Woman Who Live-Blogged Her Alleged Rape Has Spoken Out About Why She Has No Regrets

A feminist campaigner has defended her choice to live blog her alleged rape, following a mixed reaction to her posts.

Twenty-seven-year-old Amber Armour claims she was raped in the shower while visiting South Africa to promote her “Stop Rape. Educate” campaign.

Moments after the alleged attack, Amber took a photo and described what had happened in detail on Instagram.

In the chilling account, she described how she agreed to have a shower with a man named Shakir, but that he forcefully penetrated her until she passed out.

It was only a few minutes ago but sometimes these things happen so fast it’s hard to remember all the details…. I’ve been sick for the past 2 days and today was my first day out. I went back to my old hostel to leave a note for a friend, Nick. There was another guy there, Shakir, who was desperately trying to get with me. I kissed him once but he seemed drunk so I told him it was bad timing, I had already met someone. Before heading out, I went upstairs to say hi to one more friend, Clyde from the states. Shakir followed me upstairs and said he was going to take a shower. He invited me to join. I said yes because the water at my current hostel is pretty cold and after 2 days of being sick, I just really wanted a hot shower. As soon as I got in the bathroom, he forced me to my knees. I said “stop!” but he just got more violent. He lifted me up and put his penis in my vagina. I asked him to stop, again, as I began to cry. When he shoved it in my ass, that’s when I passed out. I woke up a few minutes later and saw him trying to creep out the door. When he saw that I was awake, he came back to finish me off in the shower. I have all those fucked up feelings that we get after rape…shame, disgust, suffering. I’m here, alone, and any DNA has been wiped away in the shower. The South African police will just roll their eyes when I walk in. Feeling sicker than ever now. Needless today, I’m going to disappear for a bit. Just need to enjoy the freaking sun and call my friends and family in the states. Love you guys. Thank you for always being there for me. All the more reason to continue @stoprapeeducate but not today. Today, I need rest. #StopRapeEducate

A photo posted by Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) on Nov 21, 2015 at 9:34am PST

These are the Angel Cards I drew last night. ? Headed to the hospital now. Keep praying for me, everyone. Dealing with cops is tough and the rape kit is the last thing I want– tools and metal instruments and combs all up in my private parts…. But this is what I stand for. I tell you guys to speak up every single day and I know that I need to practice what I preach. It is so incredibly hard, tho, but having you all here for me makes all the difference. I know that this may not go anywhere and I know that I may face ridicule by the police but I will take a shot at “justice” anyway. What I tell the survivors who reach out to me is that justice, true justice, can only come from within. Justice is inner peace. I’m still getting there but whether he serves time or not, I know what I need to do to heal. Today is just Day 1. Thanks to my amazing new friend @hyomie for coming with me to the hospital. And many thanks to the dozens of messages I’ve received. You all are so amazing. I’ll try and respond to each one as soon as I can. ⭐️ #StopRapeEducate

A photo posted by Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) on Nov 22, 2015 at 2:12am PST

My view of the rape kit. Thank you all for being so loving & supportive during this time. Your messages pushed me to take action and to stand up for myself and for all rape survivors. For those who wish to BLAME ME or any other survivor out there, I want you to know that you are the very reason that I am so brutally honest. I could have hidden details. I could have kept some info to myself, but NO. You need to know the truth and to see the reality of the situation. No matter what a person does, it is not an invitation for rape. It doesn’t matter if I kissed him. It doesn’t matter if he was drunk. It doesn’t matter if I said yes to a shower. I never said he could get violent with me. I never said he could make me bleed. I never said he could rape me. But still, that’s how the scene went down. I don’t need to explain myself but if you’re wondering WHY I took a shower with him, it was written in the text, I’d been sick with food poisoning for 2 days and needed to sweat it out. My current place of residence has only cold water (third world problems are real!) and it seemed like a miracle to be offered a hot shower. That’s not what he was there for though, because as soon as he got a chance, he threw me to the ground and had his way. Dealing with rape is hard enough but the aftermath is often even more traumatic but I did this for you and I did this for me. The US Embassy and the South African police are super supportive and he may be arrested as soon as this week. Thank you for the love. And for the victim blamers, I send love, peace, and enlightenment to you so that you may be a beacon of light for us, too. #StopRapeEducate #AmberAmour #AmberTheActivist #SouthAfrica #humanitarian #healing #education #africa #survivor #sexualassault #recovery #victimblaming #overcome #rapeculture #staystrong

A photo posted by Amber Amour (@ambertheactivist) on Nov 22, 2015 at 11:12am PST

Speaking about her decision to live blog her alleged rape experience, she told Marie Claire:

“I immediately knew that I couldn’t keep what had happened a secret.

“Here I was, telling survivors every single day that they should speak up… I knew I had to practise what I preached. So the first thing I did was take a picture and write a post, describing what had happened.”

Amber is still in South Africa where she says the police investigation into the incident is ongoing.