Missing
Finding Healing After Sexual Assault
*Trigger Warning*
This series of images captures the journey of two teenage sexual assault survivors and their struggle along the path to find healing. Unless having experienced it firsthand, many people don't understand the long term struggle that comes with sexual assault. The fear, trust issues, nightmares, depression, anxiety and PTSD that follow. This series explores these issues, bringing awareness to others in a way that captures their eye creatively as well.
This is part of my story, and there’s a million variations of the same story that belong to women across the globe. We say fear, and no one understands fear like us. I didn’t sleep for four days because I thought he was going to kill me, I thought he would seek revenge. We say pain, and no one understands pain like us. I held a knife to my wrist and sobbed because the nightmares were inescapable. Everytime I shut my eyes I was forced to relive it. Everytime I heard his name my entire body shut down. We say anger, and no one understands anger like us. I stood in a field in the middle of the night and screamed at a God I don’t believe in for making the world the way he did. We say guilt, and no one
understands guilt like us. Every morning I wake up and hate myself for not sparing those other girls the pain, for not doing more to stop all of it. We say shame, and no one understands shame like us. Words like “beautiful” and “pretty” are no longer compliments but warnings to hide yourself more than you already are. All these words hold a weight that are incomprehensible to the majority of the population. In today’s society, it’s a privilege to never have to understand, it’s a privilege to be ignorant.
Yet ignorance will get us nowhere. This is a topic that so many with the privilege to ignore take advantage of that because it’s hard. It’s scary and dark and depressing but it needs to be addressed. We need to commit to facts and stories of survivors. We need to be brave and face reality in order to make a change. Victims don’t always look like those in Law and Order: SVU. They’re moms and sisters, daughters and nieces. They’re the women you talk to at the bar or coffee shop, those that smile and laugh like any other person yet fight demons inside. Many don’t ever get the chance to be victims, but they’re there. You’ve passed them on the street and in the grocery store, in high schools and universities. We need to come together, normalize speaking up and out and listening. We need to normalize listening to the facts, the accounts, and take the necessary actions to prevent the majority of women from becoming victims. We need everyone on our side.