Sexual assault victims have are often wary about sharing their stories due to societal stigmas, but online forums such as survivor chat rooms, Tumblrs, and blogs have given people a way to share their stories and connect with people who have been through similar experiences. 

“Sites like [Pandora’s Aquarium] provide a safe environment for survivors of sexual violence to support each other,” said Susan Lee, a Board Moderator for the site Pandora’s Aquarium. “The peer to peer support has established a community where survivors can go to speak their truth without judgment or blame.”

This is new an outlet for rape victims that has only become accessible within the last two decades; yet this untraditional way of coming to terms with the emotional consequences of rape is becoming an increasingly common way of addressing issues. 

The anonymity of online communities enables people to address their feelings of betrayal and powerlessness through social media even if they are not ready to press charges or open up to friends or family. 

And since 25 percent of college women will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college period and women between the ages of 16 to 24 will experience rape at a rate that's four times higher than the assault rate of all women, according to a 2010 study from the Department of Justice, these online communities are multiplying at a rapid rate.

“People are more comfortable discussing these things in an anonymous setting—without gossip, stigmas, or judgment,” said Manya, an administrator at Fort Refuge whose last name is not listed for privacy reasons. "If you don't want to discuss it any further you just drop your account and forget it all, the story won't follow you to the rest of your days, as it would with family, friends, legal representatives, or mental health professionals.”

Dozens of online forums like Fort Refuge and Pandora's Aquarium offer a sense of community and acceptance for abuse survivors to share their stories and connect with other people who have gone through similar experiences. 

In a college setting where students may share friends, apartment buildings and classes with their rapists or assaulters, anonymity becomes especially critical.

A 2007 study by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service projects that among college students, classmates, friends, and boyfriends are the aggressors in 50 percent of forcible rapes and 70 percent of drug-facilitated rapes. 

“After a person you have trusted and have a relationship with violates you, a person questions if their entire world is trust worthy,” explained Kristen Zaleski, a professor of social work at the University of Southern California who specializes in trauma counseling. “So reaching out to someone who can relate to that kind of violation is the draw [of online communities]. It is about finding someone who relates but not isolating in its technique.”

Victim blaming practices cause many students to fear talking to their peers about sexual assault because they worry about being judged for putting themselves into compromising situations in the first place. Some people also fear alienation by peers for getting their rapist into trouble by reporting sexual assault to school authorities or the police.

 “Many of the rape victims, whether male or female, do not dare to report their attackers because they are afraid of being bullied on campus, or because they are afraid of getting in trouble with the police for drinking,” explained Tanja Duckers, a German professor who was teaching at Dartmouth College when numerous rape complaints were brought against the school.

Furthermore, “reporting to authorities is often a 'revictimization' in that they are treated as suspects and often are disbelieved and judged for their actions by the very authorities who try to protect them,” said Zaleski.

Social media victim forums, on the other hand, offer a sense of closure and allow people to come to terms with their assault without possible criticisms and doubt of peers. 

“Facebook and Twitter are too public for people to feel comfortable using them as resources for coming to terms with their personal, stigmatized lives,” said Eric Rice, an assistant professor of Social Work at USC who specializes in social network analysis. “But Tumblr and blogs allow a greater deal of anonymity where you can share certain parts of yourself that enable you to identify with certain people.”

Especially in many situations where the combination of alcohol and partying may make it hard for college students to determine what exactly constitutes “rape,” small communities of trusted listeners—online or otherwise—allow people to fully disclose their feelings without judgment. 

“Other people understand,” said Susan. “They know my pain, understand flashbacks, body memories, triggers without explanation. Where else can you log on and say ‘Hey, I'm struggling tonight,’ only to have a dozen or more people from across the world reply with calming words of 'we're here listening and sending you healing?'"

While in no way a replacement for in-person therapy or counseling, online communities can offer victims a place to turn when they do not feel comfortable opening up to peers about their experiences with rape and other issues. 

“Narrative therapy helps people who have been through trauma to tell their story,” said Rice. “Blogs allow people to go through the narrative process of telling their story and coming to terms with it to help the victims heal.” 

But, as with any form of therapy, using social media to help resolve the traumas of sexual assault is not without its shortcomings. 

The sheer number of stories shared through social media can make reading about other peoples' sexual assault encounters overwhelming. Reading through so many stories and situations of betrayal can lead victims to develop general feelings of distrust and anxiety about the world around them. 

“I have found [social media outlets] to be most beneficial to clients at a later phase in their recovery,” said Zaleski. “ For victims who have just be assaulted, the social media sites can often re-traumatize them. I encourage people to seek out social media, but usually after they have started to feel the physical symptoms of anxiety, startle response and hyper-vigilance to diminish a bit.” 

While sexual assault victims are still faced with traumatizing victim blaming practices and ideas of openness surrounding issues of sexual assault are still developing, social media communities can help to fill some of the voids.

Online forums may play an important role in creating another way to break down outdated stigmas against victims of sexual assault because with thousands of users in so many forums, participants are never alone.