“ ... in practice the standard for what constitutes rape is set not at the level of women's experience of violation but just above the level of coercion acceptable to men. Judith Lewis Herman
“ People may not realize the damage that they are doing by placing the blame on the victim ~ but that doesn't lessen the damage that they cause by doing it. Darlene Ouimet
“ Everyone heals in their own time and in their own way. The path isn't always a straight line, and you don't need to go it alone. Zeke Thomas
“ I feel like there are fifty ways it's my fault. I fantasized. I took the big pill and the small pill, stuffed myself with substances to make being out in the world with people my own age a little easi… Lena Dunham
“ You're a survivor because everyday you make a choice not to be governed by their harsh words or actions. No one has the right to take away your happiness. Assunta Harris
“ Because I questioned myself and my sanity and what I was doing wrong in this situation. Because of course I feared that I might be overreacting, overemotional, oversensitive, weak, playing victim, cry… Roxane Gay
“ I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the fro… Khaled Hosseini
“ I still carry the weight of being a rape survivor, and of the demand that I forgive and forget to uphold the myth of the perfect black family. I carry the weight handed to me by the Black moral majori… Roxane Gay
“ If we are taken all together, we might muster some courage, but from the previous evidence it is likely that we will be taken separately. Edna O'Brien
“ I now think that was distanced me from Tricia and from the Rape Crisis Center was their use of generalities. I did not want to be one of a group or compared with others. It somehow blindsided my sense… Alice Sebold
