Marissa

To be trusted with this, it's such an honor.

It really helps me feel like I'm making a difference.

Every single time I have conversations like this with women, I feel like a little piece of me and that version of me heals.

I think that the biggest thing that I would say to anyone who is going into a Title IX office would be to understand that you are there to advocate for yourself.

I would advise if you are going through any sort of sexual assault case and you're meeting with police or Title IX offices, I highly, highly recommend you record absolutely everything.

That's something that I really wish that I would have done.

The process of being assaulted and the justice system process after that, something really surprising to me was that there were certain things that I thought would really matter.

I remember when I was at the hospital and I got the rape kit done and they're taking pictures of my body.

They're looking for bruising.

I remember having a meeting with Detective Smith and her saying that bruising could

helps a lot in these cases and that bleeding, that really helps.

I'm not an easily bruised person.

And I remember thinking, what I've heard is true.

They do think that rape victims are only people who are beat up.

And I just learned that that is not even close to the reality of

what a rape victim is.

So many rapes happen even in marriages and those cases aren't compelling enough.

A lot of women in those scenarios don't think that that's what's happening because of how society portrays rape.

I think that another thing that was really surprising to me is I thought that there would be so much more oversight to what was going on.

I would assume that a sergeant would be checking in, especially in the special victims unit.