Talking about rape

This article was published in The Sydney Morning Herald 10 October 2010

There are many reasons women don't report rape. I know, because it happened to me - twice.

It's the end of the footy season, so everyone's talking about rape. Or, more specifically, about the young women who were so stupid as to put themselves in a position where they'd be raped, or be able to claim later that they were.

TV presenter Kerri-Anne Kennerley laid the blame on the ''strays'' who ''throw . . . themselves at sportspeople''. ''What do [women] expect,'' she asked, ''when they are out at night?''

Former AFL player Spida Everitt was also scathing about, ''Yet another . . . girl making alleged allegations after she awoke with . . . an alleged guilty conscience.''

I have been raped. Twice. The first time was my first time - I was 17 - but I didn't think of it as rape. Not even when the nightmares began and, following that, the depression.