Dear Mariska Hargitay,

I remember watching you kick down your first suspect's door. I remember watching you arrest your first suspect and reading him his rights. I remember falling in love with the character of Olivia Benson and everything she stood for instantaneously. However, the more I learned about the person behind the main character of the hit show "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," the more respect I garnered towards you and I found myself wanting to emulate you.

You may have been a hit television star for the past eighteen years, but you have spent every minute of that spotlight consistently advocating for victims' rights. I recall watching an interview of yours when I was sixteen or so, and you discussed the staggering statistics of sexual assaults across the United States and how many of those went unreported. I was as outraged as you were, and I knew something had to be done about it. Like many young adults, I thought my life would never be affected by the aftermath of sexual assault or rape, but when I was 18 years old, I became one of those statistics.

I was at a party at my university and I had a lot to drink that night. I ended up spending the night at that guy's house because I did not want to walk back to my room and risk getting stopped by campus police. I fell asleep and the next moment I remember a man, who at the time I regarded as a friend, was on top of me trying to force himself on me. I fought him off, but I was so weak from being so stupidly drunk that night, that I fell back asleep after fighting him off.

I thought it was my fault. I thought that I had led him on and that maybe it was my fault. I thought I was too trusting and naive. I did not report my sexual assault to campus police for over a month because I was so ashamed I had let something like that happen to me. I struggled with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, all common after something as traumatic as a sexual assault.

But it was YOUR organization, the Joyful Heart Foundation, that gave me the courage to get help and file charges against my attacker. Thank you for providing me with counseling resources to help better myself and to put this behind me. Thank you for shedding light on rape culture, and how "no" really does mean no. Thank you for advocating to end the rape backlog in states across the United States, including Michigan, where I am doing my undergraduate work. It was because of you that my rape kit was tested, even though I had failed to report until a month after my assault.

Thank you for advocating for legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act. Because of legislation like this, I and many other sexual assault survivors are able to get legal, physical, and emotional help through our universities. We are able to have our cases investigated thoroughly, and most of all, I am able to avoid retaliation from my attacker for pressing charges.

You may be just another celebrity on my television, but you have impacted my life immensely through some of the hardest moments of my life. You bring a smile to my face and you give me hope that this world can get better and that someday we will end rape culture. Like many other survivors, I could have given up. However, I am here, a year after my assault, on top of the world. I am graduating a semester early next year with honors and I'll be attending law school with aspirations to write legislation to further protect victims of sexual assault and rape. I hope one day to meet you and articulate further how much you have improved the quality of my life.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

With gratitude,

Nora