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From 2007 to 2013, during the six years that the relationship lasted, Marta Asensio was raped repeatedly by her partner. When night came, he would drug her to make her fall deeply asleep, at which time he would take advantage of her to abuse her. “At first I didn’t realize it. He gave me what he called ‘drowsiness’. He felt that sleep was overcoming me, I fell asleep and I didn’t remember anymore,” Marta explains to MagasIN.

Marta, who just turned 49, was not aware that she had been a rape victim until one day He woke up with his legs stained with semen. “It was very hard because, on the one hand, you saw that someone had used your body without your consent and, on the other, you loved that person, he was your partner,” she says.

As a result of the rapes she suffered, she began to feel bad about her body and to experience a rejection of sex. “I started to develop disgust for my own body, when I showered I didn’t even want to put my hand over my genitals. I even suffered vaginismus. I couldn’t have sex with anyone“I couldn’t even do it with myself,” she says.

A trauma that led to a kind of feeling of guilt, since he felt responsible for what happened to him for not waking up. “I thought that when I fell asleep anyone could do anything to me,” she adds.

It is estimated that around 76% of sexual assaults that occurred in 2020 were committed with chemical submission. This is what this type of rape is called in which the victim is not aware of the rape, since he remains under the influence of some substance, which makes it more difficult for him to take the step of reporting for fear that his story will be put into doubt.

“It was very difficult for me to report, I thought they wouldn’t believe me. The fact that there are no signs of violence (I couldn’t resist, since I was asleep) and that the drugs I used to get high were legal, make it more difficult to present evidence,” she explains.

Furthermore, it was his own partner, which would raise more doubts. “He was my boyfriend and people would doubt if he was really consensual or not.”. I have had to listen to people say that I had made it up to get money from them,” he says.

“It is a danger to others”

But Marta was not the only victim of her ex-partner. One day she discovered that He did the same with a relative of his. “She told me what had happened to her and she told me that I was the only one who would understand it. There I felt more guilty for not having reported it sooner, since perhaps she could have avoided it,” she explains.

According to Marta, he acted like this because a question of power and domination about women. “We were dating and he had no need to force me to have sex, but he drugged me because he felt powerful, subjecting me to what he wanted without me being able to refuse,” she says.

During the trial, two other women attacked by him came to testify. Even so, the Provincial Court of Madrid rejected the complaint on two occasions. Currently, the case remains open and his ex-partner has not yet been tried. Many victims, such as Marta, claim to feel unprotected by justice. “Justice sets rapists free, it is a reality. I documented everything at the trial, I presented audios, testimonies were collected from several victims, including testimonies from his friends who testified against him,” she says.

A former girlfriend of the accused also tried to report him years later, but the crime had expired. “I don’t understand why this woman can’t report it now, of our bodies does not prescribe the crime”she expresses indignantly.

Marta warns that as long as she remains on the street, her ex-partner will reoffend again. “It is a danger to other women. And it is very easy. He is a herbalist and sells herbal capsules in which he can put whatever he wants. He can trick clients and put them to sleep. Furthermore, he is giving massages without having any qualifications. I know that he is dating girls from Tinder and tricks them into giving them a massage, drugging them and taking advantage of them,” she says.

More than 100,000 signatures

Last January, Marta, along with another victim of chemical submission, delivered to the Ministry of Justice more than 100,000 signatures collected through the Change.org platform in which they demanded a action protocol in accordance with the needs of women who suffer this type of violations. Thanks to this, they have also been able to meet with the Ministry of Equality to present a new protocol that helps change certain actions, such as, for example, the psychological help that the victim needs for their recovery.

Regarding the current protocols, Asensio believes that they are insufficient for the victims. “I know of cases of other women who have gone to report and the civil guard on duty has told them: ‘What do you think they raped you? Either you know it or you don’t know it’. They don’t understand that if you have been drugged, you don’t know what happened. You are not aware,” she denounces.

Likewise, he complains that the questions asked in the judicial field to the victim are usually very hurtful and, in some way, re-victimizing. “That makes you not want to report either. You know what you’re going to have to face. I started psychological treatment to try to overcome it, but since you have to keep going to trials, that wound opens again and again… until it becomes infected,” he says.

Another problem that victims face is that most don’t know what to do. “What we are asking is for things to be made as easy as possible. And that the three legs of the process: Health, Police and Justice work together. Sometimes the Police ask you for a medical report that certifies that violation, and in the case of chemical submission you cannot always prove it,” she says.

Likewise, he believes that hospitals should provide adequate psychological support from the first day and invite the victim to report their aggressor. “Many times they don’t report because he is the father of their children,” he points out.

To conclude, Marta reflects on how society holds women victims of rape responsible. “I am lucky that I put a face to my attacker, but this happens to many other women when they go out partying. They don’t need to be drugged, they can still rape them while they are under the influence of alcohol, and then “the focus of guilt is unfairly placed on them.”he concludes.

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