‘Girls can rape girls’ – Melanie Martinez’s accuser says she felt she couldn’t speak up because her rapist wasn’t a man
Timothy Heller, of band ‘Dresses,’ made a statement this week accusing her former-friend Melanie Martinez of sexual assault.
Martinez is a 22-year-old singer, who started her career on the The Voice US in 2012.
Heller posted a long tweet on Monday, claiming that in 2015, her then “best friend” Martinez raped her.
“When I wrote this story about my assault, I initially wasn’t going to make the abuser. But I think it’s important for you all to know this is about Melanie Martinez,” she said.
She then explained that when they were best friend, they had an extremely co-dependent relationship, in which Martinez had a lot of power over her.
Heller claims that one night the two were having a sleepover, when Martinez kept asking her questions about her sexuality, and making sexual comments.
“She began asking me while in bed if I would have sex with her…It went on for hours. Asking me WHY I didn’t want to, that it would be fun. I repeatedly said no.”
She said the next night the same thing happened. She said Martinez began touching her arm, then begged to touch her breasts.
“I was so exhausted and confused and high and belittled I just allowed it to happen. This led to her touching the rest of me. I never said yes. I said no, repeatedly.”
‘Just so there is no confusion, i was molested by my best friend. I lay still, in shock, completely not reciprocating.”
Heller says Martinez performed oral sex on her, then penetrated her with a sex toy, despite her making her lack of consent clear.
“We never talked about this night ever again. While it completely messed with my head, there was no way I could have been RAPED by my best friend…right?”
Heller ended the statement begging people to believe her story, saying that the reason #metoo campaign had given her courage.
“If you begin to doubt the abuse taking place in this story, I beg you to imagine her role in this being a man.”
“Girls can rape girls. Best friends can rape best friends. Friendship does not equal consent. Silence does not equal consent. I wish it wasn’t so hard for me to convince myself of these things.”
She said she’d struggled to take her own trauma seriously, because rape is so often depicted as by a male perpetrator.
“I think I was invalidating my own experience for so long because she’s not a man,” Heller explained,” Heller told Newsweek.
Heller told Newsweek that a month ago she tweeted, saying that she had a story of abuse, but not giving the identity of the abuser, and Martinez immediately tried to contact her, but she ignored the call. Martinez apparently also tried to contact Heller’s boyfriend.
After Heller’s tweet on Monday, Martinez responded in a brief statement, denying the claims. She said that although the two women had been going through difficult periods of their lives, “she never said no to what we chose to do together.”
That rape and assault can only happen by a male perpetrator to a woman, is a pervasive idea that prevents many survivors from coming forward.
The recent #metoo campaign has allowed a number of men who have been harassed and assaulted by men, to come forward with their stories.
Most famously, Kevin Spacey has been accused of Anthony Rapp and a number of others of assault, and has since been removed from his principle role in the Netflix show House of Cards.
Other male celebrities, including James Van Der Beek and Terry Crews, have also spoken out about incidents of harassment they have faced.
