After opening the first maternity clinic for rape and sexual assault survivors at the Royal London Hospital recently, Pavan Amara, Founder, ‘My Body Back project’, which helps women who have experienced sexual violence, hopes to start similar initiative in India too.
“We receive a lot of emails from women in India asking us to start similar initiative in India as well. I am really aware that we have to do something, and I am asked this question on an almost daily basis now. So I know Indian women want us to start an Indian branch of our project, and I will work really hard to try and make that happen. I will do my absolute best. But, if it is to be done well it will take time, focus, and work for a number of years. I’m prepared to do this if it’s needed, but will require some time,” remarks Ms. Amara.
Ms. Amara felt the need to start ‘My Body Back’ project when she realized that the women who have suffered rape and sexual assault did not have access to specialist clinics for the medical care. She realized that women who have survived sexual violence needed to be treated with extra care and sensitivity in a hospital, however that is lacking globally.
“A woman’s whole sexual landscape shifts after assault. There are physical symptoms post-attack that affects all women. But unfortunately, most women just don’t talk about it, as in most of the societies it is a taboo for women to talk about sexual violence openly. More than that, there are no exclusive clinics especially for women who had experienced sexual violence,” says Ms. Amara.
“If you’ve been raped, you have support which focuses on the emotional aftermath, but even that’s time-limited. ‘My Body Back project’ focuses on the physical aftermath – it’s every woman’s right to access healthcare in a way that makes her feel safe,” she adds.
‘My Body Back Project’ works with women who have experienced sexual violence, regarding their physicality. The project, which started in August 2014, supports women who have experienced rape or sexual assault to love and care for their bodies again. It is essentially about women reclaiming power over their lives, their bodies and their choices.
“We run services to enable women to access healthcare services and physically look after themselves, and hold workshops for them to help them connect with sex again on their terms,” informs Ms. Amara.
“We run a sexual health clinic for women who have experienced sexual violence. This offers cervical screening, STI testing, and contraceptive fitting and removal. Women can pick and choose what they feel they need. We also run a maternity clinic, which again, is for women who have experienced sexual assault. We also run workshops about masturbation and orgasm after assault, as lots of women were saying they felt disconnected from their bodies, so this is intended to give them that control back again,” informs Ms. Amara.
The new maternity clinic is currently only open to U.K. citizens but Ms. Amara said she plans to set up a Skype service after receiving an overwhelming global response.