A leading councillor expressed her horror over a sex attack video game – as she revealed her own rape ordeal.
East Ayrshire Council depute leader Elena Whitham was sexually assaulted by a man she had just met during a university night out.
She was just 19 when the stranger raped her while she was studying in Montreal, Canada.
The 44-year-old mum bravely shared her terrible experience as she spoke out against the game Rape Day, which features ‘players’ attacking women.
Elena said: “For me there is nothing entertaining about rape.
“It can happen to anybody. I was so incensed when people were trying to dismiss the game as entertainment.”
The former Women’s Aid worker was a care-free student who felt “invincible” before she was attacked.
Elena, who was a punk in her teens, had been out in an unfamiliar nightclub in Montreal with her friend when they met two guys.
She said: “I was wearing a mini-skirt with fishnet tights and Doc Martens. I can’t even remember what colour my hair was. It could have been pink.”
Elena ended up alone with the man in a room at her pal’s house after her friend popped out to get cigarettes.
Elena, of Newmilns, told the local democracy service on behalf of the Kilmarnock Standard: “Things happened that I was OK with. Then things happened and I wasn’t OK.
“I made it clear I didn’t want it. There was nobody to hear me. I just froze. I thought, ‘If I struggle, I will just get hurt more’.”
Her attacker fled the building and Elena never saw him again as the police couldn’t trace him. Recalling the investigation, she said: “I can remember the police taking my clothes. It was a huge indignity. I never got them back.
“I went home and was in the shower for ages. I would have used bleach on my body if somebody had given it to me. My mum had to tell me to get out.
“I was at my lowest ebb. I blamed myself and my friend blamed herself. It coloured university for me.”
She added: “I wondered if he regretted what he did and I worry whether he ever did it again.”
Elena’s family – who had emigrated to Canada from the Kilmarnock area – moved back to Ayrshire with her after she finished her journalism and communications degree at Concordia University.
On her return, she worked with a homeless charity before joining Women’s Aid.
The training she received to support victims of sexual and domestic abuse has helped her deal with the traumatic incident.
The Irvine Valley councillor said: “It triggered stuff to talk about and it has shaped the determined person I am now in terms of working for gender equality.”
The COSLA spokesperson for community well-being was driven to become a councillor to help impact policies affecting women. She said: “I knew decisions were being made that didn’t reflect women’s perspective.
“In order to make a difference, I had to be part of the decision-making process.”
Elena is a strong supporter of the council’s stance against prostitution and the work carried out by the East Ayrshire Violence Against Women Partnership.
Her belief in promoting women’s rights left her completely incensed when she heard of the Rape Day game on platform Steam.
The game was removed after thousands of people called for it to be banned on social media earlier this month.
Elena took to Twitter to announce it was unacceptable while fearlessly revealing she herself had been a rape victim. She said the game perpetuates a view of women as commodities.
“Violent gaming that seeks to normalise rape is abhorrent,” she added. “We have to say it is not acceptable. There are consequences for women in their lives.”
Years after the attack, Elena remains highly vigilant when travelling alone.
“You are hyper aware,” she said. “If I’m getting a train early in the morning or going to my car late at night I am conscious of where I am and what is happening.”
Read more news from the Kilmarnock Standard
