In 2018 I was raped by a stranger. I had unfortunately put myself in an extremely dangerous situation and the worst happened.
In 2019 the rapist, who was already on remand, was convicted of his crime in the crown court and received his sentence.
What I am finding difficult to recover from is the number of people who thought I had lied. I just cannot emotionally recover from that. I just can't move on.
The people who believed me were my two best friends, my mum and my brother. And also the police and the amazing police officer/detective in charge of the case.
I was so totally naive. I didn't realise that I had to keep it secret. I am a very open person, so wherever the terrible events influenced my life, I was just honest and explained what was happening in my life.
It became very clear very quickly people didn't believe me!! I was shocked and felt so betrayed and worthless. The disbelievers included my work colleagues (I was working as a nhs nurse), a Samaritans helpline volunteer (who called the police to report her concerns!), my GP (who said it was extremely unusual that someone who had been examined at a SARC would consent to the records being passed to the GP), and basically the list goes on and on....
To go through the trauma of rape and the stress of the police investigation. It was so hard.
But I just CANNOT get over the amount of people who I thought knew me who just showed me ......pain.
A lot of these posts about rape critisize the police . They stood by me 100%. Maybe I was in the minority but the police believed me and helped me and cared and pursued the conviction. I felt fully zippy you them.
To this day though I just cannot get over the number of people who gossiped and didn't believe me or help me. I just don't know how I can ever recover from the feeling of betrayal and how I can ever trust again?
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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions
Who believed me about rape?
45 replies
socialhermit · 22/05/2020 02:12
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