So far this week:

• Half the world has gone into collective denial with regards to attempted rape allegations against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
• Nadine Dorries MP has claimed that teaching girls to say no will prevent child sexual abuse.
• The Justice Secretary had to apologise after he displayed a spectacular level of ignorance and insensitivity on the subject of rape, as well as the legislation surrounding it.
• The Lord Chief Justice stated that spreading rumours about celebrities on the Internet was comparable to distributing child pornography.
• And to top it all off, Roger Helmer MEP thinks that some rape victims are to blame.

And the week isn’t even over yet. Is there something in the water in London, Paris and Brussels?
I’d had enough after Dorries, nevermind the other three. I have very little energy left to actually argue with these people. I will keep doing so, keep calling them out on it, but I want to do more.
Every time I write about violence against women – whether it’s to tell my own story or to challenge the monumental ignorance and cruelty displayed by people like Nadine Dorries and others – I get one response consistently: every single time, a few more women get in touch – privately or publicly – to share their own stories of sexual violence, rape, domestic abuse.
If you’ve been reading my blog over the last year or so, you’ll know the stats:

• 45% of women suffer sexual assault, domestic violence or stalking.
• One in four women is raped – that’s 200 every single day.
• 21% of girls are sexually abused.
• 2 women a week in England and Wales are killed by a partner or ex-partner.

The stats are clearly not enough. Somehow, our politicians and judges still seem to find it acceptable to trivialise this kind of violence and to blame the victims. We need to do more to help these people understand the extent of the issue and its impact on women and society in general.
So I have spent my weekend with two friends, working on a way to give women who have suffered this kind of violence a voice; a place to speak out safely about what happened to them, to tell their story, to make others aware and help them understand. As I am writing this, Gemma is sitting next to me, coding the alpha version of the site.
We will go public very soon, and we want your contribution. If you have a story to tell – safely, anonymously – then please get in touch with me. I know it’s an incredibly brave and difficult thing I am asking of you; but if we do not speak up, the victim-blaming and trivialisation, and ultimately the violence, will never stop. It’s time to stand our ground. Stand with me.