“Don’t let the polite lies of society silence you.”ĪnnaLynne was very brave to share her story, and it could be very empowering for a lot of people. In truth, in the vast majority of cases, the victim and perpetrator know or knew. Fact: Only one in 10 of rapes are committed by strangers. This data challenges the stereotype that rapes are committed by strangers. AnnaLynne said she wants others to know that sexual assault is never their fault, and the idea that sexual assault happens only in shady places by scary strangers just isn’t true. Myth: Women shouldnt go out alone at night as they are likely to get raped. Until then, narratives surrounding rape had led AnnaLynne to think she was to blame for her attack, and that’s why she decided to share her experience. It wasn’t until she portrayed a rape survivor on 90210 that she realized what had happened to her was sexual assault.
The experience led AnnaLynne to self-harm and have suicidal ideation. “I found out recently due to my weird little studies of neuroscience that my body actually completely shut everything down and wouldn’t let me fight back because I thought that was the only way to cope with abuse.” Most sexual assaults are committed by someone of the same race as the victim. Even though AnnaLynne’s experience mirrors the majority of other sexual-assault survivors, she said she felt like the attack was her fault because she wasn’t able to fight back when she woke up. Most men who commit sexual offenses do not know their victim.