KEY POINTS:
Rape victims often want people to openly acknowledge what has happened to them, says a Victoria University criminologist who has interviewed 15 women attacked by the same man.
Dr Jan Jordan has written a book, Serial Survivors: women's narratives of surviving rape, which will go on sale in Wellington next week. It is based on the experiences of some of the women sexually assaulted or raped by serial rapist Malcolm Rewa.
Dr Jordan said it emerged in her interviews with the women that they all had individual ways of coping with the sexual attacks.
She also discovered that rape victims wanted people to be direct with them when trying to help.
"They found it hard where people would not acknowledge what had happened but instead ask a third party how they were doing, or to express their concern."
Dr Jordan's book aimed to explore what it meant to survive an experience often described as every woman's worst nightmare. But she said it also was equally useful for those surviving any traumatic events who were trying to put their lives back together.
The book presented the stories of the 15 women who hoped that through sharing their experiences they could promote understanding and inspire others on their own survival journeys.
In 1998, Malcolm Rewa was convicted of the sexual assault of 25 women between 1987 and 1996 and sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison without parole.
As part of her then PhD research Dr Jordan had, shortly after the trial, interviewed those women who had expressed interest in telling their story.
Because she used only part of the lengthy interviews in her doctorate thesis she felt a bigger story could be told in a book, but could not find a New Zealand publisher who was interested.
Dr Jordan had since felt the women "sitting on my shoulder" and made a New Year's resolution in 2006 to rewrite her proposal, and found an Australian publisher keen to take the project on.
The book was organised around themes and stages of the survival process, including psychological tools the women drew on at the time of the attacks, and the process of coping with medical examinations and police interviews, then the trial itself.
"Survival was not a one-off event but a series of events."
The women who had survived attacks by Rewa had been proactive, asking for information about the process such as the reasons for delays in the case, and what would happen in court.
While there was some anxiety about facing Rewa in court, such as what would stop him from attacking them again, they had all wanted to be in view of him so he could see they were survivors.
The victims had also got to know one another as some sat through the test of the trial after they had given their evidence.
Many had also attended the sentencing where they felt validated as the judge gave a powerful summary of their victim impact statements.
Dr Jordan said by sharing their experiences some of the women could be reassured that when they felt fearful and exposed, others felt the same and they were "not going mad".
"A couple found they both had the same ghastly time in crowd situations or going to the bank."
In an unusual scenario some had got together with family, police and the prosecution for a shared lunch after the case.
Dr Jordan said such group support had helped many, but not all wanted that.
