The woman who made the rape kit

Pagan Kennedy's new book, The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story , explores Martha Marty’ Goddard’s history-making invention and investigates her mysterious disappearance.

Inventors usually have some skin in the game a pressing reason to solve a particular problem, writes Kennedy .

In the 1970s , most of the other volunteers working for Metro-Help, a helpline for homeless teenagers, were hippies.

Kennedy relates to Blasey Ford , because the teenager who raped her also grew up to occupy a powerful government position.

She describes attending feminist meetings while at university in the early 1980s and understanding what happened to her as a child was a serious crime rather than her fault.

Kennedy 's book was published in the US a few days before the inauguration of a president subject to dozens of sexual misconduct allegations.