Survivor Stories

Video Transcript

“My name is Jorge Antonio Renault and when I was 19, I was raped repeatedly in a county jail. Two weeks after that rape, I just walked into a Church’s Fried Chicken with a rifle, and just robbed it. As a man who is a survivor of rape, there was so much expected of me. I’m supposed to be a certain way. I’m supposed to come from a position of strength. I’m supposed to always come from a position of strength. In our culture, there is something called aguantate, that has to do with “endure”. And we’re taught to endure. We’re not taught to “hablar con todos“ to speak with everyone” or share what’s going on with you or talk to you about what’s going on with your life…And I’m in war with that, showing more vulnerability, more weakness. You know, you want to control how people see you. And I think admitting to this, I think you give up that control. You say, Yeah, that is me. And it happened to me. I’m sorry, but all that has happened since…You have to be able to speak out about this. You have to be able to break through that wall of silence. You have to be willing to say, “No, I’m not going to shut up about it. I’m going to tell it to you, and I’m going to tell it to the next person. Because, I didn’t deserve it. No one deserves this to be done to them. But in a personal sense, I had to say something. I had to break through the silence that was killing me. So, ultimately, that’s what it is for me. It’s putting me back together.”