Nina Funnell

You know, like this was an era before the Me Too movement, before there was that sort of public push for survivors or not even a public push.

Yeah.

And awareness that the shame sits on the other side and that we can tell our stories without fear or stigma.

Which is wild that we didn't do that back then.

Yeah.

And there's reasons for that.

I mean, back then we didn't have social media, at least not to the extent that we have now.

And so there were real gatekeepers around which stories get told in the media and how they get told.

And the way that victim-survivor stories were traditionally told was in this really paternalistic

way, which was not necessarily inspiring or empowering for other victim survivors to come forward.

So I mean, and there was still, you know, as there are now, many pervasive rape myths.

But back then it was even worse.

So when I went public,

It was a really interesting experience in that I now know personally firsthand what it's like to be in the vulnerable seat, you know, on the vulnerable side of, you know, the camera or the microphone.

Yeah.

And to feel like you're handing over trust to the journalist to tell your story.

And at 23 and I had, you know...

very little understanding of exactly what it meant to go public as a survivor back then.

So I learnt the hard way, really.

And I had some very positive experiences with some journalists.