Woman is brutally raped – decides to post it live on Instagram

In a very candid and graphic story, Amber Amour, 27, is getting thousands worldwide to react.

Instead of bottling up her emotions and suffer in solitude, she took to social media straight away after a horrific experience where she was violently sexually assaulted.

This might be perceived as an unpleasant story to read for many readers but we feel it’s important to shed light on this very important subject.

Amber from New York, was 24-years-old when she went on a tour across the world, giving speeches about sexual assault when one night she was sexually assaulted herself.

Halfway through the tour, while in Cape Town, South Africa, things took a dark turn. Right there, while on her very tour campaigning against sexual assault, Amber was raped in a shower by a man.

Previously that night, she’d met the man at a bar close to her hostel. When he’d offered her a shower with him, she agreed. She had been sick for 2 days and there was no warm water running at the hostel she was staying at and she was dying for a shower. She had agreed to the shower but not intercourse. The man then violently raped her right there in the shower several times.

But Amber did something very unusual for rape victims. Just moments after the rape, she took photos of herself and her surroundings and posted them on social media, sharing gruesome details of what she had just been through with the entire world.

“I immediately knew that I couldn’t keep what had happened a secret. Here I was, telling survivors every single day that they should speak up, I knew I had to practise what I preached,” she says. “So the first thing I did was take a picture and write a post, describing what had happened.”

You can read Amber’s full post below. Warning: her posts include a graphic description of her experience of being raped that night.

 

It was only a few minutes ago but sometimes these things happen so fast it’s hard to remember all the details…. 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. He lifted me up and put his penis in my vagina. I asked him to stop, again, as I began to cry. When he shoved it in my ass, that’s when I passed out. I woke up a few minutes later and saw him trying to creep out the door. When he saw that I was awake, he came back to finish me off in the shower. I have all those fucked up feelings that we get after rape…shame, disgust, suffering. I’m here, alone, and any DNA has been wiped away in the shower. The South African police will just roll their eyes when I walk in. Feeling sicker than ever now. Needless today, I’m going to disappear for a bit. Just need to enjoy the freaking sun and call my friends and family in the states. Love you guys. Thank you for always being there for me. All the more reason to continue @stoprapeeducate but not today. Today, I need rest. #StopRapeEducate

A post shared by Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) on Nov 21, 2015 at 9:34am PST

After the post, she received loads of support for being so brave and sharing her vulnerability with the world, but she also received a lot of criticism from people questioning her actions prior to the sexual assault.

She stayed in South Africa a few weeks after the whole ordeal to continue her campaign as well as to deal with the South African police and US embassy in regard to the rape case. She continued to tell her story and her experiences through her social media, where she also adressed the negative criticism.

 

My view of the rape kit. Thank you all for being so loving & supportive during this time. Your messages pushed me to take action and to stand up for myself and for all rape survivors. For those who wish to BLAME ME or any other survivor out there, I want you to know that you are the very reason that I am so brutally honest. I could have hidden details. I could have kept some info to myself, but NO. You need to know the truth and to see the reality of the situation. No matter what a person does, it is not an invitation for rape. It doesn’t matter if I kissed him. It doesn’t matter if he was drunk. It doesn’t matter if I said yes to a shower. I never said he could get violent with me. I never said he could make me bleed. I never said he could rape me. But still, that’s how the scene went down. I don’t need to explain myself but if you’re wondering WHY I took a shower with him, it was written in the text, I’d been sick with food poisoning for 2 days and needed to sweat it out. My current place of residence has only cold water (third world problems are real!) and it seemed like a miracle to be offered a hot shower. That’s not what he was there for though, because as soon as he got a chance, he threw me to the ground and had his way. Dealing with rape is hard enough but the aftermath is often even more traumatic but I did this for you and I did this for me. The US Embassy and the South African police are super supportive and he may be arrested as soon as this week. Thank you for the love. And for the victim blamers, I send love, peace, and enlightenment to you so that you may be a beacon of light for us, too. #StopRapeEducate #AmberAmour #AmberTheActivist #SouthAfrica #humanitarian #healing #education #africa #survivor #sexualassault #recovery #victimblaming #overcome #rapeculture #staystrong

A post shared by Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) on Nov 22, 2015 at 11:12am PST

There is no justification for any type of sexual assault. If a person wishes to say no at any point this should ALWAYS be respected. Anything but yes means no.

Please consider sharing Amber’s heartbreaking but powerful story to show support with all victims of rape.

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