Posted on Nov 9, 2013

18 Survivors Of Sexual Assault Tell The Numbers Behind Their Stories

"1 broken hearted father, hundreds of self harm scars, a court room, and a prison sentence later, and I still never 'wanted' it." Trigger warning: sexual assault.

Rachel Zarrell

by Rachel Zarrell

BuzzFeed News Reporter

The Tumblr Surviving In Numbers enables victims to tell the stories of their sexual assaults through numbers.

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Mount Holyoke student Ali Safran said she came up with the idea for the Tumblr in October 2012, the three-year anniversary of her own assault. She said the name is a play on the phrase "strength in numbers."

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"The blog has grown to be about removing stigma and shame from sharing your story as a survivor, and is also a place for survivors to read others' stories and be able to have their own experience validated," the 21-year-old Safran said.

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She added, "A lot of people have written to me to say how thankful they are to have a space to share; that they'd never told anyone about being assaulted before, or had told people and had gotten really hurtful or blaming reactions."

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Since starting the website, people have come to Safran to tell her they finally felt safe enough to share their story or even report their assault to police.

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"I think it's really become a space where people can go to feel less alone with and isolated by trauma," Safran said.

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