Alone and in an unfamiliar place, she asked her ex-boyfriend to come stay the night for emotional support and nothing more. It became more. Something unwanted. And she kept it hidden so it affected future relationships.

“I was crying and saying ‘no,’ while he progressed into having sex with me.”

In some people’s minds, rape is a gray area.

“Rape. What a terrible word,” said a 21-year-old senior woman from Bowling Green, a sexual assault victim who asked to be unnamed.

The truth is, there is no gray area, it is black and white, she said.

Kentucky recognizes March as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Western, along with Bowling Green community organizations such as Hope Harbor, come together to support this silent epidemic, said Elizabeth Mohon, Counseling and Testing Center coordinator.

Thursday is the final event. At 6 p.m., groups will meet at the Justice Center downtown for “Take Back the Night,” a march and vigil to acknowledge victims.

“People are so afraid to talk, we need to talk about it, scream about it, and walk about it!” exclaimed Mohon.

This event may help people overcome their experience, while giving others who haven’t dealt with it an understanding that it can happen to any of us, the victim said.

To speak up and realize how it was affecting my life, move past the perspective that I was “tainted” was the hardest part, she said.

She reasoned that you might have been dancing with him at a party, but unless you emotionally and physically consent for sex, it isn’t OK.

The college-aged community is four times more likely to be assaulted, according to Mohon.

“You believe it happens to that ‘kind’ of girl, but it happens to all of us – we are ‘that girl,’” the victim said.

As a sexual assault counselor, Mohon responds to sexual assault reports. She describes it as an umbrella term; it doesn’t specifically mean rape. It’s general unwanted sexual content and nature.

More importantly, people don’t realize it isn’t a particular group who are victims, it’s male, female, gay, straight, white and black, Mohon said.

The anonymous woman stresses that awareness is a great thing – three years ago she was a victim, this year she came to terms with it and shared it with Mohon.

Mohon reflects on the past years of “Take Back the Night,” remembering little children being involved, though not quite sure what was happening.

The first year, there were 400 pledges. This year, there are at least 650 pledges, Mohon said with a hope that more will come to the event.

The assault victim offers advice to others in her situation, “Reclaim and take back who you are.”