During her third week as a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, Laura Luciano was raped by an acquaintance while she was visiting his dorm room.
"I don't even remember how that happened -- how he got all my clothes off. I stood there thinking I can't believe this. The more I fought the rougher he got," Luciano, now a 22-year-old Rutgers communications and women's studies major, told an audience of about 50 people last night in 105 Dartmouth Hall.
Although she had only known her rapist, George, for three days, Luciano said she had no qualms about being alone with him when she saw him on September 26, 1994.
"Meeting people at college you become instant friends," she said.
However, "as soon as the door closed, George was a completely different person," and was easily able to overpower and rape her, Luciano said.
"In wrestling, if an opponent is more than 10 pounds heavier, then it is not a fair fight," she said. "Most men are 40 to 50 pounds heavier than most women."
Luciano said she was shocked and confused after her experience and urged her listeners to be supportive and non-judgmental when talking to or about the victims of sexual assault.
"Afterwards, my first reaction was to go home clean myself up and pretend it never happened, because I didn't know what to do," she said.
She first went to a friend's room, then, after speaking to student counselors on a crisis hotline, she checked into a rape crisis center, where she was examined by doctors.
Later that evening, Luciano went to the campus police station. Once there, she decided to press charges.
She spent the next few weeks sleeping and eating.
"I know now that I had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," she said. "It is a normal reaction to abnormal events."
A week later, Luciano was shocked when she overhead two girls discussing her assault.
"One girl said 'I don't see why if the newspapers give his name, they don't give hers. She's probably lying anyway,'" Luciano said.
"I heard people discussing me and each time I reacted differently," she said. "But never did I confront those people."
George pleaded guilty to second degree sexual assault and was sentenced to five years probation and counseling. He is also subject to Megan's Law and is required to register with the police in any town where he lives.
Luciano, who has spent the last three years speaking about her experience, said that her acquaintance rape was not unusual -- 84 per cent of victims know their assailants. She reminded her audience that one in every four women will be the victim of rape or attempted sexual assault.
"By speaking to people, I hope to counter the idea that it's not you, not your friends, not at your school. That's not true," said Luciano. "I can represent your friends or maybe your classmates."
This speech was a part of the series of events commemorating Sexual Assault Awareness Week at Dartmouth.
