Touching you, kissing you, covering up your screams. Forcing you to perform sexual acts against your will are all signs of rape. Rape is the crime of having sexual intercourse with a person without their consent. One in four women will experience a sexual assault or an attempted sexual assault by the time she graduates from college, or vice versa. Only about 5% of sexual assault survivors report the crime to the police. Why don't women report such violent acts? Is it fear? Fear that their life could be scarred more than it already has. Most women are afraid that if they do tell or report it to someone that it would deepen the damage that has already taken place or that by telling it would cause the person to hurt them in a more violent way.

This same thing happened to me. I was sexually assaulted and if I hadn't told then it could of led to rape. At first I kept quiet. My uncle would make sexual remarks to me and touch me in ways that made me feel uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say anything. I was afraid. Afraid that if I told he would hurt me. For a while I kept silent, but it only made things worse. He continued to mistreat me in such ways that would make me feel uncomfortable until I told my best friend about it. She told me that the same thing happened to her and she never told. Now everyday that she lives she has to face the fact that she didn't stop the minor signs that gradually increased and led to her getting raped. I didn't want that same thing to happen to me so I told my parents, they reported him to the police and he was later arrested for raping another young girl. I can now accept the fact that what he was doing was wrong and that I made the right decision by telling.

You don't have to cope with the sexual mistreatment from others. You don't have to be crushed and left to feel as if you are 2 inches tall. Hearing my friend's story caused me to speak out about what was happening to me. All young women and men that are going through similar situations should do the same. If you speak out you can make a difference.