Rape Survivors Information

For Rape Survivors

" This book has helped me tremendously! A friend of mine was date raped and I desperately wanted to know and try to understand what she was (is) going though. After Silence is a must for survivors, loved ones and friends."
(Amazon.com)

Dear Rape Survivor:
One of the reasons I wrote After Silence was because for many years I felt completely alone with my rape experience. I hope After Silence will help you realize that you are not alone -- as different as our experiences and lives may be, we survivors share the challenges of living with rape, day-by-day. We know the complexities of "disclosure" and the way society's ignorance can derail us. We are living with experiences that those who have been spared our suffering think is impossible to bear. Yet, we bear it. Every day. Each of us feels the isolation of being a rape survivor, but I have discovered that we are part of a healing community. We are there for each other, even if we never speak, never meet. We know what others fear to imagine -- and we are still here, living our many lives.

It is possible to feel whole again, even stronger in the broken places.

Because of After Silence, I meet a survivor of rape, sexual assault, or sexual abuse almost daily -- my book makes that community possible for me. I have heard hundreds of stories of courage and healing. Every story I hear makes me feel proud to say, "I am a rape survivor." It has gotten to the point where I am almost surprised when someone I meet is not a survivor of rape and sexual abuse! I have begun to think of us as a "secret majority" and to find society's discomfort with us absurd -- like someone ignoring an elephant that has just lumbered into the kitchen.

It is possible to survive rape emotionally as well as physically.

Whoever you are and whatever your story, I hope you will find comfort in knowing that you are embraced by a community of human beings around the world who have lived through everyone's worst nightmare and who are living with its aftershocks. I look back on how I felt before I began After Silence - on my feelings of isolation and self-blame especially - and see that they can change. It is possible to survive rape emotionally as well as physically. It is possible to heal from PTSD and rape trauma. It is possible to feel whole again, even stronger in the broken places. Even if you never meet another rape survivor or share your story with anyone, I believe that our community will be there spiritually to support you on your own individual journey, as it was for me on my journey. You were there for me and we are there for you. Together we can make it.

With deepest respect,
Nancy Venable Raine