Perspectives on survivor speech

Participant 1: It’s just that we are used to sexual assault. We don’t really talk about it back home, right? Participant 2: Right, like it happens but it’s not something that is talked about that…

Facilitator: Yeah, cause like, in Africa, if it happens, then it was your fault. Most times in Africa, they tell you [the person] raped you because, “I told you not to wear that short skirt.”…

We need to raise more awareness about problems like these, because I think in our culture, more than western culture, this type of stuff is slept upon. It’s not talked about enough, or it’s even…

In our culture, sexual assault is considered one of the taboo subjects. It is never talked about. Victims have to suffer through [it] alone, in silence, which makes it much harder. So, I think it…

How we have been brought up is entirely different and we won’t be comfortable sharing it to any other people other than our culture. I don’t know, it’ll all depend on the individual though. I…

I come from a more conservative background, and in our scenario, we probably wouldn’t even disclose let alone report. […]. As most of our communities are very tightly knit, information would spread out that this…

It [sexual assault] is a kind of a thing where you are much free to speak about it either to your mom or your sister, but not really to the entire family, you know what…

Like how you said, the cultures are entirely different, right? So they don’t take – like, in Canada they can’t understand how our family would react, or how that situation would affect the girl and…

From my mom’s perspective, first, she wouldn’t be happy about me talking about it [sexual violence] to other people. You know, that’s our culture. You are not supposed to discuss this with other people, in…

Participant 1: I wanted to know how many cases have been reported through this channel, and how did they go? Participant 2: Yeah! I think I am quite curious to know too. […] I know…