Fighting Rape Culture in Aotearoa: A Survivor’s Perspective
November 22, 2013
Marika Pratley is a Wellington member of Fightback. She also volunteers for Wellington Rape Crisis, and is a survivor of
rape and sexual assault.
This article is based on a speech Marika presented as a survivor at the Stop Rape Now Wellington demonstration on
Saturday 16th of November 2013. Note: The original speech was improvised, this is not a transcription.
I would like to acknowledge that the last few weeks have been triggering and overwhelming for many survivors. I myself
have had moments where I could not listen to the news and had to take days off work because it was overwhelming. I am
thankful to everyone who has been supportive of survivors.
I am a survivor of sexual assault and rape. I experienced sexual assault and rape for the first time when I was a
preschooler. More or less my entire life I have had to deal with the consequences of this trauma, as well as learning to
engage with rape culture in its various manifestations in New Zealand. These exist both on an institutional level (in
the court rooms, media, etc) but also in a social and more general cultural context.
Survivor Support needs to be accessible
As a survivor, I have had to use many counselling services over years to be able to manage my recovery – which is an
ongoing process. I am fortunate that I also have a highly supportive family. Having access to both these things is not
something all survivors are able to experience. With the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and
depression, there have been many times where my mental health has been severely impacted. It has been absolutely
essential that I have had access to survivor support services for my recovery to be possible.
One of the first times I had problems accessing care was as a young adult. In 2009 ACC had funding cuts, and new
criteria was developed for survivors of sexual abuse/violence, who needed to use ACC to subsidise counselling fees. Even
with ‘free services’, therapists still used ACC to subsidise, since ‘free services’ rely on charity, trusts and grants
to keep their services going. One of the major reasons I had to go back to counselling is because I was raped and
sexually assaulted again as a young adult – not just once, but by 3 different people on 3 different occasions, all
within a few months of each other. Not only were these new incidents that I had to ‘survive’, but they simultaneously
retraumatised me of my previous experiences as a child, leading to some major complications in the overall trauma I have
experienced.
Although I had an ACC claims number for my childhood trauma and files on record, on the first appointment with my new
therapist I had to go through an interview process to ‘reactivate’ my claims number. This meant I had to prove that the
trauma was still impacting on my wellbeing. The interview felt like an interrogation and was highly retraumatising. My
mother who has worked as a psychiatric nurse for over 30 years, and currently holds a PhD in Mental Health Nursing, was
with me as a support person and was horrified from a professional perspective. Since this interview process was
introduced, many therapists and counsellors have stopped being affiliated with ACC, as it is ethically problematic,
professionally questionable and retraumatising for their clients. In a way, it is quite bizarre that Sexual Assault and
Rape survivors go through the Accident Compensations Corporation to begin with when sexual violence and rape is not an
accident.
Since the ACC changes, services such as Wellington Rape Crisis have also lost major government funding. This is despite
the fact that they are an essential service, making care accessible for survivors. To realise how much of a problem
sexual violence is in our society all we need to do is look at the statistics – one out of four women, and one out of
six men are reported to be survivors of sexual assault and rape. It is concerning that the government does not
prioritise the accessibility of survivor services. Sexual violence prevention education also needs to be
essential/accessible within all education sectors, from primary school to tertiary education, so that young people can
be challenged about their internalised ideas around rape culture, such as slutshaming and other rape mythology which
justifies rape, and in some cases means some people are raping without being consciously aware of it. (I.e. having sex
with someone without asking or thinking it’s ‘ok’ because they are drunk and wearing a short skirt).
At the moment, I currently juggle 3 casual jobs, and my therapy costs $100 per session. Although I appreciate the long
term benefits of the therapy, this financial cost adds further stress, as I struggle to get by each week (despite living
in a ‘single’ situation). I I know that me being a survivor with economic barriers to care is not unique and can only
imagine what it is like for solo parents, children, and other working class folk or beneficiaries who are survivors, who
lack the means to receive adequate support.
The Stigma of Being a Survivor/Rape culture in wider society
Rape culture has enabled a stigma against survivors to develop. Not only are there bullshit rape myths which
recirculate, but there is also an overlap with misogyny/’slutshaming’, whorephobia and mental illness stigma. Having to
deal with rape jokes, and other narratives which exploit the suffering of survivors for entertainment value, is an
example of cultural norms and everyday social interactions denying the needs of survivors. Rape myths are also
reproduced in the media, speculating whether a survivor actually got raped or not. The very fact that funding for
survivors gets cut, while police continue to incorporate rape mythology such as ‘your skirt was too short’ as a part of
common protocol, reinforces ideology at an institutional and material level that survivors are to be devalued. All of
these ideological manifestations repeatedly reproduced, are the building blocks of the matrix which enables rape culture
to exist. We need to dismantle rape culture and replace these building blocks with ones which empower survivors, and
enable their recovery without this stigma attached.
ENDS