Sexual assault advocates unite in effort to empower rape victims | Resist Violence

29.10.13

Sexual assault advocates unite in effort to empower rape victims | Resist Violence: The panel, which consisted of Epifano and two sexual assault victims from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, addressed the need for victims to report their experiences, informed students of the resources available to them in the wake of a sexual assault and raised concerns about the process of reporting a rape on campus.

Both Epifano and Pino emphasized that coming forward after a sexual assault is an incredibly painful and difficult process. Pino said, “It took me six months to call it rape,” and Epifano waited, “about six to eight months” before she went to the Amherst College administration.

Epifano said that even after she had told the Amherst administration in October 2012, the process of coming forward was painful, saying that she was, “basically dismissed and mistreated from February until July, when the environment at Amherst College became so toxic that I eventually had to withdraw.”