( CNN ) -- As a rape survivor , I have always wanted to give voice to victims of violence . But it was only this week , after the publication of a very personal piece on rape , that I understood how important it is to do so . The response to my story about Mathura , a woman at the center of a landmark rape case in India , was overwhelming . On Twitter , on Facebook and on e-mail , the messages kept coming . The girl whose rape changed a country . What stood out were comments like this one from Vilasi Venkatachalam , who tweeted : `` We usually do n't care about the afterlife of a rape survivor . Very touching . '' Readers thanked me for caring about Mathura enough to embark on a journey to find her after four decades ; to find out how her life had turned out . And in reading about her , others were encouraged to talk about their own afterlife . Sarah Silver sent CNN iReport an account of her own rape . She was 20 then and intoxicated one night when a guy she had been casually dating drove her to a covered bridge in the middle of nowhere and demanded she perform oral sex on him . When she refused , he pinned her against a railing and raped her . She spoke of her rape only one time . She was told it `` did n't count '' because she had already had consensual sex with her rapist . And what did she expect when she was so wasted ? `` The misogyny present in our culture and cultures all over the world sends the message to survivors that they should not try to be heard because they are inherently responsible for their 'misfortune , ' '' Silver wrote in her iReport . `` I was lucky because I survived . I finally accepted the truth that what happened was NOT my fault . '' Silver told me she was moved by my story ; that it affected her much more than a news article about rape . She was struck by how Mathura never got justice . Her perpetrators , two policemen who claimed innocence , were set free because India 's Supreme Court did not believe Mathura 's story . Mathura did not scream . She had no visible marks on her body . Therefore , she must have consented . She was , as the court said , `` habituated to sex . '' Rape culture . `` It 's not going to change unless we talk about it , '' Silver told me . Sunday night I had signed on to Twitter and Facebook and told my followers and friends that the most difficult story I 'd ever written had been posted on the CNN website . True , because the story was critical to me . Mathura 's case helped spawn a movement to battle sexual assault and triggered significant changes in antiquated rape laws in my homeland . Finding her all these years later was not easy . But perhaps more true because I had never before told anyone about my own rape in college ; I broke a 33-year silence in a very public manner . I braced myself for the reaction , from people who are close to me and did not know about what happened to me and also from those who might post comments that were less than sympathetic . I know there is still so much blame put on victims . I also received messages from fellow Indians -- all men -- who were upset with me for writing a `` negative '' story about our homeland . Other men were angry because they felt I was blaming them for the problem of rape . â€ .
Anita Basu 's story on a rape case in India resonates with readers . The reporter 's revelations were difficult to accept . Many talk about their own lives after being attacked . They say it 's the only way to change their culture .