If you were a victim of rape or sexual abuse, you deserve to be here.  

If someone has sexually assaulted you, you deserve to be here.  

If it was attempted rape, you deserve to be here.  

If it wasn't rape, if it was unwanted and inappropriate touching, you deserve to be here.

If you are a man who has been sexually assaulted, you deserve to be here.

If you were assaulted by a woman, you deserve to be here.

If it happened yesterday or ten or twenty or thirty years ago, you deserve to be here.

If it was incest, you deserve to be here.

If it happened when you were a young child, you deserve to be here.

If it was your spouse or partner who raped you, you deserve to be here.  

If you barely remember it, you deserve to be here.

If you were sexually harrassed, you deserve to be here.

If you are a gay or lesbian rape or abuse survivor, you deserve to be here.

If you are someone who supports survivors, you deserve to be here.

If you blame yourself for what happened, you deserve to be here.
(but please know that it was not your fault!)

That's all there is to it. I've seen a few people who have the feelings that their rape was not a particularly "bad rape".  My rape was not a particularly violent rape I was only concious of being raped for about one second and when I realized I was being raped, my boyfriend handed my rapist's ass to him.  My rapist was the only one who got hurt.  

It didn't make any difference to me.  I had still been raped.  It still hurt on the inside.  I deserve to be here.

The degree of the rape, abuse, or sexual assault doesn't matter.  We feel many of the same feelings.  And we all deserve to be here and to help and to be helped.  If you were a victim of rape, sexual assault, or sexual abuse, consider joining Pandora's Aquarium, an online support group, message board & chat room.  Even if you're not sure how to define what happened, you are welcome in our support community.