What an important conversation.
At the age of 21, Tori Amos‘ life forever changed when she was sexually assaulted at knifepoint. So, so scary.
Over 30 years later, the Cornflake Girl singer still credits her music for giving her the strength to help other women who had experienced similar situations.
Talking to People, the 53-year-old remembered:
“I had written a song called ├óΓé¼╦£Me and a Gun’ that was about a brutal sexual assault, and people would be coming to the shows to hear that song, although it was a tough song for some people to listen to. People would start coming to the shows in 1991 and 1992 to talk to me about their stories.”
Related: Tori Defends Madonna Against The Haters!
Several years later in 1994, a 16-year-old victim of sexual assault came to Amos for help after one of the singer’s shows, saying she needed to escape being “raped by her stepfather” every night.
Unfortunately because of the laws and resources available at that time, there was nothing Amos could do in that moment — which ultimately inspired her to join the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Newtork (RAINN) that same year.
The songwriter said:
“I was told by my legal people that if I [took her on my tour bus with me] I would be charged with kidnapping because we were crossing state lines that night. As you can see, in that moment, I couldn’t do anything, and there weren’t a lot of options for her in 1994.”
But even after all these years, the problem isn’t lessening:
“Year after year, the organization has been there and the amount of calls have increased, so the issue isn’t going away and in 2016 we’ve heard about a lot of cases happening right now. It’s pervasive, and it’s an urgent conversation to have.”
In effort to continue the conversation, Amos produced the original song for Netflix‘s new documentary, Audrie & Daisy, which covers the pressing issues of sexual assault and consent among teenagers.
Speaking on the film, Amos explained:
“We’ve all been hearing about the problem [of sexual assault] on our college campuses. The reality that it’s now in the high schools and middle schools was painful to accept. The movie brought up many issues about our communities├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥that it’s just not one type of neighborhood├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥so I began to realize that not only is this problem not going away, but it’s getting younger where teenagers are doing this to other teenagers.”
Wow.
We are so inspired by Tori’s strength to share her powerful story.
[Image via WENN.]
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