I am terribly sorry about what happened to you, and good on you for having the bastard put away at least for as much time as he got!

I see your point re: classifying an attack as rape, but I assume you regarded it as sexual assault/a crime other than rape. As you probably know, the classification of sex crimes varies from state to state — some don’t use the term “rape” at all, only “sexual assault,” while others apply the term “rape” to everything from forced intercourse to even slight vaginal or anal penetration with a finger.

What was your experience with the justice system like? I understand that there are real problems, but I also think women are ill served when they are told that the system is always terrible to survivors. A friend of mine was raped in 1992 by a guy who gave her a ride home from a party. It was a horrific experience (she literally had to run out of her house naked from the waist down to get help from the neighbors when the guy fell asleep) but she had nothing but good words for the cops and prosecutors. (The guy had a prior and got sent away from at least 20 years, IIRC.)