Sexual Assault Survivor Panel - Tracy Schmleter/ The Towerlight

Cathryn Dutton was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance during her time at Loyola University.

LaQuisha Hall was a victim of incest when a pastor in her community molested her.

But on Oct. 10, still in the process of healing, Dutton and Hall sat down in front of a room full of students as two survivors.

Dutton and Hall were participants in panel discussion Voices of Survival, an event headed by Marie Lilly, associate director of Women’s Resources at the Center for Student Diversity.

“I became empowered mostly by speaking out after being silent about it for four years,” Hall said. “The more I told my story, the more liberated I felt. Today, I feel that promoting awareness, educating the public, and providing victims with support is what empowers me.”

Hall, who is 30-years-old and Butterfly Sistas’ Program Director at Heal a Woman to Heal a Nation , said she did not have a supportive response when she told her family she was sexually assaulted.

“The person who molested me was not any member of my family, but romantically involved with my mother,” she said. “When I came out with this to my family, the first thing my mother said was that I was a lying bitch. She ended up taking his side, along with the remainder of my family.”

Hall said that people in her community discouraged her from pressing charges because it was a case of he said, she said.

Sexual Assault Survivor Panel - Tracy Schmleter/ The Towerlight

“I didn’t even know what the term sexual assault meant at the time,” she said. “I just felt like I had been a target. I felt it was best to keep it to myself because, to be completely honest, I didn’t want anyone to put me out of my house because they didn’t believe me.”

Dutton, 22, was sexually assaulted two years ago by an acquaintance. She said she also has a friend who was raped.

“One song helped me out a lot, and that was ‘Don’t Carry It All,’ by the Decemberists,” Dutton said. “I was angry, sad, frustrated. I wanted answers, and that’s a lot to carry internally. I feel like when I found solidarity in others that’s when I started to heal.”

Hall said the more she told her story, the more liberated she felt and wanted to spread the message that victims can live a successful and victorious life after trauma.

“While it is important to educate the public, I have walked in the shoes of victims,” Hall said. “I know what it is like to wake up in the morning and feel defeated before stepping out of bed. I know what it is like to feel like you are not ‘normal’ and that you can’t ever live a ‘regular’ life, whatever that may be.”

Dutton said it took a lot for her life to go back to normalcy, and she would not have been ready for a panel discussion six months ago.

“I had to go back to my normal life, and that’s really difficult,” Dutton said. “It wasn’t normal. It was the same people, the same classes, but it wasn’t the same— it was surreal.”

Hall said that the media’s neglect of sexual assault issues compels her to speak at panel discussions.

“No one wants to even fathom a child in a sexual position or an adult being forced to perform sexual acts,” she said. “It’s almost as if it is believed that if it is not discussed, then it is not happening– out of sight, out of mind. Also, I believe that because the public is poorly educated. They are clueless as to how tackle this issue if they are faced with it.”

Because the statistics of assault are so high, with one in three women and one in five men being victimized, Hall said there is greater need to address this issue.

“There are so many people walking around suppressing their own issues of abuse,” she said. “Many of these people are not ready to talk about their own experiences, let alone face them.”

Dutton said victims of assault need to be handled delicately.

“To help carry the person’s burden, it’s best to try and help your friends and survivors, just to listen,” she said. “Ultimately, it needs to be the survivor’s decision. Rape and assault are situations where the victim has no control, so saying, ‘you have to go to the police, you have to press charges,’ is taking the control away from that victim even more, even though that might be the right decision.”

Through all the talks and discussions she has attended, Hall said she considers herself more a soldier than a survivor in the fight against sexual assault.

“I am hopeful that this won’t impact me negatively one day, but I also realize that healing takes time– some wounds take longer than others,” she said. “I also believe that all things happen for divine reasons. I believe that God knew I would be strong enough to overcome this catastrophe and move forward as a ‘soldier’ in this war.”