ABSTRACT
Introduction In this chapter, following on from the analysis of judicial discourses, I examine the discourses of victims and rapists as they emerged in the public arena. In particular, I will focus on gang rape survivor Tegan Wagner’s intervention in the public debate on the rapes. Not only has Wagner been the most publicly vocal of the ‘Sydney gang rape’ victims, she is also the author of an autobiography released in 2007 in which – similarly to French rape survivor Samira Bellil (described in Chapter 8 ) – she describes both her experience of rape and her subsequent attempts to overcome its legacy. Aside from the obvious parallel with Bellil, which makes it a useful point for comparative analysis, Wagner’s book provides a fascinating insight into the space available to rape survivors to narrate their experience, assert agency and receive redress. Meanwhile, a number of the accused rapists also gained notoriety as a result of their very public displays during the trial proceedings. Noting the mediated access I have to their voices (largely through media reports), I nonetheless analyse their actions and comments as contributors in their own right to the public discourse.
