Rape survivor shares her story with UPIKE
0Written by Rachel Lucas
Rape survivor, Katie Koestner, made an appearance on UPIKE’s campus Sept. 5 and shared the story of the most terrifying night of her life. Students poured into Booth Auditorium for Title IX training Tuesday evening, and the night turned emotional when the speaker took the mic. Koestner started a timeline and explained how she grew up in Georgia and moved to the North with her parents when she was younger. She explained she went on to study at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. She soon met a guy that she was interested in which led to a date that then turned into the worst night of her life.
After being shut down by her own parents, Koestner felt she was all alone. The dean of students at her school told her that she and the rapist made a good couple, and they should get back together. Koestner took matters into her own hands. She wanted to help save girls from the same nightmare she had lived, so she sent her story to the local newspaper, and she became famous overnight.
Koestner appeared on the cover of TIME magazine and also has been on talk shows such as “Oprah” and “Good Morning America”. HBO filmed a documentary called “No Visible Bruises: The Katie Koestner Story.”
She travels and visits thousands of schools telling her story in the hopes of preventing rape from happening to anyone else. She doesn’t just speak to the women in the room, either. She encourages men to help a woman get home, but not out of her dress.