Suzanne Moore for The Guardian
22nd October 2018
If you have just been raped and you would like to pursue justice, I hope you know what to do. When the rape is over, do not wash, brush your teeth, eat, drink or smoke. Do not change your clothes or clear up any mess. If you can help it, do not go to the toilet.
Intellectually, I understand this advice; no one wants to wash away forensic evidence. But I have never met a woman, or indeed a man, who, after being raped, didn’t immediately shower or sit in the bath scrubbing themselves, trying to wash away the sins of the perpetrator. The victim might often then choose to tell no one; sometimes for years, sometimes for ever.
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