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tuesdayritual 's review for:
The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story
by Pagan Kennedy
challenging
informative
tense
fast-paced
I’m just going to say it: This book was mercifully brief. The narrative mostly focused on Pagan Kennedy’s reaction to her own trauma and her hunt for justice on behalf of Marty Goddard, the modern inventor of the rape kit. Kennedy was very upfront and honest about her reasons for pursuing this line of inquiry, giving triggering details about her own childhood sexual assaults.
While I expected some interspersed reflection on the author’s personal experiences, I did not expect these scenes to be so explicit — or for the autobiographical hunt for Goddard to take up most of the 160+ pages. This book has very little to do with the invention of the rape kit and much more to do with the societal (and especially personal for the author) implications of the rape kit in our modern world.
Further, much of what was written felt like padding. The author often repeated herself within the same chapter or within a chapter or two of the original content. Without a compelling narrative flow surrounding the invention of the rape kit — or its modern counterparts — it often felt like reading a high school essay that relied on padding to hit the word count. When I read that the content of this book originally debuted as a longer-than-average magazine article, it made sense.
As a survivor myself, I had hoped for more historic synopsis. While Goddard remained a shadowy figure, what parallels can be drawn between her erasure and other women innovators? How has the legal system changed (or not changed) regarding the conviction of sexual assault? How does sexual assault affect other populations than Black and white women — Native American, Asian, disabled, mad, LGBTQ+? Some of these topics were lightly touched on, if at all, before the narrative was forcibly refocused on Kennedy’s own tragedies.
It is important to tell our stories as survivors; I don’t disparage Kennedy’s need to do so. I do wish that there had been some kind of warning about the sexual assault scenes, as I would have found them extremely triggering after my own assault, when I was looking for answers about the justice system that had failed me (and this coming from someone who doesn’t believe that most writing needs content warnings! — fellow survivors, please be cautious). I would have preferred that the navel-gazing around finding Goddard had been truncated in favor of more general history surrounding the rape kit itself.
2/5 stars: Again, fellow survivors, be careful of the contents of Chapter 10. I’d be interested to see the original magazine article, which may be trimmed down in a way that highlights Marty Goddard’s story.
While I expected some interspersed reflection on the author’s personal experiences, I did not expect these scenes to be so explicit — or for the autobiographical hunt for Goddard to take up most of the 160+ pages. This book has very little to do with the invention of the rape kit and much more to do with the societal (and especially personal for the author) implications of the rape kit in our modern world.
Further, much of what was written felt like padding. The author often repeated herself within the same chapter or within a chapter or two of the original content. Without a compelling narrative flow surrounding the invention of the rape kit — or its modern counterparts — it often felt like reading a high school essay that relied on padding to hit the word count. When I read that the content of this book originally debuted as a longer-than-average magazine article, it made sense.
As a survivor myself, I had hoped for more historic synopsis. While Goddard remained a shadowy figure, what parallels can be drawn between her erasure and other women innovators? How has the legal system changed (or not changed) regarding the conviction of sexual assault? How does sexual assault affect other populations than Black and white women — Native American, Asian, disabled, mad, LGBTQ+? Some of these topics were lightly touched on, if at all, before the narrative was forcibly refocused on Kennedy’s own tragedies.
It is important to tell our stories as survivors; I don’t disparage Kennedy’s need to do so. I do wish that there had been some kind of warning about the sexual assault scenes, as I would have found them extremely triggering after my own assault, when I was looking for answers about the justice system that had failed me (and this coming from someone who doesn’t believe that most writing needs content warnings! — fellow survivors, please be cautious). I would have preferred that the navel-gazing around finding Goddard had been truncated in favor of more general history surrounding the rape kit itself.
2/5 stars: Again, fellow survivors, be careful of the contents of Chapter 10. I’d be interested to see the original magazine article, which may be trimmed down in a way that highlights Marty Goddard’s story.