[TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault survivors]
After-rape is to be consumed by emptiness, isolation, fear, shame and anger.
After-rape at college is to be confronted by my rapist every day—on the quad, in the library, at breakfast. It is to be ceaselessly reminded of the moments in which power and control were stripped from me, in which I had no option but to let go and resign myself to the fact that this was really happening.
Dana Bolger is a feminist, student activist, and intern at the National Women’s Law Center. She attends college in Massachusetts. You can follow her on twitter @danabolger.