Amber Amour, crónica de una violación

Amber Amour es una activista de 27 años que actualmente radica en Nueva York. Como muchas otras mujeres, sufrió de violencia sexual desde los 12 años.  Cuando tenía 24 fue violada, por primera vez…

Su compañero de departamento la atacó, cuando ella llamó a la policía 8 hombres se presentaron en su departamento para revictimizarla. Ante la dificultad que encontró en ese momento para continuar con el proceso, desechó la denuncia.

La manera en la que actuó la policía, no la detuvo. Amber dice haber sentido la necesidad de hacer conciencia sobre la cultura de la violación para evitar que otras mujeres tuvieran que pasar por lo mismo. Así que desde ese entonces se dedicó a escribir mensajes en las calles, dar pláticas y generar conciencia a su alrededor, su lema:#StopRapeEducate (Deten las violaciones, educa). Después de unos meses obtuvo más de cinco mil seguidores en Instagram, actualmente cuenta con más de 73 mil.

Con el tiempo comenzó a llevar su mensaje a más lugares: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Australia, Sudáfrica e Inglaterra. Debido a su campaña, Amber se encontraba en Ciudad del Cabo a finales del 2015, ahí fue atacada de nuevo.

El ataque sucedió en la regadera de un hostel, en ese momento Amber sabía que la mayoría de las pruebas habían quedado desechadas, así que en primera instancia decidió publicar y relatar su atentado a través de las redes sociales.

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

Una foto publicada por Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) el 21 de Nov de 2015 a la(s) 9:34 PST

Posteriormente publicó otra foto con su “kit de violación”, en el que sintió la necesidad de “justificar” el porqué aceptó la invitación de un extraño, pues las críticas sobre su “responsabilidad” en la violación no se hicieron esperar.

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

Una foto publicada por Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) el 22 de Nov de 2015 a la(s) 11:12 PST

Después de este suceso, Amber no ha parado su trabajo. A pesar de que el hombre que la atacó salió de la cárcel bajo fianza, ella ha continuado con su misión de difundir “el consentimiento”. A través de pláticas y videos en sus redes sociales, hace consciente a la sociedad que la cultura de la violación todavía nos rodea.

Entre sus principales objetivos es abrir el debate del consentimiento en las escuelas estadounidenses.

Este es un video de Amber con algunas sugerencias para pedir consentimiento en español:

Tag someone!! ❣ Pedir consentimiento no tiene por qué arruinar el momento! Tan sólo prueba algunas de estas frases sexies para mantener un diálogo abierto con tu pareja. Presta atención a las señales no verbales que puedan indicar que no quiera seguir. Mantengamos esto divertido, sexy y consensuado! Mantente atento a mis publicaciones para más lecciones sobre consentimiento! ✊ Translated by @pilih93, who just became a member of @creatingconsentculture by donating to our Healing Temple! Click the link in my bio to join the movement today! ????????????? #feminismo #educacion #education #mujer #hombre #mujeres #nina #girl #boy #adolescentes #feminism #namaste #loveandlight #paz #pazyamor #amor #CreatingConsentCulture #consent #Consent101 #consentculture #consentimiento

Un vídeo publicado por Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) el 19 de Jul de 2016 a la(s) 7:41 PDT

Con información de: Maire Claire y The Independent.