After more than 30 men raped a 16 year old in Rio de Janeiro, they subjected her to further pain by posting images and videos of her on social media meant to mock her. Victim blaming has only made the harrowing situation worse for the young woman. According to EFE, police officers treat her like she’s to blame, and online, people have sent her death threats. “I am very afraid,” she said. “I feel as though I’m in solitary confinement. I can’t leave my house for anything. When I went on Facebook, there were thousands of messages from people who said they wanted to kill me.”
But people have come forward to let her that she’s not alone. The hashtag #EstuproNuncaMais (No More Rape) has ignited social media, and Brazilians have come out in droves to protest the rape culture that persists in their country. The crowd chanted, “You mess with one; you mess with all.”
In a video for AJ+, one woman said that the upcoming Olympic games in Brazil are providing an opportunity to let the world know about the inequality and violence that exists.
The 16-year-old thanked her supporters for standing with her. “It’s not my uterus that hurts, it’s my soul, because there are such cruel people who are not punished,” she wrote on Facebook, according to the Washington Post. “I really thought I’d be judged badly. But I wasn’t. We could all go through this one day.”
Check out another AJ+ video below to hear the young woman speak out on rape shaming: