CONTENT WARNING: The following contains graphic and violent descriptions of sexual violence. If you feel distressed by this story, or if you or someone you know has been affected by sexual or domestic violence, you can speak to a friendly counsellor at 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
Amber Armour, 27, a New York-based anti-rape campaigner, is making waves for the fkn brave act of documenting her own experience of sexual assault on Instagram.
“I immediately knew that I couldn’t keep what had happened a secret,” she told Marie Claire, in her first major interview since she took photos of her experience immediately after the assault and posted them to Instagram.
“Here I was, telling survivors every single day that they should speak up… I knew I had to practise what I preached. So the first thing I did was take a picture and write a post, describing what had happened.
“It was almost an intuitive thing. I was still in the bathroom – in the crime scene. I don’t even think I’d stood up. I just typed and typed.”
Her post has since been liked over 3,000 times. She followed it up with another two, including one of her rape kit.
“I’ve been sick for the past 2 days and today was my first day out.
“I went back to my old hostel to leave a note for a friend, Nick. There was another guy there, Shakir, who was desperately trying to get with me.
“I kissed him once but he seemed drunk so I told him it was bad timing, I had already met someone. Before heading out, I went upstairs to say hi to one more friend, Clyde from the states. “Shakir followed me upstairs and said he was going to take a shower.
“He invited me to join. I said yes because the water at my current hostel is pretty cold and after 2 days of being sick, I just really wanted a hot shower. As soon as I got in the bathroom, he forced me to my knees. I said ‘stop!’, but he just got more violent.”
Thankfully, her alleged rapist was arrested this week and is due to face court on March 29, according to a post on her Facebook.
I found out yesterday that the man who raped me was arrested!! And then he was released on bail for 1000Rand, about $75….
Posted by Amber The Activist on Saturday, 2 January 2016
You can read her Instagram posts documenting the experience (in order) below:
Source: Marie Claire.