It took her months of processing before she could call it rape.
Before it happened, her only exposure to the idea of rape came from movies and television. After it happened, she realized that it didn’t have to be as extreme as an episode of Law & Order for it to be sexual violence.
“At the time, I didn’t know that (it was rape), since the way that sexual assault and rape are usually defined as, it’s by a stranger and it’s often physically violent,” said the young woman, who is a student at Virginia Tech. The Collegiate Times is not identifying her due to the sensitive nature of the topic.
“Only after, through processing and dealing, I learned it can be through friendships, personal relationships. So, that’s when I kind of realized that it was bigger than just getting mugged on the street.”