(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Alex Wong/Getty Images Maloney in the news conference to call for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Activists and Congressional Democrats joined Rep. Constitution during a news conference on women's rights Apon Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: An activist holds a copy of the U.S.

For my audacity in reporting a rape, I was sentenced to life in a box. The result of my testimony was a $100 fine for the defendant for fornication. Perhaps the jury was swayed by his attorney’s characterization of me as the perpetrator’s “lover of the moment.”Īs much as I’d like to believe things have changed for those who have to testify, I don’t believe they have.įifteen years passed before I understood that I never left the witness stand. From where I sat, he was having a good time. I was on the witness stand for hours, cross examined by a defense attorney who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the process of dismantling me piece by piece. Several months later, the case went to trial. We weren’t quite at the stage where people pointed out that rapists were the ones committing the crime. DNA evidence was a few years from being utilized. In 1983, the term “date rape” was not part of the vernacular. It occurred at a party while I was unconscious from alcohol poisoning. When I was 17, I reported a sexual assault. I became hyper-critical of myself, as if the defense attorney had set up shop in my own mind. I couldn’t have reported it otherwise. But after the trial, my confidence vanished. After the rape, my confidence was still intact. It was testifying in court that broke me. If they’re being covered on TV, I leave the room. I’ve had traumatic responses to watching testimony at rape trials in the past. Elizabeth Grey Courtesy of Elizabeth Grey

App like audacity