Personal Experiences with Rape Culture

[TW] With the hyperactivity and obsessive vigilance of fear no longer occupying every nanosecond, you find time to reflect. To look around you at what is left and to examine the rubble, to try and piece together what you had and what might be worth saving. To become aware that almost everything that ever meant anything to you has been taken from you, directly or indirectly, makes you feel as if the crime in question wasn’t really assault at all. Rather, it was murder. Where exactly is the line drawn between inflicting extreme harm on somebody and therefore effectively destroying their autonomy, and taking a life? How do we distinguish between these actions? Is it a question of degree or is there a qualitative difference? I wish I understood these questions better for all those times when I was left feeling surprised to find myself still alive or unsure as to whether I could in any way still be considered living.