Online platform will enable survivors of sexual violence to ‘tell their story’

Sisters Vanessa and Emma Witherow: ‘It is just better when you can tell someone safely and as soon as you can.’ Picture: Brian Arthur

A new anonymous online platform where survivors of sexual violence can share their stories without fear of being trolled or sued is being launched on Tuesday by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

The We-Speak initiative, the first of its kind in Ireland, will minimise the risk faced by victims of sex attacks when they share their stories on social media.

It comes as figures show that just 53% of women and 34% of men who have experienced sexual violence told someone.

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s Consent Project manager Sarah Monaghan told the Irish Examiner that the platform will help to empower survivors.

“They can tell their story in their own words and in their own time, and wherever they want,” said Ms Monaghan.

“They will write in their story and reclaim their own narrative.

“We hope also that by reading other stories that people will realise they are not alone.

“Their experience is valid and important, and we should not minimise them.

“We have trained professionals to receive the stories and we don’t post them online until they are all reviewed by a number of people.

“Nothing will be identifiable and we will have responses tailored to the person’s stories.”

Tipperary sisters Emma and Vanessa Witherow, who were both sexually abused by their stepfather John Joe Patterson, have welcomed the new platform.

Emma left the family home at the age of 18 because of the abuse and took her 13-year-old sister Vanessa with her.

Their mother Frances stood by her husband during his trial in Nenagh Circuit Court in 2015.

Patterson was convicted of sexually abusing the sisters over a 10-year period. They waived their right to anonymity.

“I hope it will give people a chance to tell their story safely,” Emma, now 35, told the Irish Examiner.

“It gives them an option to get it all off their chest. 

I wrote a letter about my abuse and then ripped it up. 

"I then told my best friend, and she told my mother. When my mother was told she said I was like something off Jerry Springer.

“I got scared so I denied it and retracted it all.

“But in the end, I left home around 2005 with Vanessa and didn’t report the abuse until 2010.

“It is just better when you can tell someone safely and as soon as you can.”

Mother of four Vanessa said: “I was angry so much over the abuse. I told my mother when I was 12 and then I left home at 13 with Emma.

“I hope that the We-Speak platform will be another way of someone sharing your story, which is always helpful.”

• We-Speak can be accessed through We-Consent.ie from Tuesday.