I never forgot what happened to me. I wouldn't say I 'got over' it, in the same sense I wouldn't say I 'got over' the fact that my father died. Both of those things are awful, but here I am. I figured it out. I feel bad sometimes, and often I don't. I'm not quite sure why we put rape in this entirely separate category - and then even as I say that, I realize it IS in a separate category, because it's this complicated issue.

Writer Sohaila Abdulali talks about what we do (and don't) talk about when we talk about rape - from the ways we enforce a 'worldwide conspiracy' to silence survivors of sexual assault, to the power of speaking openly about rape and its aftermath in challenging rape culture and a society that accepts sexual violence at large.

Sohaila is author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape from The New Press.