The Secret History Of The Rape Kit by Pagan Kennedy is a truly fascinating book that details the inception of the rape kit, as well as it's progression over the past few decades.

Rape and sexual assault is truly a horrific problem not just in the United States, but worldwide as well. Unfortunately, every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted (according to RAAIN). Kennedy brings to light the work of Marty Goddard in 1970s Chicago, as the often times uncredited creator of the rape kit. (Louis R. Vitullo is frequently credited as the developer.) The book chronicles Goddard's research and proposal of the rape kit, through the implementation, and to the state of the kit today.

The shortfalls of the kit are well documented, such as the incredible backlog that has been slowly being worked through. But the book also pointed out other aspects that hadn't occurred to me before, specifically the obstacles that keep black women from reporting, as well as how the Covid19 pandemic effected the ability for survivors to have a kit done.

It's important to note Kennedy's book does not provide a birds eye view of the story, rather she inserts herself by talking about her efforts to track down information about Goddard, and shares details of her own experiences with sexual assault. I appreciate her candor and willingness to share and be vulnerable, as it's not an easy feat to do. However, i personally would have preferred more of a classic research style narrative. I think it would have lent a cleaner timeline and a clearer vision. But that is a matter of personal opinion, not to say the author's choice of stylized writing was wrong.

This was an absolutely eye opening story. For so long sexual assault was considered unprovable and not taken seriously. Marty devoted a huge portion of her life fighting for justice for sexual assault victims. She is the true mastermind behind the creation and implementation of the rape kit. Despite Marty creating the rape kit as we know it which completely changed how sexual assault cases are handled and investigated her contribution to the creation of the rape kit is still largely unknown. I enjoyed this story. It is about so much more than just sexual assault (i.e. the role race, racism, sexism, socioeconomic status play out in most things, police brutality/corruption, etc.,etc. as it all relates back to sexual violence). There is just so much to explore and added to the facts there are also some personal tidbits of the authors own personal experience as a sexual assault survivor throughout the novel. I feel there was so much information packed into this book. It was a bit all over the place and tough to follow at times. I highlighted so many things and will be referring back to the notes section for more information on those facts, cases, people, events I wanted to know more about because there may have been a mention in the book but not an actual exploration on the subject mentioned.

Enough cannot be said for Pagan Kennedy bringing this lost history of Martha "Marty" Goddard's impact to light first in The New York Times Sunday Review in 2020 and now in a full version trade paperback. As per usual with the patriarchy in science, inventions, and history, the rape kit was named after a man with medical credentials who had little to do with the creation—the Vitullo Evidence Collection Kit was Goddard's invention. Kennedy also shares the notable contributions of PRESERVEkit created by Jane Mason and Madison Campbell's MeToo Kit.

Kennedy's narrative follows her diligent trail as she tried to track down Marty Goddard in order to write the first article and subsequently this book. Kennedy admits that finding Goddard became an obsession. She eschewed other work opportunities (and these were years when journalists and writers in general were taken for granted and being laid off or forced to strike).

There's a note from the book's editor (below) and a note from the author with some explanations about the subject matter and the terminology used. In our early years of the 21st century, someone who has been sexually assualted (and lived) is more often called a survivor; in the legal system, however, the word is victim which connotes an objectification rather than being seen as a human. It is historically accurate for victim to be the correct term. It also allows for a broader meaning since it can refer to someone who survived or did not. Kennedy chose a 21st century approach in her use of woman/women to include transwomen.

Chapter 1 slaps the reader wide awake as Kennedy reveals her own history as someone who was assaulted as a child by another, but older, child. She gets into graphic detail about this later in the book which nails down how truly oppressed girls and women have been. Her father was abusive and her mother was silent, more interested in presenting a "good public image" whenever other people were around. However, Kennedy had to see her assailant throughout her life because he was the son of her parents' friends. She changed his name which may leave some readers feeling jilted since this boy later became a Washington insider with influence.

To her credit, Kennedy often comes around to discussing the 2018 hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford bravely exposed her story of sexual assault by a man about to be given one of the highest positions of power. Kennedy saw herself in that story and shared their common denominators: both were privileged; they were in similar social circles; they were past students of private schools. It emphasizes that while no one is truly safe from this kind of crime, white women of privilege have their stories in the press when others don't. Marty Goddard recognized that decades ago in her work as an activist in Chicago where the police force was notoriously corrupt and racist.

Stories like Kennedy's personal story and Dr. Blasey Ford's testimony shouldn't be needed to show the monumental neglect of law enforcement, the legal system, and family responsibility. Marty Goddard's history-making role took place in the 1970s-80s (when serial killers were sensationalized and given monikers by the press). Meanwhile, women were told to take self defense classes, never walk alone, don't leave your drink unattended, and of course, dress modestly lest you be asking for it. Those bits of advice are truly misogynistic, ableist, classist, and wildly distressing to put the onus on the population that was victimized rather than telling men, "Don't rape."

Before Kennedy began her quest for Marty Goddard, she knew about DNA evidence collected for sexual assault. It didn't cross her mind much until the Kavanaugh confirmation spectacle. In 2018, the true crime world was rocked by the long awaited identification of Joseph DeAngelo (first called the East Area Rapist then the Golden State Killer among multiple other mantles). Like Goddard, most of the work unraveling the connections leading to DeAngelo are credited to men in the FBI, consultants, and other law enforcement when it was the work of investigative writer, Michelle McNamara who actually blew the case open.

Pagan Kennedy describes how obsessive and compulsive she became in finding Goddard so that the credit of the rape kit invention could finally be given to the rightful owner. Kennedy's life must have been quite similar to McNamara's (as described by her husband after her death).

And, like Marty Goddard, it took men in power who were willing to listen to the plight of women in order to move the needle. Marty—to be blunt—worked herself to death. She became an alcoholic and after her time changing the country, she withered into a husk of a human. Kennedy's descriptions of Goddard came from members of the family who knew her best because the sad truth was that Kennedy's Moby Dick had already died.

It had to have felt impossible for an activist who was terrified of public speaking to travel around the country trying to train medical professionals and law enforcement officers who were reluctant to hear what Goddard had to say. As Kennedy describes the anxiety and panic Marty went through, it truly is nothing short of miraculous that men like Ray Wieboldt, Jr. (heir to a Chicago department store fortune) listened to her. Marty made such an impression that Wieboldt hired her as an executive at his family's foundation. She suddenly had money, but died in poverty.

Marty Goddard's invention of the rape kit was also taken seriously by a business/brand that anyone guessing who gave her support would probably never figure out. It was Playboy. Yes, that Playboy, as in Hugh Hefner. This is support is explained in Chapter 5. Aside from making pin-up cheesecake glamourous and above ground, there was The Playboy Foundation—a non-profit created to fight censorship which grew to become a reputable charity for social changes, AIDS/HIV causes, and reproductive health and rights. The Playboy Foundation provided the ACLU's Women's Rights Project lead by Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the time. The Playboy Foundation gave Marty Goddard's organization $10,000 in grant money to get the rape kit created. Playboy artists volunteered their skills and did all the graphic design and packaging for the kit. This is an incredible enlightening chapter in Kennedy's quest to find Goddard and give her the credit she was owed.

While Marty hustled from one police department to another, she asked the questions that drove change. She found how many failures there were in the whole system. There hadn't been relationships between the police and medical staff. The nurses weren't forensic technicians therefore, Goddard's advice insisted that medical professionals have specialized training in how to collect evidence. Her point was that these victims deserved dignity and they were owed the ability to have evidence to back up their stories should they choose to come forward and file charges against abusers.

As to not overlook another person who aided in the "Vitullo" rape kit development, Pagan Kennedy identified that Marty Goddard's rape kit had another collaborator, an African-American police officer on the Rape Task Force, Rudy Nimocks. He was in the minority as a black man in the racist system of the Chicago police department. Nimocks was the "inside man" who was able to advise Goddard in how to approach anyone in the criminal justice system. He was the one who convinced her that she needed to get someone from the crime lab to be on board. Nimocks is the person who suggested she reach out to Sergeant Louis Vitullo, a powerful person who became famous for his work on the Richard Speck case.

Vitullo's initial response to Goddard's presentation was that he screamed at her, according to Cynthia Gehrie, a subject interviewed by Pagan Kennedy personally. Gehrie was often the woman to do the speaking engagements due to Goddard's debilitating stage fright. This story was backed up by others in Kennedy's research.

After dismissing Goddard ungraciously, Vitullo built a rape evidence collection kit just as described in Goddard's papers she gave him. The caveat was that he get full credit for this invention. Since Marty Goddard was not someone chasing the spotlight in the first place, all she wanted was the change to happen, she agreed.

Summary:
Kennedy's book on Marty Goddard, the rape kits (original and modern), and systemic patriarchy blocking justice is thoroughly researched and cited with 18% of the pages devoted to references. Her goal to track down her key subject may not have worked out as she hoped, but she found people who loved Marty Goddard and come across as grateful for Kennedy's article and book about the truth erased by history books.

Chapter 11 is the only place where I questioned Kennedy's bias as she tore down the FBI's Behavorial Analysis Unit and the psychology of serial offenders. At its launch, this unit was called the Behavioral Science Unit and, with the hard work of another woman often erased in history—Dr. Ann Wolpert Burgess—Kennedy refers to the metrics developed to create psychological profiles of victims and offenders, as unreliable junk science.

Another important factor Kennedy discussed is how various movements, activists, and changes that addressed the backlog of rape kits that hadn't been processed. The number unprocessed when this backlog hit headlines was, according to Kennedy, 400,000 untested kits. While she states that no one can confirm updated statistics on this, the estimate is down to around 50,000.

Also, because of Pagan Kennedy digging into this painful subject and interviewing those connected to Marty Goddard, one original "Vitullo" Evidence Collection Kit was found in a box in storage. Kennedy felt this kit belonged in a museum. The question arose, which museum? The ownership was transferred from Mary Sladek Dreiser to a joint acquisition by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The acquisition had its own internal battle perhaps because someone would find the need for such a kit objectionable or because The Smithsonian had its own human resources problem with rape, stalking, and other misconduct. The kit is featured in the online exhibit. The museums are still debating on how to sensitively name and describe the objects.

This book was a bit all over the place. The stuff on Marty Goddard and the rape kit was good and really engaging but the narrative structure was wonky and a bit confusing. What I really didn't care for in the book were the pieces of memoir that Kennedy added in about her own sexual abuse. It felt like a totally different book. The clarity of vision was not there. I also think because this book came from a successful piece in the NYT Kennedy just added to the book whatever fit instead of really fleshing out a strong book that added (personal or not) elements that were missing from the article. My sense, this could've just stayed an article.

I really enjoy true crime books and dont read as many as I’d like to. I used to read every single book the great Ann Rule put out and I will occasionally find a fantastic book in this genre, but many times they are dense or hard to follow.

The Secret History of the Rape Kit by Pagan Kennedy instantly appeared to me and from the opening pages, I was hooked. The history of the rape kit was not something I ever found myself thinking about but it was fascinating to read this and learn about the early days.

Synopsis:

In 1972, Martha “Marty” Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool — the rape kit — and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country. Yet even as Marty fought for women’s rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work.

When journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this forgotten pioneer, she discovered that even Marty Goddard’s closest friends had lost track of her. As Pagan followed a trail of clues to solve the mystery of Marty, she also delved into the problematic history of forensics in America. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles one journalist’s mission to understand a crucial innovation in forensics and the woman who championed it. As Pagan Kennedy hunts for answers, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault and her own desire for justice.

The Secret History of the Rape Kit is an informative narrative nonfiction account of the life of Martha "Marty" Goddard. Marty was the inventor of the first sexual assault evidence collection kit. In the early 1970s, she volunteered at a crisis hotline. She was struck by the number of calls she received regarding sexual assaults of girls and women yet the perpetrators of these acts never seemed to be charged with crimes or received any punishment. This set her off on a mission to find a way to prosecute sexual assailants. Because of the time in which she developed the rape kit, a man received the credit for its inception. It is clear that the author put a lot of time and thought into telling Marty's story and giving her credit for creating such a powerful tool used to prosecute sex crimes.

Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, Anchor, and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

Fascinating!

This one hooked me from the start. It’s personal and intimate. It definitely does not read like most non-fiction. Part memoir, part exposé, it’s impossible to put down.

I found this book to be both utterly devastating and hopeful at the same time. Since there is such a limited record about Marty, the rape kit’s true creator, I felt as though the author did the very best she could have with the limited information that was available. That said, I really appreciated the author’s work around the rape kit as an invention, and I wish the book had leaned more heavily on that aspect. This book was about creativity, overcoming extremely challenging circumstances, and also trauma, what it does to our lives, our systems, and to our minds. It was compulsively readable and left me with many lingering questions. My only note is that the subtitle “A True Crime Story” seems disingenuous and not relevant to the content of the book.

An exploration of the evolution of the rape kit, a forensic instrument that has influenced both justice and injustice over the years. Kennedy outlines its journey from the 1970s to contemporary criminal investigations, showcasing the people who created and utilized the kit, as well as the wider social ramifications of its application.

Thank you Pagan Kennedy and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor Publishing for a NetGalley ARC copy of the Secret History of the Rape Kit!

Rating 2.5/5

While I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Marty Goddard and her contributions to the criminal justice system, I do find the Title of the book to be very misleading.

The book as a whole comes off more as a memoir of the author's past traumas mixed with largely speculative history tidbits, leaving it feeling muddled and unfinished. Though there's no disagreeing that Goddard is an important female historical icon to be admired, the author's commentary on the imaginary relationship between herself and Goddard came across uncomfortable at best. Additionally, while I believe, her writings into what Goddard's life may have been like was supposed to make the story more immersive, it left me with an overwhelming feeling of how little the author actually knew about Goddard and her day to day life.

Unfortunately, I found the author's commentary to be under informed and severely biased which overshadowed Marty Goddard and her accomplishments.

⭐️: 4/5

I’m not normally a nonfiction reader, but at the time I requested this, I was at the point where I was reading books that seemed particularly interesting or relevant to topics I’m interested in. I’ve since taken a step back from reading almost all nonfiction books, but since this was an ARC I was approved for, and seemed like such an important piece of previously unknown history, I was still excited to pick it up.

This was a pretty quick and short read, which you can tell based on the length, but what I didn’t realize is that the (already short) length is artificially inflated by pages and pages of sources in the form of notes at the end of the book. I think that the length worked to the subject matter’s favor though, since there’s only so much that could be said about this topic without either getting entirely too dark, or feeling repetitive. Even so, the book did feel a little repetitive at times, and a little unfocused at times also, but also, as I said, I haven’t been reading much nonfiction recently, so maybe that’s the norm. I think that there was an opportunity to tell the story a little differently, like potentially relating the solving of unsolved cases back to developments and stepping stones in the trajectory of making the rape kit more commonplace, instead of relying on the author’s parasocial relationship with and musings about Marty Goddard.

The topic of this book is really interesting, and so enlightening and important to learn about the ways that the patriarchy has been used to keep women from being able to take credit for their intellectual property and profit from it. When I read books about topics such as these, it reinforces just how much men are the worst, and makes me want to fight to burn down the patriarchy. Overall, this was a pretty interesting look into a piece of history that has been overlooked and looked down upon for decades.

Thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for this eARC for my honest review!!

A book that is part investigative journalism, part intimate biography, and part memoir, The Secret History of the Rape Kit by Pagan Kennedy tells the story of Marty Goddard, a Chicago nonprofit worker who created and championed the use of the first rape kits beginning in the 1970s. A tireless advocate for sexual assault survivors and legal reform, Marty Goddard was a nationwide fixture as she toured the country informing people about the use of the rape kit as a tool for sexual assault convictions until she abruptly disappeared from public life in 1998.

The first rape kits were officially and publicly named the “Vitullo Evidence Collection Kit” after Chicago police sergeant Louis Vitullo to imply involvement and leadership from a high-powered male police officer in an effort to persuade other officers to take rape kits seriously and use them as the powerful tools they were capable of being. This naming choice led Marty Goddard’s fingerprint to be forgotten, crediting a man who had little to no involvement in the project with her decades of labor and invention.

In The Secret History of the Rape Kit, author Pagan Kennedy seeks to rewind this story to the beginning, bringing Marty Goddard back to the center. Kennedy works tirelessly and to the point of obsession to rediscover Marty’s story and in doing so, finds the words to tell her own. As much as this book is an investigation and a biography, it is also about the author’s experiences and research and writing processes.

Kennedy’s deep dive into Marty’s story calls to mind the podcast “Finding Richard Simmons” in that they both make the reader/listener question who has the right to tell which stories. Did Marty want the world to know what is revealed about her? I don’t know. But I do know she deserves credit for her work history denied her.

Some of the facts presented in this book truly wowed me and I found myself sharing the information I learned with anyone who was around to listen. The beginning of the book especially captivated me and the best part of the story was seeing how others had taken the idea of the rape kit and kept working on it to design a process that empowers the survivor. This evolution gives me hope.

Overall, I would highly recommend The Secret History of the Rape kit to anyone interested in history, law, biography, or investigative journalism. The book was propulsive and interesting throughout, with information to share and a message not soon forgotten.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: It's very difficult to write a review for a book like this. A very important account of the development of the rape kit. We learn about the women who fought to educate police, the media, hospitals, journalist, and the public. This book will make you feel very angry, and it's important to understand the history and the fight behind trying to get women's voices to be heard. Enjoy is not a word I would use here, this was educational and important. I would recommend.

Oh, goodness… where do I even start? I was so so excited for this book, excited that someone was giving this story a voice, excited that someone was giving these women a voice… giving Marty a voice. But, man… the writing is terrible. This whole story fell completely flat because of how disjointed and unorganized the writing is. We are bounced around from present day, to past, to Pagan’s story, to Marty’s family member’s stories… the whole thing is a mess. I think perhaps there’s just not enough information about Marty’s life to justify a whole book, because a lot of the chapters and writing felt like extra information designed to pad the story and make the book an “acceptable” length.
Also, this read more as a memoir about Pagan’s life with some history about Marty sprinkled throughout, rather than what I thought I was signing up for: a HISTORY of the rape kit. Honestly, a better title may have been “Stories of Rape and the Life of Marty”
I am disappointed, and I don’t love giving such negative reviews, but honestly, this one is a complete, 100% nope, from me.

Please note: this review is now posted on GoodReads
Thank you for letting me read!

Mixed Reaction
The book started with promise, detailing the barriers to investigating and prosecuting rape cases. Martha Goddard's efforts to develop a rape kit and educate law enforcement and health care workers about its use were truly impressive. The book lost me with the telling of Martha's difficulties later in life and the author's telling of her own experience with sexual assault. I found her portrayal of Martha's personal life invasive, unnecessary and distasteful.

I grew up watching Criminal Minds and Law and Order: SVU and I'm pretty sure that due to the frequency rape kits are used on the show I never considered that they were developed in the late 1900's. Reading the history of the rape kit was an eye opening experience as it touched on how little these crimes were reported prior to the rape kit being developed and the resistance they felt in introducing the kit into hospitals and police stations. It sounds a bit redundant but reading the history of the kit itself allowed me to appreciate how far we have come in America in regards to sex crimes. The book itself does touch on how things can still be improved and did have real life examples of rape which can be hard to read for some. While I am typically a faster paced reader the heavier content and frustration I felt at people in positions of power in the late 1900's made this a longer read.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone that is interested in history and seeing how far we have come in terms of sex crimes.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a honest review!

This is a great history of how the tape kit came to be - a tool that helped solve many, many sexually-related crimes. What I didn’t like was the author’s constant insertion of her own sexual assault experience. It was so frequent, and sometimes irrelevant, that it took away from the importance of the discovery. The book also had a slant towards feminism and that women should be afraid of men - a vibe I don’t subscribe to.

This book was middle of the road for me I think for some reasons that would really appeal to some readers and would make others pass on the book. The author's personal connection to the subject matter was clear and I think depending on how you view that it can be a really good strength or a disadvantage. It definitely brings a specific perspective to the story and I think pushes the author's attention to detail and informs some of the connections made between the information. However, that same connection I think pushes the book's narrative into some tangential areas where it could be more straightforward.

The book blends biography, general history, and memoir. I think it would have benefited from more defined sections rather than intertwining the three throughout. I do think the information was really interesting but I wasn't the biggest fan of the author's writing style.

A good nonfiction editor should ask their writers whether their project is better a book or a blog post. Pagan Kennedy’s The Secret History of the Rape Kit, a bloated elaboration of her 2020 piece for the New York Times, drifts meretriciously from the subject of the article toward herself. The book’s focus remains on Marty Goddard, but only on the surface, as most of Secret History is reserved for Kennedy’s meditations, autobiographical anecdotes, and contrived racial bona fides.

Kennedy appears to believe that Goddard is the first self-styled inventor bitter at not having received due credit for their creation. The conceit of the article, and then the book, is that Goddard invented the sexual assault evidence-collection kit but a scientist in the Chicago Police Department’s crime lab stole the idea and branded it with his name. Kennedy offers no evidence for this beyond old interviews with Goddard grumbling about it. But she reaches a bizarrely illogical conclusion: “It seemed logical . . . that the most effective inventor of a sexual-assault forensics system would be a woman. And it also seemed cruelly inevitable that a man would be the one to receive the credit.” Kennedy believes that, since most victims of sexual assault are women, then a woman probably invented the evidence-collection kit.

What a sad, cramped way at approaching scientific innovation. Vitullo, who served in World War II, spent his entire career in public service, and retired from the police department in 1979, cuts a strange villain. There is no suggestion that he profited from Chicago’s adoption of evidence collection kits at Goddard’s expense. It does Goddard no disservice that the kits, which we now simply call evidence-collection kits, were for a time known as Vitullo kits. (For someone as obsessed with fashionably correct terminology as Kennedy is, it is ironic that she prefers the outdated "rape kit.")

Kennedy won’t hear of it. She uses this fantasized intellectual property theft as a springboard into a full-throated airing of grievances. She complains that a woman in the eighteenth century could not own a patent, even though the patent cited her as the inventrix, even though there was no suggestion that this legal fiction deprived the woman of anything due her, even though this anecdote has no relevance to Goddard and her kits.

From here, it was a seamless transition to racial grievance. Never mind that evidence-collection kits almost certainly benefit black women more than any other demographic. Never mind that Goddard wasn’t black. The reader is still treated to pages upon pages of early American law prohibiting blacks from owning intellectual property and Dred Scott. The only apparent connection to Goddard is the general idea of someone being ripped off.

The fluff continued with Kennedy’s pretended attempts to find and interview Goddard. “Pretended,” because had the author really wanted to find her subject, she could have hired a private investigator who after three hours’ work would have written her email saying that Goddard had passed away. Instead, Kennedy watched interviews, interviewed friends, read articles, and gazed at her navel for six months (and precious dozens of pages).

The overall impression that this book makes is one of inauthenticity. The prose showed no real concern for Goddard, for women, for black people. And no real concern for victims of sexual assault. There was only the flavor of bedazzled, neon-lettered mock virtue that liberal women feel compelled to air.

The subtitle of this book, “A True Crime Story,” is inapt. This is not a story about true crime; it is a story about virtue signaling — and about Pagan Kennedy.

This was certainly interesting but could be a sensitive subject for some/many. I appreciated the mix of personal account with the historical information about the development of the rape kit. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.