First, it should be clear that no woman deserves or asks to be raped. The trauma of a rape victim is personal and unfathomable and how a person responds is part of their healing process. But the story of rape activist Amber Amour and her alleged rape in South Africa has caused controversy. Amour claimed she was raped in December of 2015 and took a selfie and live-blogged her ensuing experience moments after her rape. South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world and Amour was in Cape Town as part of her anti-rape campaign.
Her story is graphic and has caused heated backlash from many who have called her a liar, fraud and media slut trying to gain fame. What is surprising is the number of Black women and rape survivors who challenge her story and her judgment. By her own admission, she has been the victim of multiple rapes and sexual assaults in the past, which inspired her to become an activist against rape. At issue is her poor judgment not only as a past victim of rape but also as a rape activist. Planning to take a shower with a drunken man you barely know and who tried to kiss you is a bad call.
Amour states, “… just because I’m naked does not mean I consent to sex or rape.“ And she is correct. But many have asked why she took a shower with him and did not wait to take one by herself. There are questions as to why she live-blogged her rape on social media rather than calling the police first. For some, it just does not add up and there are those who feel she has a hidden agenda. Reinforcing this belief are her recent nude pictures where she has decided to start spending more time naked with strangers in public. This is part of a new campaign called “Creating Consent Culture.” To her critics, she states, “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… You need to know the truth and to see the reality of the situation.”
Now Amour is back in the social media spotlight because Instagram deleted her original post over the weekend. She posted the following image:
This resulted in an outcry from supporters of Amour and soon Instagram responded:
Amber Amour has definitely become the new face of rape for social media, whether this is a positive is yet to be seen. Her story is just one more example of the problems of rape culture and victim blaming that takes place in so many cultures.
