as many – or any – of those expectations of what happened to them and how they reacted printed more often (without the implication that they may be lying or at fault).
